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Scissors for Thought

Matt Orlando
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I never gave scissors much thought outside of the occasional “now where did I put those scissors?” They were just another thing lying around the house, mysteriously never in the last place I left them…which may explain why I have so many pairs of them.

Something changed recently however. I was walking down the hallway at work recently when I noticed a large pair of scissors sitting on top of a box. I stopped. I stared. I thought “well, that can’t be safe.” It took a lot of will power not to pick up the scissors and move them to a safer place. I was overly concerned that a child would come running by and get hurt…which is, of course, a funny notion considering there is not an endless stream of wayward children wandering the hallways. Still, it took all I had to leave them where they were and head back to my desk.

I forgot all about the scissors, until just the other day I saw them again. Sitting on a table, near the edge. Taunting me, daring me to move them. This time I gave into the urge and pushed them out of harms way. My mind was at peace knowing that these monstrous scissors would bring no one harm…at least not that time.

It constantly amazes me the way having children changes your perspective on the world. Things that seemed so important before fade to distant memories, while things you would have never considered before having kids (like a safe location for scissors) are always on your radar. I definitely believe in giving my children room to explore and make mistakes, but I still believe in the importance in safe guarding them against things and situations that can cause them true harm. I do my best to constantly expose them to new ideas, new experiences, and new ways of looking at the world. It is important to me that they have all the opportunities I had and especially the ones that I did not.

My children are my world, and now that I am parent I am out to safe guard the world for them, one pair of scissors at a time.