Accidents

GS1 fell down the stairs when he was about 8 months old (Daddy had forgotten to shut the gate!) I had a panic stricken phone call from DD and rushed straight round. I assured her that any child making that much noise wasn't fatally injured but we took him to the surgery and the GP agreed with me. His brother fell down the stairs when he was about 2. Banged his leg a bit but no real damage.

DS was a regular at A&E for stitches at one time. Always falling over, off or out of things. DD who did the really dangerous stuff like gymnastics and riding never had any injuries!

Lots of falling down stairs with many of us! My second daughter did when she was crawling as the stairs were immediately outside her room.
But - how many of us have Grandfather Clocks? My youngest had watched his daddy pull the chain each day to wind the clock up and one day while I was upstairs getting ready for play school …. an almightily crash … rushed downstairs to find him pinned under the crashed grandfather clock, with broken glass all around him from the clock face. Thankfully he was completely unhurt.
I didn't know then about chaining these clocks to the wall, and we still have this clock (repaired!) but it is safely chained up so our grandchildren can't do the same thing.

I remember my 3ish year old nephew falling into the water at a fish farm. The next thing he was bobbing up and down and this aunty without hesitation jumped in and pushed him out towards his granny who then pulled him out. I was left to grab on to the grassy verge and pull myself out and only then did I realise there were fish starting to nibble at my ankles. I'm pleased to say my nephew was okay however I was traumatised by the thought of these fish around my ankles and the wet soggy jeans which I had to keep on until I got home.

I was babysitting my eldest GS then about 18 months old when he tripped in a doorway right next to me and cut his head on the doorframe. Blood everywhere! After stopping the bleeding with cold wet kitchen towel and putting avplaster on I phoned my son at work. He said phone baby's mum , my DiL. She'd left a list of phone numbers so stupidly in a panic I phoned the number listed as Mum, only to get her mother of course who lives nearer and babysits mire often, so I had to confess to the accident! Eventually got DiL who came home from work early (i was at their house with no car) and we took him to A& E where he had butterfly stitches. I felt dreadful that my perfect grandson was scarred - in fact hes proud of the scar now (age 10) as it makes him look like Harry Potter! But his dad my son keeps saying in that case Grandma is Voldemort as she did it. Hes joking but I feel awful - i protest that i saved him! Ive lost count of the times GS and other GC have tripped in same doorway with parents present and they havent even turned round - but rhey never cut their heads! I am now neurotic every time I babysit!

My eldest granddaughter was scooting around outside the holiday cottage we were renting. I had only just finished telling her to slow door when off she came. After a trip to A&E she had her arm plastered to the elbow having fractured both bones near her wrist. Was like that for over 6 weeks. Felt so guilty but my daughter took the attitude that it could have happened if she had been there too and it was just part of growing up that these things happen!

I think our "best" accident with dgc was when Grandad taught DGD to slide down a pole at the park.

She was doing it perfectly safely so he decided to film her...and she came down "hands free" thumping to the ground before he could drop his phone and grab her.

All caught perfectly on camera including her limping ?

Just last week DGC learnt that it isn't just the dishes of hot food that are hot when you remove them from the oven - the oven shelves are hot too! I never thought to caution her not to reposition the shelves for me. On the whole we've had fewer accidents with the GC than with our children and DGC has had worse accidents whilst not with us, so we don't feel too bad.

in our household we try and raise children to have an age appropriate understanding of risks and dangers and to teach them to assess these for themselves. The same applies to us! So when occasional mishaps happen we try and have a blame amnesty and concentrate on learning lessons.

Referring to my previous post: there was the occasion when DGS2, aged 9 phoned to tell me he had broken his elbow falling off the shed roof! What was he doing on the shed roof? His dad's fault for leaving a ladder lying around! And the elbow was bruised, not broken. That child has a charmed life - I hope!

My children were taught by their father to be 'risk aware' from a very young age, but nevertheless were encouraged to take considered risks. Surprisingly they have had few accidents and none of them serious, but I spent a lot of their childhoods 'not looking' as they engaged in activities designed to give a mother palpitations. Fast forward and my daughter is raising her boys the same way. She did have a stair gate for a short time with her eldest, but to my consternation she quickly decided it was better to teach the children to come safely down the stairs and now at the ages of three and six neither of them has ever fallen down them.

DGS was sent to stay for a few days on his own. He had just learned to ride a two wheeler bike without stabilisers.
We took him to the bike shop to buy a safety helmet as he didn't have one. We then took him for a little ride on the footpath alongside the river while we walked by his side. The path was a little narrow at one stage so I walked just behind and at that moment he turned round to check that I was there and went down the bank and into the river head first. Luckily it was very shallow so fishing him out was no problem however the handle bar on the bike went under his crash helmet into his eye. We spent the rest of the day in A&E. He had an X-ray and tests and mercifully there was no lasting damage,just a very black eye and a huge dent in the new cycle helmet.
When I spoke to his mother on the phone I was given "the third degree " and was definitely blamed,as if I didn't feel really bad already. He was never allowed to bring his bike again although I was still expected to have both him and his brother and sister to stay every school holiday!!!!!

whitewave my granddaughter shut her little finger in our kitchen door when she was two. I have never heard screaming like it. I was so upset. Luckily her dad was there to comfort her and to give her Calpol.

White wave I trapped sons fingers in car door we had gone to coast for day luckily a lady in camper van brought some cold water I felt terrible he had been holding my hand seconds before after incident we always shouted fingers before shutting doors these things happen

The worst thing I have ever done in my life was at daughter's house. We were just finishing dinner. Little feller was crawling around on the floor. As I went to get up I scooted my chair back. Onto his sweet, dear, little finger. [howlllll] (that's me, remembering it)

I didn't know he was there!

(finger was fine. Thank the Lord. Really)

No hug for you either then !

Not that day. Although he's never held it against me.

Mind you, bit different from allowing a one year old loose at the top of a staircase.

Depends on the size of the house. Small house with little landing they can be out of your grasp and roly poly away as you blink. If you live in Downton Abbey then you have a chance of catching up before they've got to the top of the stairs. DH always said babies bounce as they have no fear.

I also think children find things to turn into accidents which no one would ever imagine. My dgs1 was about a year old in his other grandparents beautiful home in Paris. They had not long been there. We were all chatting around the hearth(no fire) when the little chap pulled the cast iron crested fireback on top of himself. No one knew it was separate or loose. It was like watching in slow motion. He was indignant but fine with a lovely bump.

Bedrooms have doors. In fact, all rooms upstairs have doors.

My DD aged about 3 decided to climb into her wardrobe which had drawers at the bottom. She stood on the top drawer and the whole wardrobe fell down onto her - by sheer luck she was OK as the wardrobe landed with the top end on her bed and created a triangular space underneath into which she just fitted. We bracketed it to the wall after this incident. But you cannot predict for everything and be one step ahead all the time.

Sorry Jings, not all upstairs rooms have doors. A previous apartment i lived in had an open Pine staircase leading to a large bedroom on a Mezzanine floor, and DD and SIL have a spiral staircase leading from the large living area to a bedroom/bathroom suite, Door on the bathroom but the bedroom is acessed directly from the stairs. this is an early 19th century house which has been through a lot of conversions.
Dgs was taught to use the stars as soon as able, DD is the accident prone one.

Granddaughter fell down my stairs as a toddler after she'd become safe on stairs. Now 16 she tells me she did it on purpose to see what it was like - aaaah.
I gave the younger of two grandsons a furry Pokemon suit, complete with hood and face. SiL was in their basement living room, both boys were at the top of the steep stairs. He looked up to see an apparent large teddy bear dropping down. GS2 was bemused but unhurt, GS1 never really explained what happened.

Maggiemaybe what a nice lady you are.

That's very kind of you, amberdogxK9, though I'm not sure everyone would agree. Welcome to Gransnet!

I still have a little circular scar like a pock mark in the middle of my forehead. I tried to see what my mother was doing when she was sealing a letter with sealing wax and she accidentally dripped a bit onto my head. I was 2 at the time and reminded her about it regularly for the next 50 years

GS aged 6 executed a leapfrog over a bollard and missed, landing on his arm. As the rest of the family were walking ahead of him unaware of his antics, it was left to a passing backpacker to shout at them. The bone stuck out at an alarming angle and had to be pinned. He sports a wonderful 6" scar. Soon afterwards his DM, my daughter, carrying a pile of washing, tripped over an abandoned skate board which flipped up, hit her in the mouth and chin, removing 3 teeth and necessitating plastic surgery.......I could go on, but it becomes boring. The family are well known at the local A&E.

My GD fell off a slide and broke her elbow when she was visiting a friend's house with her parents. The other grandmother and myself both had the same reaction. 'Thank goodness it didn't happen when she was out with us!'
It was a very harsh lesson but it my DiL realised that accidents will, and do, happen no matter who is looking after the children.