Yikes! I apologize if anyone thought that I was singling people out here. I can’t really blame people for that first flash of “What’s wrong with these parents?” because I thought that when I read the OP. About a second later I realized that this happens to even the most attentive parents.
So please, anyone who thought I was talking about them, accept my apology for casting that thought too widely.
It’s a good thing that the mom checked on the baby at 3 am. I think we can all imagine how this would have turned out if she hadn’t checked on the baby until morning.
We had to install latches on our screen door because my toddler kept leaving whenever the adults were occupied (almost always while I was doing the dishes, actually). Luckily, the deadbolt on the front door is so sticky that I often can’t undo it.
Zenster, you hitch-hiked from Silicon Valley?
Obsidian Flutterby, you missed our Edmonton Dopefest this weekend.
I didn’t think that you were picking on one person, but I did think that you were upset in that it was even mentioned in general.
But like you said, it ran through your head all the same. It is in a sad way a natural reaction because of the way the world has started to see things.
First nothing is done years prior, and now they go into over kill. Why can’t they find a happy medium and regulate the system.
When my son was two, I took him in to the ER because I thought he had broken his arm at the babysitters house. See, I didn’t see his arm for a few hours after I got him home since he was wearing longs sleaves and wasn’t complaining.
I took off his shirt for dinner and found a bump the size of a baseball on his forearm.
I rushed him in and when I couldn’t answer their questions the nurse called human services. The doctor looked at the ex-ray and realised that the arm wasn’t broke, so she did blood work.
Thank goddess she did!
We found out that Dylan had a platlet disorder and he was near death since his blood wouldn’t clot, and we had to rush him to the big hospital for IV’s. But until we got him there we had to worry about brain hemorage.
I couldn’t answer questions because I was at work when it happened, and the babysitter was not home when we tried to reach her. So they asked why if he took such a fall to hurt himself like that didn’t the babysitter tell me? Well, the doctor explained to them that all it took for him to get a bruise that big was to bump his arm on a coffee table.
It was a good call for them to call human services, but they made me feel like a criminal.
When there are children that are beaten and abused and brought in on a daily bases that they don’t get involved with.
Five of us were talking about this at work today, and we all had horror stories to share about what toddlers can do, and how lucky we all were that our kids survived to adulthood.
Kids who unlatch seatbelts, unhitch themselves from car seats, open locked doors and cabinets and “childproof” containers, find the matches, eat things you couldn’t **
conceive** of being attractive (ashes from the fireplace, dead bugs, Legos!) – one horror after another.
Now we’re watching out for the grandkids! (Well, some of us are, my kids still won’t breed.)
Just thought a little update was in order.
From all appearances the little girl whom the community has dubbed “Miracle” looks as if she is going to make an excellent recovery and doctors do not believe that she will suffer any brain damage.
This little girl still has a long way to go, there could be skin grafts or even amputation needed because of the frostbite she suffered. Reading today I discovered that one of the paramedics that initially treated her also was involved in a similar case that happened in 1994, in Regina.
It’s all here:
When I was a tot, my mom was gardening while I was supposedly napping. She turned around to see me walking down the yellow line of our not-too-quiet street.
Another time, at about 2 or 3, I disappeared somehow. Everyone was looking for me. Finally someone found me playing in the park, 5 blocks away. One of the streets I crossed was very busy, and had a stoplight. When my mom asked how I crossed, I said I pushed the button and waited for the light (more proof that young kids are smarter than we think-or at least I was).
My parents brought my along to a hot tub party where evryone was drinking champagne. Apparently I finished a few while no one was looking, and wound up floating on my stomach for a brief moment.
Help from others wasn’t always key- I also climbed up onto the counter and got into the cough syrup. I had a hankerin’ for that sweet, sweet Triaminic, and downed whatever was left in the bottle. I passed out on the floor.
I’m sure there’s more that I have forgotten. Guess someone is looking out for me.