Math,
Re your previous post addressed to me:
The whole post is typical of your de haut en bas style; wordy, assumptive and condescending.
Firstly, do you have a particular qualification in child development to back up your instructions? Secondly, and even more importantly, do you know either my children or the circumstances in detail? To deal with your specific points:
"It really should be primarily because it hurts."
I have taught him "danger" and "dangerous" as two important words. He knows when I say something is dangerous, the reaction will be quick and immediate and he also gets both a simple and detailed explanation of why certain things are dangerous.
"Encouraging empathy (which tends to develop at that stage anyway) is likely to be far more effective as a means of preventing poking of the eyes of others therefore than warnings about causing injury or blindness. "
We have encouraged empathy from a young age. We always ask them both (even at an age where we know they are unlikely to get it) "how would you feel if that happened to you". We also try to remind them of times when similar things have happened and asked them how it felt.
"Your child did not understand on any level the seriousness of what he was doing. You otoh understood the seriousness of what he was doing, or the potential of what he might do with a sharp toy, yet you allowed him to have a sharp object, in the bath where there was another child present, where you might or might not have been in a position to keep control of that sharp object (due to having soapy hands, soapy children, suds all over the place, need to ensure the safety and balance of both children simultaneously in the tub, etc)."
He did not understand it on an adult level but he knew it was "very naughty", so he certainly understood it on a basic level. I do allow them to play with things which are (a little) dangerous and I explain to them how to use them. Yes, I accept that I am taking some risks but I feel that the gains are worth it. They have a good perception of what is and isn't dangerous and are sensible around dangerous things. I heard a paediatrician the other day saying the reason they were seeing so many more injuries in older children is that parents are over protective of younger children and they these same children then see themselves as inviolate and take too many risks when they are older. Your idea of safety over everything else personifies this modern (and dangerous attitude). They also receive a psychological boost of making intelligent decisions about things with real consequences. My children are good at balancing in the bath and, whatever the state of my hands, I am fit enough and dexterous enough to deal with bathing my two children. As soon as the point came anywhere near his brother's eye, I had it away from him.
"If a child was taken to the hospital with an eye injury inflicted by another child while in the tub, the staff of the A&E would want to know why the supervising adult allowed the sharp toy, not why the child poked his brother or how many times he had been told about blindness or other eye injuries. "
Fortunately, unlike you, they would be primarily interested in treating a sick child. Then, with zero accidental prior visits to A&E since our 3 month old fell off a bed (and wasn't actually hurt) they would dismiss it as an unfortunate accident. Not, again, that that is the point.