Let them eat popcorn

Over the weekend, I saw a photo posted on Instagram of a cute little boy (maybe 15 months?) eating popcorn with his grandpa.  The second I saw it, I knew there would be comments about the dangers of popcorn.

One woman commented how her friend's 3 year old had choked on popcorn and died. Another woman said that even as an ICU nurse, she had a hard time helping her child when he choked on popcorn.

Ironically, just that morning, Max had found his way into the pantry and pulled out the bag of popcorn kernels, and then pointed at the popcorn maker on the shelf. I was just too proud of him knowing that much about the popcorn making process to reject his request.  While we snacked away on it, I thought about the days of not letting him have popcorn because I was too scared he would choke on it.  Now that he was almost 2, had the risk of him choking gone away?  Probably not. But I guess I just understand the bigger picture. Terrible, terrible things happen...but if we restrict ourselves based on every tragic story we ever hear, we'll be left to lay in our beds and stare out the window for the rest of our lives.

I've been haunted by the story of a local boy who was in a stroller, crossing the street with his mom (in the crosswalk, with a walk signal) and was hit by a car.  We can do everything right, and it can all go so wrong. In this digital age, we have access to every story in every community across the globe, and we are SO AWARE of what goes wrong, and we feel so compelled to warn others of the dangers we've experienced, even though these warnings can end up robbing us of simple moments that are creating lasting memories.

When a sweet little boy wants to eat popcorn with his grandpa, let's just go with it. When Max wants to squeal with excitement as the air popper fills the bowl, I'm going to savor that moment! Could they choke? Sure. But cancer cells could also be forming.  A plane could lose control and crash into our house.  I'm speaking to myself mostly when I say, let's be carefree but not careless. Don't let the freak accidents rob us of our simple, special moments.