Hey you! Yes, you with the kid on your shoulder. And you throwing that baby into the air and then catching it. And you kids riding bikes without helmets. Stop it. All of you need to just stop.
At the risk of sounding like . . . no, scratch that, I know that I’m going to sound like an overprotective old shrew, but it is worth repeating. I guess that’ s why us moms sound like a broken record a lot of the time — we will just keep repeating this stuff until somebody listens. Or until it gets so far under your skin as to ingrain itself in your very essence and you will never, ever be able to engage in that behaviour without feeling fundamentally uneasy. (Now that I’m a parent there’s a whole torrent of warnings from my childhood that I simply cannot stomach: kids on balconies, kids running onto elevators — what if it’s not there?!, ink on skin, and young babies bearing weight on their legs, to name a few.) Some of these nagging warnings are just our own particular peeves, but some are real hazards. This is hazard number one.
An article from Sick Kid’s Hospital’s AboutKidsHealth website states, “In Canada and the United States, unintentional injuries rank as the number one cause of death and a leading cause of hospitalization for children older than one year. Toddlers and preschoolers experience most injuries in and around the home with the most common injuries being falls, burns, and poisonings.” It then goes on to describe a study that shows that parental protectiveness may help safeguard against in-home injuries. As a mother who has watched her son tumble down stairs on more than one occasion, fall onto his head off beds and sofas, and called poison control about a vitamin overdose I can see how that’s probably true.
Let me focus on head injuries for now though. Family friends recently spent a couple day in hospital when their six-year-old took a tumble on his way down from dad’s shoulder and smacked his head on the sidewalk. He had some temporary blindness followed by a loss of consciousness and a seizure. He has come to now and the test results show no permanent damage. It looks like he will make a full recovery. Thank goodness. They were told that kids falling off shoulders is actually a big cause of the head injuries that come into Sick Kids.
But how often do we hoist our kids up onto our shoulders? Or turn our back when they are on their way down stairs? Or let them try the big kid monkey bars? Or let them ride their bike just around the block without a helmet? It seems like a fair risk at the time, I know. I mean, what are the chances that something will happen? Probably not great. Probably, you’ve done this a million times before and everything has been fine. But it only takes one time. Just one bad fall and your child might never be the same again.
Head injuries can be extremely serious. They can result in brain damage or even loss of life. When weighing a risk you have to measure the odds of something happening versus the magnitude of that event. Just like it might be worth buying a lottery ticket if the payout is great enough, it is worth taking extra caution if the consequence of injury is severe. What is there to gain by taking the chance? Some minor amusement? A few minutes of time saved? A sense of daring (that is really only stupidity)?
We can’t be everywhere all the time. Boys will be boys and all that. Accidents happen. Sure. But please let’s exercise caution where we can. (Here’s some safety tips.) Let’s really drive home how dangerous certain behaviours are. Then maybe, maybe, they’ll remember even when we are not there.