My eight-year old wants to break her arm — or her leg. I remember thinking casts looked really cool when I was a kid as well. She’s got a friend with her arm in a sling due to a fracture and another friend who has broken her bones three times. I guess there is the sympathy factor — you get lots of attention when you have an arm or leg in a cast, and it also seems really fun to have everyone sign their name. She never seems to consider the sensation of pain you have to go through if you really and truly break something. Or, the inconvenience of not being able to shower easily or grab something quickly. Or, the general itchiness of having your skin wrapped in plaster for 6 weeks.
So, last week my daughter “fell” or staged a fall off of the bottom part of our stairs. It happened when no one was looking and we only heard the result — loads of yelling and an immediate announcement of a broken bone. We checked the arm in question, did not see any swelling or bruising and gave her some ice. There appeared to be some discrepancy about where, exactly she had fallen. The pain would move from the wrist to the upper arm further hindering our efforts to diagnose.
She claimed all would be well if only she could have a sling. I nixed the sling, knowing that it would inhibit her from fully enjoying her camp and make her counselors wary of having her do activities. We finally settled on an ace bandage of sorts to keep everything in place and to ensure proper “recovery.” It’s hard to know what to do when kids may not really be hurt, but claim to be — either for attention or the “cool” factor. I decided to go with it up to a point. I wanted her to know that we believed and trusted her, but not dwell on it too much or make a big deal out of the whole thing.
She’s told everyone within earshot that she sprained her arm. Fortunately, the bandage now appears to have been lost.
