Child at gym burnt hand on my hair straightener

[Geraderaus]

I had a rather alarming thing happen this morning and would appreciate your take on it. I was at the gym in the changing room after a work out. I was drying my hair like I do there regularly and had plugged in my hair straighteners and they were sitting on the surface in front of me. I do this regularly, it's allowed to use your own things like this in the gym and many people do.

A woman with a toddler about two years old came next to me and she stared drying her hair. We were both stood up and the toddler was climbing on a little stool. The toddler reached across to my hair straightener (heating up, the plates were very hot) and I quickly said "no don't touch that!" And moved them to my other side further away from the child (who had not touched them by this point). The mother saw this and batted her child's hand away. The mother was not speaking English to the child so not sure if she understood me it in the context it couldn't have been more obvious what was said.

I continued to dry my hair and the child was toddling about and trying to grab things like my make up bag which I just kept moving away from him but it's a small area and it was all within his reach. The mother seemed to tell him off once or twice. When I was still drying my hair the toddler lunged at the straighteners and they fell to the floor burning his arm, probably quite badly. I rushed as best I could to grab them and move them but it happened in a split second and was too late by then. The mother was hysterical and screaming at me in a language I didn't understand, she was furious and other people came over including staff.

The child was taken to hospital and gym staff have noted my name and contact details. Can there be any repercussions for this? What did I do wrong?

There are often children in the gym I go to - they come to use the pool.

Really very much the mother's fault.

My gym has a swimming pool and does water babies lessons, so there are often children there.

You did nothing wrong and she can't sue you for negligence. You have no duty of care to the child. It was not in your care. It's an unfortunate accident.

I'd have had her name and number for potential damage to the straighteners caused directly by her not bothering to supervise her toddler and the straighteners getting chucked on the floor.
What an arrogant woman, shouting at you after failing to supervise her own child when there was an obvious hazard. Poor toddler though.

Sounds more like she felt her drying her hair was more important. We belonged to a week known gym chain when my children were small. I only dried my hair when I was there in my own not when I was swimming with the children.

The shouting was probably a knee jerk fear reaction. I can't see how the mum has a leg to stand on, she should've removed the todddler when they made the first attempt, they rarely give up on an object of interest. Poor kid.

Why did you have them on so long when you weren't using them, especially with a small child around? The only take 30-60 seconds to warm up, if you were still drying your hair you shouldn't have really had them on in that environment in my opinion. Having said that, the mother should have kept a closer eye on her child and i don't see there will be any repercussions for you.

Not sure I agree you are blameless - why we're the straighteners on if you weren't using them yet? They take all of a minut to heat up so surely you could have waited til you needed them?

And I agree the Mum should have been supervising her toddler better - but she may not have appreciated the risk - given the language barrier you moving them away could have been just a "don't touch my stuff" not a warning they were hot. And she may have assumed they were off because you weren't using them.

I'm often with my toddler in the gym changing room (gym has a Creche and I also take her swimming there) and sometimes it's difficult supervising her but I'd never let her near anyone else's make up etc and would move away from the area of she was trying to grab someone else's stuff. You did nothing wrong op, the mum was responsible here.
I wouldn't be surprised if the gym banned people from brining in hair straighteners in the future though.

I agree the mum should have been watching but the moment I realised she wasn't I would have moved my straighteners well out of the child's way. Poor kid. Ouch!

how come there was a child at the gym, surely theyre not allowed for insurance reasons?

X post with happy

You need the name and address of the mother and toddler and of any witnesses. Get the straighteners examined in case they are damaged. You may want to sue the mother for damage to your property and for distress caused to you.
You could also consider reporting this woman to Social Services and suing the gym.

poor kid, but his mum should not have been faffing with her own hair.

When you have a toddler, you spend your time dragging them away from motorbikes (they can get bloody hot), from "nice doggies" and anything dangerous.

I hope the little one is ok, but if the thing just fell down, hopefully the burn won't be too bad.

You are not to blame. The mother should have supervised her child appropriately. Do not feel bad about this.

The worst that could happen is the gym will review their policy on the use of hair straighteners....or alternatively put up signs that children must be supervised. Or both.

I really feel for you, this must have been distressing and now a worry for you over the Xmas period. It was totally the mothers fault, she failed to supervise her child. I'd be mortified if my kids constantly grabbed at someone else's things even if it wasn't going to hurt them. Maybe she shouted at you because she was shocked and distressed. Try. It to worry too much.

She should have watched him more closely. It's awful for them but really...you can't do your makeup or hair in a public place whilst your toddler disturbs other people's belongings! She needed to keep hold of him or move him to another area to do her own hair.

Oh and OP....you won't hear anything back. And he will be ok.x

Not your fault in my opinion. She was aware they were there when she batted her child's hand away.

If I am in a soft play or cafe I would see it as my responsibility to watch my child around hot drinks for example. I wouldn't leave it to somebody else to keep my child out of danger.

Poor child. It's not entirely your fault but out of sheer anxiety I would personally have moved them way out of reach or taken them away until they'd gone, once I'd seen that a kid was mucking around unattended. It's not his fault the mum wasn't preventing him from harming himself so unfortunately sometimes it's up to strangers to do the job for them (I get really anxious at places where tiny children are running around with no obvious parents directly watching!)

Not your fault. My gym only allows children in the pool at weekends for a few hours. I wouldn't be happy if a toddler was messing with my stuff while the mother wasn't supervising. I also dislike it when they bring overage boys in (over 7, I think) who stare at women drying themselves and getting dressed.

there are creches at three of my local gyms.

Absolutely not your fault. I see lots of girls do that in gyms.