Are Your Kids Accident-Proof?

[Jessica at Parenting.com]

In the September issue of Parenting magazine, we discuss the ongoing battle to keep our children free of broken bones, concussions, cuts, and bruises.

Some suggestions include taking safe rides in the shopping cart, keeping them out of harm's way in the kitchen, and not necessarily trusting those "child proof" caps to your prescription bottles.

Let's hear it from the group! What are your biggest safety concerns with your kids?

And while we're on the subject, what's the scariest accident your little one has ever had?

[fuzzy2]

The biggest safety concern for me is stairs and the couch!Whenever we go places with stairs he runs(could be an olympic athlete I'm sure)and I swear he'd go right off and not think about it twice!Same with the couch,he can climb on it now and he's fallen off it soo much!I'm surprised he never really hurt him-self:)One day(last week?) he was looking like he was going to walk off the couch so,I said "Logan if you want to be on the couch,you need to get down the right way!"He gave me a very understanding look,turned around and got off the right way!I was like if i had of only known it was that easy I would of said that a long time ago:)

[myboysmom]

I know this is going to sound horrible, but I'm not a neglectful mom, I swear! My two year old is very curious, and doesn't take the first answer/experience as enough to go by. Twice this year he has had some form of shelving fall over on him! Thankfully he was not hurt either time (which may have led to incident #2). The first was in our toy room at home. He was trying to put a toy back on the high shelf. All he did was step on that very bottom step and over it went on him! I think it scared me and his older brother more than it did him! The second was a month ago we were at an auction and there was an old metal cabinet with doors standing on the grass. He opened one of the doors and it went off-balance and toppled on him. That one scared him a bit more, I think, but within seconds he was off exploring the next thing!
My personal biggest fear for him is the street. We live a block down from where all the businesses are in town, so our street gets quite a bit of traffic. I don't leave him outside unsupervised because I can't trust him to stay back like I could his older brother at that age.

[bunny323]

I think I may hover over them too much for fear of them getting seriously injured. I have this coffee table that has been passed down through my mother's side and as horribly ugly this table is, I still love it and have it in my living room. I have this huge fear of my younest SS jumping on the couch, like what he is always doing time for, and falling off only to smack his head on that table and crack head open. My cousin did the same thing when she was about three. She was running around the same table in my parents house when she tripped, fell against the table and had to go to the emergency room for stiches. So with that I am constatly watching our youngest and he is always and forever getting talks, time out and even spankings for jumping on the couch.

As for our oldest, he and his daddy got this bright idea of getting a skate board for him for his birthday. I knew I was sounding just like my mother but I still ended up telling them both that he could "break his neck" on that thing. I remember as the words came out of my mouth I was seeing my mother's face in my head. At the same time, it is true! I am so scared to open the door one afternoon to his friends coming to get one of us because he is hurt and we have to make that trip to the ER.

Oh lord what I am going to be like when I have one of my own!

[Jessica at Parenting.com]

Well, I'm finally used to my 15-month old having tiny bruises on her legs (all that toddling into stuff and plonking down on the floor).

My two biggest concerns are her love of climbing, and her habit of putting EVERYTHING in her mouth.

Last week, she fell off the couch for the first time and knocked her head on the floor. She wailed, we fussed over her ... 15 minutes later she was trying to climb back up on the couch!

About a month ago, she came *this close* to putting a LIVE moth in her mouth! I think I freaked her out, bolting across the room and yelling "NoNoNoNoNoNo!"
That was a close one...

[haleymom07]

My biggest concern in my house is our fireplace, it has a brick ledge and when she crawls she is like drawn to it for some reason (probably because she isnt supposed to go there!)

The biggest scare came last monday, she was playing in the living room and she pulled herself up onto the coffee table and grabbed the coaster, well she plays with them all the time so i just sat her down and she was playing with it. Then she fell forward and the coaster was sideways and i heart a little *clink* she started crying and when i picked her up she had blood coming out of her mouth, I thought that she had knocked out one of her little baby teeth, we took her to the er and the doc said it had just pushed it backwards so he pulled it forward and said she was fine. Thank god!!! I think i cried way more that she did!

[bunny323]

The biggest scare came last monday, she was playing in the living room and she pulled herself up onto the coffee table and grabbed the coaster, well she plays with them all the time so i just sat her down and she was playing with it. Then she fell forward and the coaster was sideways and i heart a little *clink* she started crying and when i picked her up she had blood coming out of her mouth, I thought that she had knocked out one of her little baby teeth, we took her to the er and the doc said it had just pushed it backwards so he pulled it forward and said she was fine. Thank god!!! I think i cried way more that she did!

I probably would have cried far more than her as well. I am so scared of becoming that over protective parent and at the same time I am scared of one of them getting hurt!

[lovin3]

My biggest safety concern is the grill. We love to play outside and grill during the summer. With a curious toddler who learned to walk at the beginning of summer, I'm always afraid that he'll get too close when DH or I are preoccupied with something else. We have a large, fenced in backyard, so we normally have no concern with leaving the boys outside while we make a quick trip into the house for something. I have to remind my husband constantly that we can't leave when the grill is hot.

The biggest accident we had was when my oldest pulled a kitchen chair backwards down onto himself. He was stuck face up between the hard linoleum floor and the chair. It left a huge (bigger than a golf ball) black and blue goose egg on his forehead. To make matters worse, we had to leave about 15 minutes later to pick up a gentleman that we bring to church. My husband had to work, which meant I went to church with my banged up toddler. Pretty sure I got a few looks!

The craziest safety concern was when this same boy got a couple kernels of corn stuck up his nose. That was fun to dig out!

[craftyashley]

My biggest concern is the other twin! When they were tiny, we had issues of rolling onto each other accidentally. Now one twin rides the other like a horse and pulls her hair. I'm worried they play too rough with each other, and if I turn my back for a minute, Catie could have Addie in a sleeper-hold! (and they're only 20 mos.)

[supermomwannabe]

I can sweep, mop, and vacuum every minute of every day and my 9 mo will still find some tiny little morsel of something yucky to put in her mouth. I'm terrified that she will choke on something.

My 5 yo is a different story though. He is ALL boy and everything he does has to be 100 mph. I'm just waiting for the day he breaks an arm or a leg or something. Doesn't matter how careful I ask him to be, he's still going to be just as rambunctious.

[relocatednyc]

Scariest accident:
I was babysitting for an 18 month old and she was sitting in her booster chair at the kitchen table. When she finished eating, she took both feet and pushed against the edge of the table and her entire chair, with her strapped in it, flung backwards and slammed against the floor. I dashed over and she cried, and I picked her up and she stopped crying and almost felt limp, though conscious. I screamed for her dad, who was just upstairs and working from home on his computer and he ran down. She vomited and we rushed her to the hospital.....an 18 month old with a concussion, talk about a nightmare. :(

[myboysmom]

Just last night my 5yo went to step off of a chair (I know) and stepped right onto my 7week old's car seat which he was napping in. The baby was almost flipped out of the seat, but wasn't, thank goodness!

[lena241]

My DD scariest accident was on Easter Sunday, 2 years ago. She was (2) years old and we were at my in-laws for the holiday. She was good at the stairs, as we had them in our own home, but one of the older kids knocked her off balance and she fell down the stairs. Not a single person knows exactly how far she fell, but she did end up breaking her leg and was in a cast for 6 weeks. We spent the entire Easter Sunday night in the ER having a cast put on her leg. Even after that accident, she feared nothing and would still crawl up and down the stairs, cast and all. By the end of the 6th week, she had taught herself to walk on the cast. It was sad!!!

As far as baby proofing, we never really did this. The only cabinet we locked was the one under the kitchen sick where the chemicals were kept. We then kept the bathroom doors closed, so she would go in. Other than that, our home was safe for her.

[kelly23]

My 18 month old is already into everything and just today, he has figured out how to go down the steps all by himself! He is fast too! My second baby is due in a few weeks so I have to go to the bathroom all the time. Well, I was in the bathroom for about 30 seconds and when I came out, I called his name. He had already made it down all the steps! There are 16 steps total! AHHHH!

[erinL5802]

I dont have to worry about anything yet, but recently while I was visiting my friend, her tiny tiny 1 year old climbed onto the couch and dove off the back. We both just about had heartattacks! Her mom was there 2, and she said she'll only do it once, but me and my friend said well what if she falls the wrong way(her neck?!). So now there whole living area is blocked off by baby gates.

[erinL5802]

I was babysitting my husbands nephew and there was one of those water things that you could get from Brookstone or something where you put the scent in and it makes pretty colored gas or smoke on top of a filing cabinet. I went into the kitchen(this filing cabinet was right by the kitchen) and i heard a crash. I ran to see what happened. Turns out Daniel pulled the filing cabinet ALMOST down,not all the way, and the water thing fell on top of his head. It roke because of his head. He didnt cry or anything, and he just flung his hands in it. I took a step and cut my foot on a piece of glass.Luckily,though, he wasnt hurt!