Stung

Yesterday was a nice day and I had a bit of time to kill while my youngest was in preschool, so I went for a run. As usual I ran barefoot and, as usual, I had a very pleasant time. After the run I did a cool down walk and some stretching, and then cut across the lawn of the preschool to get back to my car. That's when I stepped on a bee. It was unpleasant. I've been stung quite a lot in my life and I hate it every time. It's something that you never quite get used to. 
Later on I was telling my wife about it and she held little sympathy. I run barefoot, what do I expect? It was just a matter of time! I pointed out to her that in all my many years barefoot upon this planet, this is the first time I've ever been stung in the foot. I argued that stepping on a bee was a pretty low occurrence thing. To back up my claim I put forward the fact that I've been stung in the lips three times in my life, and only once in the foot. Perhaps we should worry less about wearing shoes and more about wearing full face helmets?
Sometimes I think we spend a lot of parental energy worrying about the wrong things. We talk about how to stay safe around strangers, but it's far more likely that a child will be harmed by a person they know than a stranger. We worry about school shootings when most children who are shot are shot accidentally in their own homes. We tell them that drinking, using drugs, and having premarital sex are bad, but we don't admit that it's the consequences that are bad, while the actions themselves can be quite a good time.
I'm not sure what my final conclusion about all of this is. My foot is incredibly itchy and that makes it hard to concentrate and type. I think we spend a lot more energy on things what we're worried about than the things that our kids should be worried about. We feel like we know the people we know, and that we have control over the guns around us, but what other people might do and what guns they might pick up are scary. We worry about what would happen in our lives if we let vices in, especially when we see them destroy the lives of those around us. Maybe the next time I'm warning my kids about walking barefoot though the grass I'll start to worry more about their lips than their feet, and I'll realize that even the simplest parts of parenting aren't as simple as they seem.