As a parent, it is a daily struggle to keep your kids injury free. More than 20.6 million kids (roughly 56,000 each day) are injured each year, and 90 percent of those injuries occur in the home. At the risk of being over protective, or paranoid, we incessantly remind our children about being careful, and not banging their brother in the head with a plastic golf club.
For example, last night we had a perfectly fine night at a neighbor’s home. As we do sometimes when my husband is traveling for work, we went over there to let our neighbor’s 2-year-old daughter play with my almost 4-year-old and nearly 2.5-year-old boys. They played wonderfully, and we all had a great time. As the 8 o’clock hour approached, I desperately tried to rein in my boys so we could make the trek across the street and begin the bedtime ritual. They were attempting a not-so-safe jump off the sofa arm, and I stopped them short with an, “Okay guys, it’s time to go. Please step down off the sofa, and let’s get our things to go home.”
I immediately saw the tears and frustration well up in their tiny eyes. “But Mama, we’re going to jump off holding hands like a family!” my oldest pleaded. Well, how could I resist their good-natured fun, so I yielded to spontaneity, and allowed them “just this one” jump off the sofa so I could be a good guy and then we could happily go home.
It’s never that easy though, is it? Well, they held hands, jumped giggling, and then collided mid-air, with the oldest’s head conking the little one’s nose and mouth—they tumbled in a heap on the floor crying. I immediately grabbed the youngest in my arms, knowing full well that soft tissue usually doesn’t fare as well as a hard skull does. I exclaimed trying to sound not as concerned as I was, “Oh boy, oh boy…are you guys okay?”
The little one writhed in pain, crying uncontrollably. I held him and tried to calm him, until I saw blood in his mouth, and a trickle of blood from his right nostril. Then the panic set in. I immediately went to work performing “mama emergency medical,” asking for napkins, a soft towel and a baggie of ice. It’s amazing how we can go into that mode where we can’t see anything but helping our child. Nothing else matters in that moment.
So this was how my stint of being alone with our boys started. I hate when stuff like this happens on “my watch.” As I said before, and especially with boys, it’s a daily (sometimes by-the-minute) struggle to keep the kids injury free. I know compared to some family accidents, this wasn’t too severe. I’m glad we haven’t had to rush to the hospital yet for such an accident, and hope it is a long time before we do. I’m not so naïve to think we never will—after all, we do have two boys.
In the interest of this being Childhood Injury Prevention Week (September 1-7, 2010), here’s how you can advocate for more accident-free days in your home:
- Poisonings: Lock all items out of your child's reach. Use child resistant containers.
- Drownings: Never leave children unattended near pools, toilets, bathtubs, showers, hot tubs, animal troughs, outside pails, and diaper pails.
- Fires and Burns: Keep children away from stoves and fireplaces. Lock up lighters and matches. Keep smoke detectors and fire extinguishers functioning. Check water temperature before bathing children.
- Choking: Keep the house free of small objects and foods that could pose a choking threat (including pennies).
- Falls: Secure windows, and doors. Remove tripping hazards and keep paths well lit. Bathroom surfaces should be non-slip.
- Electrical: Cover outlets and keep plugs locked. Secure cords to prevent tripping.
- Suffocation/Strangulation: Keep all plastic wraps and garbage bags out of reach. Keep wires, cords (for example, the one on window blinds or shades), and strings out of reach.
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Resources:
www.healthline.com Childhood Injury Prevention Week: September 1-7
www.safekids.org Safe Kids USA
Christine Jeffries has been a writer/editor for work and at heart for the past 15+ years following the achievement of her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and journalism. She happily lives in a home of testosterone with her husband and two sons. Christine is interested in women’s health and promoting strong women. She started a women’s group in Phoenix and Kansas City that has been gathering monthly since 2002.