Skinned their knees

Rabbi Schisler(my fav South African rabbi) talked about our children 'skinning their knees.' For me, it's an awakening. It's normal, according to him, that parents tend to over-protect their children. We don't want them hurt, rejected, and even get sick. When Toti was few days old, I had a hard time accepting that she's going to be facing the world full of viruses, and bacteria, and problems. She was a healthy 7.20 lbs little Buddha. She had colds, skin allergies(dairy), and sleep disorder(nurse thinks it's normal). She was a precious little bundle to mum and dad, and older brothers. Like most loving mothers, I was (and still is) a very nervous, protective mother, that when she's ready for kindergarten, I wept. Too young to face the whole world. But she loves being around other kids. One day, she came home telling us that 2 smelly boys bullied her, and she proudly told us that she dealt with them with her diplomatic instrument, the so called 'don't you ever do that again,or else!' bullet. These 2 boys are identical twins(Daniel and David). But one day, she came home crying . "Amanda, my best friend is going back to Switzerland!?" she sadly mumbled. Toti was the 'Protector' of Amanda from the Rascal Twins. They were inseparable. Amanda phoned her from the Alps one afternoon while at Kindy, and they talked for 'ages'.
Toti had few but precious best friends. Even at a very young age, she gets extremely sad when they leave to shift to another town. She said to us one day, she wished she had lots of little brothers and sisters. More than once she thought that she's been rejected by friends 'cause they always leave her behind all the time. She plays alone in her playroom, although we get to invite her other 'less' best friends around often, but she gets tired of them after few hours. She had some issues when she started school. "My classmates were all babies, "she grumbled. After few weeks, she was moved up to the next class. She was a bit happy, but she thinks she's not learning a lot. The principal measured that Toti has a reading ability of a 12 years old. We had struggled a little while about her getting lazy with her school works. Her teacher suggested that we'll find a special school for gifted children. She was losing interest in everything. Until we decided to try the Christian school. She liked the set-up, adjusted after the first term.