Water fountains...

Jemma loves water fountains... yes, pretty typical for a kid. She has been fascinated with water fountains since we first began MyGym when she was 11 months old and watched an older kid drink from the water fountain. At first she only wanted to watch, then she wanted to put her hands in the water and eventually she learned to drink from the fountain. Now, at 3 1/2 she wants to drink from any and every water fountain that she sees... which typically is acceptable...

Saturday, May 24, Jemma and I went to Atlantic Garden Center to purchase some plants. She helped me pick out two tomato plants, cucumber plants, a green pepper plant, two gerber daisies for the front containers, and a couple of other ornamentals that I forget the names of. Then, I was looking at the herb selection (which was huge and hard to pick from) while she looked at the water fountains on display. She was just looking and I had given strict instructions to not move from the fountain display while I browsed amongst the herbs. When I glanced back at Jemma, I noticed that she was no longer just looking, but putting her hands into the fountains... so I told her to not get too wet... I couldn't deny her touching the water because it was just too tempting for a little girl. After I selected my Keylime basil and lavendar plants, I looked and Jemma was DRINKING from the fountain! I freaked out and ran over yelling, "Red light... stop... don't drink that water!!" She so innocently looked at me and said, "But it is a water fountain." I did my best to explain that it was a decorative water fountain with possible chemicals from the plants as I noticed that it had green stuff in the water... I struggle with finding that balance of "let them explore and be kids" & "don't let them hurt/kill themselves or others." Where is that instruction manual?!?