In One Ear, Out the Other

When I was young, I heard the expression "In one ear, out the other." Since I was young, I didn't really think about it. I have a 13 year old boy and I understand it perfectly now :)

He plays in the 8th grade band and has been skateboarding a couple of years. He really got into it this past year though. I tried real hard to get him into other things. I also tried real hard to make him wear protective gear. *See post title* He is really good but I can't watch him do it. I remember my Mom being like this. She hated to watch my brother, Ricky, play football. She was always afraid he was going to get hurt. I have that same feeling about watching Preston. He doesn't understand and I feel bad for not watching him.

One day he was skateboarding with his friends at a park in town and he calls me to come get him because he hurt himself. When I get there to pick him up, I found out he landed horribly, feet under him, elbow on concrete, and he could not breath for what seemed like minutes to him. His elbow had a large marble sized bump protruding from it. I took him home and examined him to make sure he didn't need to go to the emergency room. Other than his elbow, he seemed fine.

You would think that would be enough to make him stop but he is determined to master this sport. I commend him for this but it doesn't make me feel any better. A few days later he gets back on his board and he learns new things and wants to share what he knows. I watch him reluctantly at the house sometimes but not very long.

He goes to his Mom's every other weekend. One weekend while he was there, he gives me a call and says, "Something funny, well not really funny, but... well I broke my leg." I knew it was coming. It did not even shock me. I couldn't say anything. I was upset because he had already been to the emergency room and been checked out. I found out that she did not take him until the next day. She had her Dad take him actually. When they bring him home Sunday night, he is on crutches and has a brace on. I hug him and feel some relief that he is home where I can get him checked out.

My wife sets up an appointment the next day and we get him a cast. All Preston can ask is, "When can I skate again?" I shake my head and laugh. I ask the doctor to tell him never jokingly (but not really) :) The doctor tells us the cast cannot get wet. When we get him home, everyone signs it and at school they sign some more.

Giving him a bath was a big ordeal in the beginning. He would use his arms to get into the bathtub I had run water in previously and sink his butt in first. His legs he would leave over the edge of the tub until he could bring in the good leg. I washed his hair for him since he couldn't rinse his hair very well. After his bath, I would pull on his arm to help him sit on the edge of the tub before standing to dry off. This went on for several weeks. On the bright side though, he was not skating :)

The day came to get his cast off and we went back to the doctor. They bring out a miniature saw and get to grinding on the cast. My son is nervous as hell. He thinks they might slip and cut his leg. They finally get into it and he starts pulling his leg away to try to get out of it so they don't have to saw at it anymore. It was hilarious but you would have had to be there. In a way, that feeling he was having about his leg getting sawed on, is the same kind of feeling I have when I watch him skate. The cast and his leg stunk but he didn't care. He wanted to take the stinky cast home anyway.

I didn't say how he broke his leg because it was such a simple thing. His leg went under the skateboard somehow and caused his ankle to bend too much and the bone above his ankle broke. He was in serious pain. I would have taken him right away to the emergency room. I would have also gone to the emergency room if I had been given a call.

I really want to throw the skateboards away but he will find a way to skate. There is nothing I can do to stop him completely. All I can do is talk to him and watch the sound enter one side of his head and exit the other unobserved. Guess I can't tie him down for the rest of his teenage years huh? Oh well. This is what youth is about. Learning lessons the hard way. As a parent you you want them to learn from your mistakes but when they ignore you *see title* you might as well not even say anything at all :)