To see him on the soccer field, dodgeball court, or Ultimate Frisbee course, you'd never know. He's an all-out, gotta-win, go-for-the-gusto kind of player. Therein lies the problem.
Indoor dodgeball on carpet leaves one with nasty rugburns that don't heal. Rather than skip the sports for a week or two until the wounds healed, he bought himself some knee pads. But since he didn't want the knee pads rubbing against the injured body part, he covered the sores with bandages and the whole get-up just created more rubbing. It was a nice try.
Again we tried to convince him to sit it out for a few days but to no avail. After several weeks of an oozing wound, I layed down the law: Either you soak in salt water and then rinse with hydrogen peroxide, or you take up knitting on the sidelines while you watch your friends play. (I honestly don't know if there's anything scientific or medical about the whole salt water/hydrogen peroxide business but it worked for my family growing up and I did find at least one website to confirm this theory.)
"But Mom, it will hurt."
"Not much, Dear. I think you can handle it."
"Soaking for 15 minutes? Are you serious?" (You have to also imagine the whiney voice here)
"Yes, Dear. I think you can handle it."
It's a good thing he has such a nice little sister to hold his hand throughout the trying ordeal. And it was a wonderful opportunity for a teachable moment as we talked about Matthew 5 and being salt in the world. Of course we did have to put up with a lot of moaning and whining in the background. I think it helped get the point across; salt is healing but can also be painful. She seemed to think it all a bit odd.
This is when it got really painful (or so he says).
She's even considering a career in medicine now. Hey, if she can calm even the toughest of athletes, she can calm anyone!
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