Children carried on their dad's shoulders.

Like me, I must stop or I will become a nervous wreck when DGC are around.

Perhaps it's because we are more aware as we get older, having seen a lot of accidents occur!
One or the other of us always seemed to have an accident within a day or so of arriving on holiday!

You are all correct of course, accidents have always happened and always will. The only thing that's changed is me, as I've got older I seem to have developed a heightened sense of danger and can almost see it round every corner. Bit sad really.

I guess everything has its dangers where small children are concerned. I recall my mother arriving at my house in a terrible state,many years ago because she had seen a mother bump a big pram down a kerb and the poor baby flew out and fell heavily to the ground.

One morning, my son, age 5 at the time ran happily in front of me towards the sweet shop and slipped on some autumn leaves. I remember being worried about the way he fell and carried him home and called the ambulance.

He had broken his thigh bone and the ambulance men said it was lucky that I had had the sense not to try and make him stand up. He was in hospital for 5 weeks with his leg in traction.

No way really that such an accident could have been seen coming. He wasn't running very fast.

I fell down the stairs with a 2 month old DD2 in my arms - just slipped on the corner and bumped down every step to the bottom.
She wasn't in a sling; I just remember holding on to her for dear life and hitting every step which resulted in a very bruised backside. DD2 was fine.

A trip caused a pregnancy later Neliiemoser- am sure I've read that wrongly!

Cringing here!
However, DSL carries DGS that way sometimes, my father certainly did it for me and my sisters and when you take into account the millions of times nothing untoward happens, it's all a matter of perspective.
I'm sure more accidents happen involving children in the home or in schools.

Apparently my last ever ride on my granddad's shoulders was aged three, when he ran around the garden joggling me up and down on his shoulders on purpose. I wee'd down his back. Served him right.

The potential dangers cannot be blamed on sling wearers.
If you trip over over a baby in your arms they will still hit the ground possible with you on top of them. I agree though that shoulder height fall is potentially more serious.
I think there is a danger of over thinking these hazards.

If the parents hands are not full they might be able to save themseleves from falling more easily.

I am fairly sure that my back problems developed after I tripped downstairs carrying one yr old DS. I kept "running" to keep my feet under me and landed very heavily on my left ankle which swelled up and was bad for months after. DS was OK as I kept hold of him, probably automatically, and did not try to grab the handrail on the stairs.

I suspect that injury may have generated a stress fracture in my lower back that caused problems a couple of years and a pregnancy later.

I remember reading about a tragic incident several years ago when a small child ran up to her dad as he was getting out of a helicopter. In his excitement at seeing her he swept her up onto his shoulders, and she was hit on the head by one of the helicopter rotor blades and was killed. Such a sad story.

Pogs, when I was a teenager, I loved the Blackpool Mouse, but remembering what it was like, NO WAY would I even consider it now!

Of course it has always been done but I have seen a number of children hitting their heads on doorways because Dad / Mum had forgotten they would be so much higher. I can see the reason when watching a parade or show but there are better ways to carry a child or better still if it really can't walk put it in a pushchair.

Don't start me on the carriers where babies are carried or tied on the front. Frightens me , especially after seeing a Mum with a toddler at her side ,slip in the snow. Baby and Mum were hurt and toddler terrified.

I could never manage it. Always front ways for me. Used to carry clinging little son for miles - arms round my neck, legs clamped round my waist.

Would love those days back again.

dad's shoulders? I used to carry our children on my shoulders too.

Correction to previous post ! Apparently it wasn't a 'sling thing' (thanks DD for correcting me, no change there then!) It is what's called a'kiddi-karrier' and the child can face toward the parent or, as he/she grows to face the way they're walking. This was the case in my example. Fortunately the only damage done was to the dads knees. Wonder if in later life he'll trace his wonky knees back to this incident, at least the baby's face wasn't smashed on the pavement which was the alternative.

Must start wearing specs....for a split second I read that as tie wraps and wondered how child was tied to its mum! I blame my current bout of ill health.

In general, the higher up one's back a load is, the better for one's posture. Piggybacking always seemed to me to be a back and arm wrecking way to carry. You have to lean forward to balance the weight. Shoulder carries are much easier on the back if you've nothing to tie the child on with.

DD uses tie on wraps for her nearly two year old. They spread the weight over hips and shoulders and the child is perfectly safe.

POGS I remember going on The Mouse at Blackpool when I was about 20 or so (and should have known better . It was terrifying - just when you thought you were going to go hurtling over the edge it made a 90 degree turn!
And then I got stuck up on the Big Wheel for about 20 minutes because it stopped working.

I'm more of a scaredy cat nowadays.

Good for him! No-one is saying that A&E is packed out with Dads bringing in children with cracked skulls, just that it is POSSIBLE that falling with child up high on your shoulders could result in the child getting hurt.

Gordon Bennet, you can't say anything on here without someone thinking you are talking a load of . . . . . PCness.

Gordon Bennett! The things some folk worry about!

My DH has carried five children (at different times) on his shoulders now, without any mishaps. The kids love it.

No, jings, when the horse man is going forwards, the child is leaning forwards for balance, so if he trips forwards, that is the direction the child goes. That is how I went when my DH stumbled with me on his shoulders - I landed a couple of yards ahead of him.

The child will instinctively grab at his father's head to save himself, so may not have those hands ready to land on, and so his head could make contact first.

The funniest thing I've seen in a long time was DGD practicing getting up on her dad's shoulders for a Mumford and Sons concert he'd promised to take her to for her 16th birthday. She doesn't weigh a lot but he is very tall.

A small child was sick on my husband whilst being carried on her dad's shoulders. They carried on walking without knlowing anything about it. We were on holiday in Scotland. In a caravan. With not much in the way of washing facilities.

Can't see any harm in it though. The worst that could happen is that the child could go down backwards with the dad hanging onto to its knees! Never seen it happen though.

It makes my stomach turn over when I see tiny children carried like this. It's not so bad when they can have a firm grasp of dad's ears/hair but some are far too young.
A great many accidents can be avoided by a bit of forethought. We spent a summer with DH nagging me as he thought I was being over protective. We were sitting in a cafe and I stifled the urge to tell DS1 to put his glass further on the table, the next moment the glass was on the floor broken and he was having a plaster put on his cut leg. Not serious but I know I could have avoided it.

You probably hit the nail on the head in one way roseqq.

It could well be a subject viewed differently by generations. I give an example of when I was younger I loved fairground rides. Now, I say you must be joking.

There is a ride called the Mouse, I think that's what it's called. in Blackpool. When I was a kid I made a bee line for it. When we took my daughter some 30 odd years ago her dad took her on it and all I could think was, hell this ruddy thing is poitively ancient, the bolts mustmust be rusty and could sheer off any minute.

I did see a child fall onto his head from the dad's shoulders onto a hard floor. The child looked in a bad way and later I saw them rushing towards an ambulance. Ever since then I've thought it was a very bad idea to carry children this way.

I had a baby sling way back in the 70s and people used to give me funny looks but I always kept one hand around the back of the baby's head and was very careful when walking with the sling. I was very sure footed in those days, I don't think I would do it now.