Is this here the season of joy? Or the season to inject?

[venta]

Recently, I saw a display of cheap inflatables intended for swimming pools. A ring with a horse's head, a dolphin. The seams of the plastic stuck out, rather than being nicely taped flat

Comments

[venta]

Shut up shutupshutup.

As of about 8 months, I will have lived longer in the south than I did in the north :(

[venta]

I'm not sure they count, really - and even if they did, I reckon it'd only buy me an extra year or so :(

[beckyc]

Kids are just bouncier and more elastic than grownups I think.

I used to fall off my bike all the time as a kid. Nothing, no damage, you just pick yourself up, get your grazes washed, end of. Now, as an adult, if I do that, I break a bone and spend weeks hobbling and feeling like I've done 2 rounds with mike Tyson.

I think it did just hurt less to get scrapes and bruises. I base this on things like "a small burn" or "a sprained wrist" being unimaginable painful as a kid and as an adult these are reduced to "ow! I know, a nice glass of wine will fix this, there, all better!"

[venta]

Possibly a nice glass of wine would make it all better for a small child as well, you just don't usually get to find out :)

[beckyc]

Oh yes, that's frowned upon these days, isn't it?

My parents let us have a little wine with our Sunday lunch (certainly not a whole glassful*). Cunningly, they served it in metal goblets, which makes the wine taste foul. Took me until I was 19 to discover that actually wine was quite nice.

*Unlike on my French exchange when I was 13, when they would give me wine (that they personally had made) by the tumbler-full, and then act all offended if I didn't drink it. I know now that was a practical joke on me, and they wouldn't really have been terribly offended. Their kids really did routinely drink that much without watering it!

[sammason]

This. I think young bodies are bouncier (unless disabled) so that they stay alive long enough to breed.

[ghoti]

Happily, you are allowed to distribute both plasters and cuddles, you just need to know which children are intolerant.

I think that it does hurt less. I remember it hurting less, and last time Judith had a graze, she just complained that it was 'not big, too small' and I had to comfort her by pointing out that it was towards the end of the graze season, and she couldn't expect them to be as good in October as in August. Having said that, B always hated grazes.

[venta]

Presumably some are intolerant to cuddles, as well as plasters.

I'm glad to hear that. I guess I've read too many political-correctness-gone-mad-what-is-the-world-coming-to stories.

[ghoti]

Presumably some are intolerant to cuddles, as well as plasters.

Indeed.

[beckyc]

Happily, you are allowed to distribute both plasters and cuddles, you just need to know which children are intolerant.

If only the medical profession worked the same way ;-).

[bateleur]

Wait - isn't this just science?

If School Liz is (say) 2/3 of the height and weights 1/2 as much, that's about 1/3 as much energy involved in the impact.

[venta]

I don't think so, no.

I mean yes, your energy calculation sounds right. But I'm not sure that's all there is to it. School!Liz benefits from any extra bounciness/elasticity which commenters believe children possess. Big!Liz benefits from a certain amount of practice at falling over and having learned to roll.

Besides, if that was all there was to it, then Geriatric!Liz who is old and thin and weighs less and has shrunk due to osteoparosis would bounce back from falls way better than Big!Liz.

[bateleur]

Big!Liz benefits from a certain amount of practice at falling over and having learned to roll.

Did you, though? After I learned breakfalls at around 13ish I never once managed to pull one off when I fell over unexpectedly.

Of course, it's possible you really are healing more slowly, but my kids both heal at about the same rate as me despite my recollections of shrugging off childhood injuries (mostly bicycle-related).

[venta]

To be honest, I'm not sure what I did. I was completely unable to construct a sensible series of events which resulted in the injuries which, er, resulted.

(In fact, given that some of the marks on my wrist looked remarkably like rope burns, I wouldn't have believed me if I'd told me I'd fallen over ;)

I could believe that the healing quicker thing is due to inaccurate childhood recollections - I don't have a Child!Liz around to test :)

[beckyl]

Young bodies are still growing, and thus repair damage faster. Plus from a soreness point of view, kids are more likely to get up and keep moving, preventing soreness from developing as much. Maybe.