The first time I saw a friend at school with a plaster cast on her arm, I remember being fascinated. I didn’t know anything about broken arms so seeing how they were mended seemed strange yet intriguing at the same time.
I secretly wished I had a cast too. I liked the idea of the whole class swarming around me with their felt tip pens eager to sign it and leave supportive messages. I suspect I secretly wanted to receive that same level of attention.
Now IJ is the same age I was then and she is looking at a friend with a broken arm in the same way I did. She has said she would quite like to have a broken arm too, although she doesn’t seem to understand it really would hurt.
But she does have a scab on her arm from falling over in the playground. She’s got tangled up in a skipping rope one lunch hour while playing with friends.
Yesterday she had planned to arrive at school with her arm covered in tissue. She’d picked the scab and had created her own cast with a white tissue. Thankfully the small wound healed quickly and she forgot about the tissue.
Was she simply wanting to appear injured like her friend or is she really in need of some additional attention?
I’m at a slight loss here.
