Snow White's Magic Blood

While at work one afternoon I received a phone call from Snow White's kindergarten teacher. "We had a little accident. Don't worry." Mothers every where immediately go into a slight sweat and panic mode when they hear these words from a teacher, school nurse or any faculty member from school. Why is there always a slight pause after they say this? Is the pause for dramatic affect? Is it to see if they "got you"? Shocked the life out of you? Then they say "Are you there?" If you answer with even a meek ahuh they seem to be either relieved or surprised you did not faint then tell you what happened. In our case so far (knocking on wood) it has always been something very minor but they wanted to make sure I knew what had happened.

On this particular day Snow White was playing during recess and tripped. The teacher explained it looked like Snow White had a terrible fall but to her surprise only emerged from the asphalt with a small cut on the tip of her index finger. Normally they would not have called me but due to the extreme scene that followed they thought it best. At first Snow White quickly sprung up from her sprawled out fallen position. Then another little girl screamed ~~BLOOD! OH MY GOSH SHE IS BAAALEEEEEDDDING!!!~~ Soon all the children on the playground were screaming. The teacher walked over to check out Snow White then instructed her to go to the nurse for a Band-Aid. That was when Snow White looked at her finger. As far as she could recall, she had never seen her own blood before. That small little drip of blood accompanied with the screams of her peers made her think something terribly wrong had just happened. The teacher called because Snow White was very distraught throughout the remainder of the day.

When I came home I asked to see her booboo. She was adamant that I not remove the Band-Aid. She was sure removing it would make the booboo worse. Many children all over the world seem to have this fear of Mommy, Daddy or anyone looking at their booboo would make it hurt more. How many of us have said "I only want to look at it" and have the child scream or cry saying "No! No! It will HURT!" I bribe her with a brand new Scooby Doo glow in the dark Band-Aid but first I need to take off the old one. She agrees and I carefully remove the school Band-Aid revealing a very tiny booboo which is no longer bleeding. When she sees the dried blood on the cotton portion of the old Band-Aid she starts screaming, giant tears race down her face as she makes garbled demands for me to quickly put the Scooby-Doo Band-Aid immediately!

Eventually she calms down and plays with her toys. She refused to use the hand with the booboo and every once in awhile when she seemed to remember the booboo she would hold that hand up straight in the air and give out a sad little sigh. While getting ready for her bath she refused to take off the Band-Aid. I assured her we had plenty more. She would have none of that so it staid on when she went into the tub. She gleefully played in the tub after I washed her up. When it was time to get out and I was drying her off she realized the Band-Aid had come off. More crying and shrieking shrills! I replaced it with a brand new Scooby-Doo Band-Aid. I calmed her down by turning off the bathroom light to see the glow-in-the-dark effect.

By bedtime she was exhausted due to the "big" ordeal that took place that day. As I tucked her in bed she held her arm straight up, pointing the bandaged finger toward the ceiling. I kissed her goodnight and turned off the lights so she could admire the glowing Band-Aid. A few minutes later I returned to her room due to the whimpering noises I heard. She was worn out and sobbing. When asked what was wrong she said "I just cannot hold this arm up any more. My arm is tired and I cannot do it any more. Mommy will you hold my arm up so I can sleep?" I asked her why and she said in her little sobbing voice.

Snow White: "Mommy if you don't the EMTs are going to get me."
Me: "What EMTs?"
Snow White: "I dunno. William said they would come and get me."
Me: "Tell me what all William said."
Snow White: "When he saw all the blood he yelled 'Someone call the EMTs! We are loosing her! She is going to die! She has lost a lot of blood!' "

With that I did what any mother would do. I faked a coughing fit to cover up my laughter! It sounded like William has watched too much TV. I explained that EMT are not some type of blood sucking monsters. That they help people all the time and they are good people. They help people who are really sick until they can get to the hospital. They are just like doctors and want to make you all better.

She was still crying and said "You have to hold my arm up so I can sleep. I am tooooo tired. If you don't I will bleed to death. I will die Mommy if you don't do it. You don't want me to die."

That was when I realized she had never seen her own blood before. Well, she had skinned her knees before and had other booboos but never really had seen one drip of her own blood.

I then explained to her..."Honey, you have magic blood. Your body is magic, it makes new blood if you get a booboo. Your body also repairs it's self. The blood dries and your body makes new skin to cover up the booboo."

Snow White: "Really? I am really Magical?"
Me: "Yes, Snow White, you are truly a Magical Little Girl."

She finally let her arm rest by her side and fell fast asleep.

In the morning she could not wait to take the Band-Aid off to see if her blood was really magical. She ran into my room proclaiming her excitement! Mommy! Mommy! My Magic Blood stopped the booboo!! It's not bleeding any more!!"