It's a perfectly nice day out.
The family is getting ready for a barbeque.
Things are going great.
Then it happens.
A piercing scream slices the air from across the yard where your little girl has fallen off the wall you've told her time and again not walk on like a tightrope.
Your heart in your throat, your stomach lurching, you race across the yard to her her as she clutches her knee, tearing streaming down her cheeks...
And you pick her up, carry her into the house, and the boo boo is taken care of.
You're just happy that this time it was something that you could fix with the first aid kit.
What are you going to do now? That's your choice, you know.
You can react with anger at your words not being taken seriously, or...
and this is better, be the better dad.
This is why they are called accidents.
From these little happenings now when they are younger, your children are learning something of how you will deal accidents and mishaps in the future, whether they are at fault or not.
What if they are in a car accident? How will you react then? Calmly? Maybe not.
Angry? Maybe a little.
With love? That should be a given.
How you deal with things will also be a lesson to your children about how they can react to accidents as well.
You are their father.
Love them.
You are their teacher.
Teach them.
And tell them to stay off that fence.