The sight of that scared me to death. The worst part was, it was my fault.

As a parent, you hold yourself responsible for many things that happen to your kids even if you didn’t intend it that way. For me, this was one such occasion.

We were out at the “castle park” in Riverview. They have one of those zip line things that goes about 10 feet or so and the kids swing and hang on while it goes to one end. When it reaches the other end, the handle bounces off the side and the kid goes the other direction. Both my kids have played on this thing many times.

This time, Megan wanted to go on it so I picked her up, she hung on, and I pushed her. She wanted to go faster so I pushed her faster and before I knew it, she slipped and landed face first into the gravel. She started screaming and there was a very large bump on her head with blood pouring out everywhere. I was seriously freaked out.

We got her to the hospital and after all was said and done, she got two stitches and was a real trooper. Once she settled down, she was perfectly fine. I however was not.

Having been the one who pushed her a bit faster than she was ready for, I was the one who ultimately caused what happened to her. I’m the one that gave her those stitches and put her through that. What the hell kind of father am I? Tamara kept insisting that these things happen and to not think too much of it. But how could I? I mean, when you do something and it causes one of your kids to go through something painful, do you not feel guilty about what you’ve done?

I spent the better part of a day feeling bad about the whole thing while Megan was already long past it. I’ve tried to make myself realize that I never did anything malicious but it still sits with me. She was spewing blood everywhere and I was the one who indirectly caused it.

It’s now a couple of days later and I have managed to sort of let it go but it still sits with me. I know I am not a bad father but the last thing you want to do is see your kids hurting because of something you did.