Splinters

A small but integral part of any active kid's life is getting - and removing - splinters. Since my children spend as much time as they possible outdoors they get their fair share of splinters. Which brings me to the topic of this post.

Big Man (who is currently five) has had maybe five or six "splinter incidents" that I can recall. And somewhere along the way he decided that water removes splinters. I believe that idea came about because once when he had a small splinter in his foot his Nana told him that if he soaked his foot in the bathtub that it might come out. Thus water removes splinters. Big Man is a brave boy, but when it comes to splinters he is terrified of having one removed with a needle. Now I'll admit most kids aren't crazy about needles but he will not under any circumstances allow me to remove a splinter. "No Mom, water will get the splinter out."

A few days ago he got a rather large splinter in the palm of his hand. By that evening it was starting to look infected. But every time I tried to convince him to let me remove it he insisted it would come out in the water. If you think for a minute about how sensitive the palm of your hand is, you'll realize the predicament I was in. I had to get that splinter out before infection set in. But there was no way he was going to let me take the splinter out. He would barely let me look at his hand - and only if my own hands were behind my back. So I waited until nighttime. Thankfully Big Man is a sound sleeper. So over the course of about 15 minutes I gently worked the splinter out. He never realized what had happened. The next morning he noticed his hand felt better. He came to me so proudly and said, "Look Mom! No more splinter!" When I asked how that happened he said, "The water got it out of course!"

I apologize in advance to his wife who will undoubtedly some day wonder why her otherwise intelligent husband believes water removes splinters.