My First Child Survived

Being a first time parent can be nerve racking. You have no idea what you are doing and in a blink of an eye you now have this new human (s) to take care of. There is no manual that comes along with them, and you are just kind of wished a Good Luck as you head home. You can always spot a First Time parent. They are packed to the gills with Purell and any type of sanitizing wipe you can think of. They are the one's that if their toy drops on the ground they wrap it in a bag to take home and never be used again. They are the one's that make sure their child has on 3 jackets when it is 60 degrees outside, so they don't catch a cold. I used to be one of these parents. My poor first child was watched like a Hawk. Everything was sterilized for him, and if anything touched the ground we could not use it anymore. I always carried 2 blankets with me, you know just in case in Texas it dropped below 30 degrees, he would have enough warmth if we got lost or stuck somewhere. Even though all the precautions were taken to make sure no germs were to touch him, he did the unthinkable at age 5, and guess what HE SURVIVED.



It was in December and we were heading to see Christmas lights like we had done every year before. We had been walking around for about 30 minutes and my son, who was 5 at the time, informed me that he had to use the restroom. Well it being an outside event there were just Port-A-Potty's around. I let him go in and stood outside the door, I was trying to loosen the leash a little and give him some independence. I waited and kept yelling through the door if he was OK, because God Forbid he fall into the toilet. He finally yelled that he was all done and to open the door. As soon as he stepped out I told him not to touch anything until we found somewhere to wash his hands. He responded that he had already washed them as he was picking his nose. I looked at him and asked him where, because when I looked in the Port-A-Potty there was not a sink or any sanitizer in there. With such innocence in his voice he responded that he had used the blue soap in the bowl. It took me a moment and then it hit me. OH MY GOSH, he had used the soap at the bottom of the Urinal! I grabbed both of his hands and told him not to touch a thing as we frantically ran around looking for something to dump his hands into. We finally found a huge bottle of sanitizer. I'm not sure how many pumps I put on his hands, but all those germs were going to die! Once he was able to use his hands again, he asked what the fuss was about. I informed him that those soaps were not to be used because when men used the restroom that is what they pee'd on. Being a boy he had a moment of disgust cross his face and then it was gone. The whole night every possible nightmare ran through my mind, what is he going to get sick with? Did he put his hands in his mouth? Is his tongue going to turn green from all the bacteria? As the days passed and I waited anxiously, while over analyzing every cough or sneeze he had, I finally determined that 2 weeks was long enough and nothing was going to happen. He was safe, he had touched one of the dirtiest things around and had SURVIVED.


I love telling that story to my friends who are first time parents and just watch the horror and then disgust cross their faces. I always tell them that their kids will touch things and put things in their mouth, but you know what, they will SURVIVE. Oh by the way, I am a second time parent now, and my poor second child doesn't even have a sanitizer wipe in her diaper bag. Good Luck to you First Time Parents, you are in for a fun ride!