Skinned Knees, Soaked Pants and God

John, Vincent and I attended the surprise birthday party of a friend of ours this past weekend.  It was really nice of Vincent to be invited, too.  Several children were in attendance with Vince being the oldest (and most active!).  

Unfortunately, John and I didn't know there would be a pool at the house.  Had we known, we would've gone out of our way to find a babysitter.  Vince, like every other child in the universe, can't be near a pool without wanting to dive in head-first.  

It was still too chilly for a swim and we hadn't brought bathing suits anyway.  That didn't stop Vincent for begging, bartering and pleading to go for a dip, though.  When he realized John and I weren't going to budge, he placated himself by zipping around the edge of the pool, successfully giving John and I enough agita to last us the rest of our lives.

I had to put him into a time out for disobedience.  He wouldn't stop running around the edge of the pool even though I'd asked him not to three times.  So I stuck him in time out.

My friend, Leo, made a well-meaning comment.  He said, "What's the worst that can happen?  Skinned knee?  Soaked pants?  Just let him be."

Oh Leo.  How I love Leo.  He's a new parent, himself.  He's got a little princess named Maggie who is about 8 months old.  He hasn't had the pleasure of her testing boundaries yet.  He hasn't tasted the anxiety of seeing her (in his mind) tumble head-first into an ice-cold swimming pool.  He can't even imagine what that's like until she takes those first precarious steps into toddler-hood.  It's all fun and games until your kid discovers how much fun dangerous situations are.  LoL.

Anyway, Leo didn't realize that aside from me trying to teach Vince obedience (and actions having real consequences), I was also trying to prevent, specifically, soaked clothing.  Most people don't like sitting in wet clothes, but for an SPD kid, that's akin to being water-boarded; it's torture.  

Vince sometimes freaks out if he feels even a spot of wetness on his pants or shirt. Imagine, then, the freak out that would occur if ALL his clothes were soaked through and clinging to him.  

Leo doesn't think it'd be a big deal, because to him, it wouldn't be a big deal.  To Vincent, however, it'd be huge.  

John was getting increasingly agitated, so instead of leaving, I took Vincent inside and away from the temptation.  The poor kid was over-tired and frustrated by several things: 

• new house = novel visual stim
• large group of strangers = anxiety and overwhelming auditory stim
• pool = supreme tactile stim temptation
• laser lights = ridiculous amounts of visual stim
• sound system = even more auditory stim

The fact that he hadn't had a nap that day (because the party started when he usually goes down) only added to his upset.  After I had him sit and settle for 15 minutes to regroup, he was able to sit on the couch and watch a game being played without issue.  

It's funny.  I don't fault Leo at all for the comment he made.  Several of our friends waved off my attempts at wrangling Vincent as overprotective.  They didn't realize I wasn't worried about him bumping his knee or even going for a swim.  I was aware of a bigger problem that would come should the latter accidentally happen.  

My guess is that's how God feels sometimes.  So often, I look at a situation and figure "Eh, this isn't really such a big deal" while God is shaking His Head and saying, "Gina, put down the extra slices of bacon.  You don't think it's a big deal, but you've been eating like a glutton recently and are increasing your risk for heart attack.  I want you to die saving orphans from a burning building, and you can't very well do that if you're dead of a bacon-induced heart attack."


God is able to see so much more than we can.  He knows more than we do.  He's experienced more than we have.  So when He repeatedly throws up roadblocks to our own ideas of satisfaction, my guess is He has good reasons.  Just as I had reasons that went beyond Leo's understanding, God has reasons that extend well beyond mine.  

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