Overprotective Parenting?

I've heard that parents tend to over worry with their first child. Boil the pacifier every time it drops, bathe every day, sanitize everything, freak out if anything random starts to find it's way towards baby's mouth. I developed a good dose of maternal instinct when Elliot was born, but the germa-phobia and excessive worry never took over. Keith asked me the other day what I think we'll be like with a second child when we've already started out so relaxed with Elliot. What's he sucking on? I don't know but it doesn't look too dirty. Does he need a bath? Nope - I think he had one within the last week or two.

Elliot is starting to crawl all over the house and be into everything so we're starting to talk about baby proofing. Meanwhile we've been going to a Love and Logic parenting class at a church out here. In our last class the leader made a comment about how parents control their children's environment so much that they don't allow them to learn from the natural consequences of things. Her example? Baby puts something in the outlet. It won't kill them, but it'll hurt enough to teach them not to do it again. But parents deprive their children from learning that lesson by covering up the outlets.

Ok so maybe I have a little more worrying in my nature than that. I think I'll still cover my outlets. So where exactly do you draw the line? Elliot climbed/fell out of his crib the other week. I imagine it hurt (although he was crawling calmly on the floor when I went in and discovered it), but we still lowered the crib just in case he didn't quite learn from the consequence the first time. Even if he his one tough little boy, it protects my heart from breaking at the thought that my baby may have been hurt or scared for even a moment over such a large fall. But with many things to come, I imagine I will have to suffer the parental empathy as I allow Elliot to suffer the consequences of actions he must learn from. I just pray God will give me the wisdom to find that balance.