Ginny's son Rafe is a hemophiliac. Why do you think he seems intent on pushing his boundaries? Do you think Ginny's choices regarding Rafe are appropriate? What would you have done?

Ginny's son Rafe is a hemophiliac. Why do you think he seems intent on pushing his boundaries? Do you think Ginny's choices regarding her son are appropriate? What would you have done in her shoes?

Kids with hemophilia always want to push the boundaries. This is true of any child with a condition that limits what they do compared to what other kids can do.
Ginny was over protective but that is expected with the situation. It would be hard not to be like she was. It actually is a matter of life and death.

I think most kids want to push boundaries - it's a natural part of growing up. However, in most cases, the boundary-pushing is not a life and death situation. It's easy to look at a situation from afar and think, "well I would have done that differently" but if it's your child and your child's life, that is a whole different kettle of fish. I liked the character of Ginny a lot and felt she did pretty darn well in navigating through life.

It's unclear whether Rafe fully understood his condition and the serious/potentially life threatening consequences, at least during his younger years.
I agree that Ginny was extremely protective but given the severity of hemophilia, I don't think she was "over protective."

All kids push their boundaries and I don't think Rafe gave any thought to the fact that he could possibly die as a result of his actions. Ginny may have been considered to be overprotective but given the circumstances, what parent wouldn't be?

Rafe is her only son and naturally she is terrified that she may lose him. I do think she was over-protective but understand her fears and her desire for Rafe to go onto an excellent college and possibly become a doctor. I also understand that Rafe chafed at her over-protective nature. Any young boy would chafe at that. He didn't want to be constantly reminded that he had a disease that was incurable. I get both sides of the coin and the author handled the dynamic well.

It’s typical of kids to push boundaries. No one wants to be excluded from things or made to feel like the “ odd man out”. Ginny was overly protective but how could she not be? She loved her son and it’s a matter of life and death. Also, I have no idea what type of insurance she had,if any, but I can only imagine the high cost incurred anytime Rafe needed treatment.

Rafe just wanted to be like other kids and do the things they did, and maybe because he couldn’t, he was a bit of a daredevil. But I thought Ginny was an excellent mom and that they had a good relationship. Overprotective? Not considering the situation.

All children push boundaries. Rafe didn’t like being different and he wanted to do what other kids were doing regardless of outcomes. I don’t feel Ginny was overprotective at all. There are many challenges to raises children with severe medical conditions.

If a kid can't be a kid in the same way as all of his/her friends are kids, wouldn't it be natural for them to push the limits? Do they really understand "death"? Ginny did what she thought was necessary to do like most parents would do.

Ginny wants to keep Rafe safe. Rafe, like any teenager, wants to push boundaries, but he is also bound by his condition. He could endanger himself.

I agree with a lot of the other comments. I do feel that the more Ginny tried to "protect" her son, the more he pushed back. I wonder if it would have made a difference if his father had been present in his life. Kids are going to be kids and you can only protect them so much.