To ask for your children “near misses”

[Chattycat78]

Earlier today I was wrapping a present and so I was putting the kitchen scissors back in the cupboard after i finished. However I dropped them on the floor on the way back to the cupboard. This wouldn't be an issue if it weren’t for the fact that my 19 month old was near me when I did it!

Now I can’t stop thinking “what if”- what if they had hit him, especially with the sharp end! I’m
Guessing they could have done him some real damage.

I know I need to learn from it rather than “what if” but it isn’t stopping me.

Has this type of thing ever happened to anyone else?

We've had our fair share.

Ds1 was a few weeks old and sitting, unstrapped in his bouncing chair with me sitting beside him when the doorbell rang. I quickly tied the two straps across his middle and went to answer the door. When I came back he had slipped down the chair so that the strap was round his neck.

When ds2 was 10 months

My son fell down about 15 solid concrete stairs when he had not long turned one. He'd managed to open the door as I was getting the buggy together and off he went. I reached him just as he fell down and it honestly felt like my heart stopped. Not a scratch on him, just a tiny bruise on his forehead.

Also forgot to strap him into his car seat the other day on an hours drive home from my mums. I nearly died when I was getting him out and realised.

DS was around 11 months old, and we were swinging him between us. DH didn't hold his hand right, and let go at the highest point. I suddenly had all the weight on one hand, unprepared, and his hand was torn out by the momentum.

It was over very short, rather hard lawn... but it was over lawn. It was the very first time we'd ever swung him over anything but pavement. And he went flying, up and forward, and landed on his back with his skull smacking the ground. If he had been on anything but grass, I honestly think he'd have been killed. It's been over 8 years and I still feel sick remembering it. And though he was tiny, it was literally years before he would let anyone swing him - he remembered it, and at the time was plainly very distressed and scared.

I have had some.

Furniture toppling, bags on head, running into roads, to name a few.

Fell down the stairs whikst carrying DS. Focussed on keeping him upright and out of the way - hit the deck with a nasty thump. DS was fine, I broke my foot in 2 places

A few months ago we were on holiday and my husband had took DD to a shop across the road to get a new hat while DS (3) sat with me. All of a sudden he shot up and ran across the road. So fast I did not react.

The road was usually extremely busy. The only reason he was not hit was because there was luckily a delivery van blocking off all of the traffic. A few mins earlier or later and he would have been dead. It still plays in my mind a lot of the time.

Ds1 wandered off in supermarket, I'm frantically but sensibly searching each aisle before going to customer services to ask for a tannoy announcement.
Nearly clobbered the security guard who refused to get off phone to allow young lad to use it, before another customer (who had overheard me) pointed to a small figure browsing magazine near the doors.

Ds2 regularly put stuff in his mouth and choked, got the dechoking process down to a fine art.

Spent afternoon at A&E with ds1 for

1. Possibly swigging white spirit - luckily my dad and I caught him and shouted NO! which stopped him just as he tipped the bottle. But better safe than sorry.

1. Definitely eating half a packet of Folic acid tablets and vague toddler ramblings about "Big Tablets" (Sudafed)

Both times spent watching lively toddler going nuts with A & E toys.

Now myself as a child, that's whole another story and source of grey hairs for my parents.

Wow that posted itself!
When ds2 was 10 months ds1undid his seat belt whilst I was taking shopping in from the car. Ds2 fell out of the car landing head first on the driveway. Ds2 also fell of the worktop onto his head and lent over the back of a plastic garden chair tipping it and cracking his head on the doorstep both before he was 2. I've also shut his fingers in the car door but he was at least 16 so I'm not accepting full responsibility for that one.
Now I come to think of it I've been less careless with Ds3. I have bumped his head off a door frame but I think most parents do that at least once.

About 6 months ago, my DD who was 4 at the time was playing in her room. I heard a little voice say "Mummy?" very quietly. And then a huge crash and a scream of "MUMMY! MUMMY"
DP and I were only in the next room but we jumped up out of our seats and sprinted into her room to find her under her 5 drawer IKEA unit. All I could do was scream. DP launched himself into the drawers and lifted them off her. She could have been killed. I smashed the drawers up the next day but have heard since there have been safety warnings about this set of drawers. I will never forget it.

I’m a nanny and had three complete heart stopping moments.

22 month old and 3 year old were in the front garden with Dad and Uncle, they were building a wall, almost finished, were just doing the gate posts, Dad boss asked if I’d make a cup of tea, went to round up boys be he said they’ll be ok. came out with two mugs of tea, 22 month old was in the middle of the road about 25 feet down the road and a car was turning into the road at speed, I dropped the tea, vaulted a 3 foot wall and sprinted across the road, grabbed and rolled with the baby, Dad and Uncle had waved and shouted at driver who was then too busy watching them and not the road! Again, sat in a heap with crying baby sobbing then screamed abuse at Dad! I’m surprised I kept my job.

3 yo T2 had gone inside for a wee, T1 and I were having a water fight outside, downstairs loo was just inside the back door, there were towels on the floor from back door to toilet, to this day I don’t know why he went upstairs to his bedroom, he rapped on his bedroom window to get our attention and put his hand right through it (very old farmhouse, single glazed windows) I screamed at him to keep his hand very still and sprinted through the house to their bedroom and broke out the rest of the window so he wouldn’t slice his hand open pulling it back in. He had two large cuts on the top of his hand and one small one near his wrist, cleaned him up, bleeding stopped, bandaged his hand, sat on the floor with him and sobbed!

Different T1 3.5 yo was playing pirates on the sofa at a friends house (was definitely not allowed to stand on the sofa at home but didn’t like to be a party pooper at his friends house!) their friends were making the boys walk the plank, all friendly, taking in turns when all of a sudden their friend makes T1 walk the plank backward, time went into slow motion as he fell backwards off the sofa and hit his head on the marble hearth, run over, picked him up, cuddled him to me with my hand on the back of his head and he calmed down pretty quickly, thought it wasn’t so bad and breathed a sigh of relief and removed my hand from the back of his head and blood squirted everywhere! 11 hours and 6 stitches later he was home and bouncing off the walls!

My dd pulled those IKEA drawers over which had a TV on top of them.

I can’t even think about it now.

We anchor everything to the walls now.

There have been a few!

DS1 (6) nearly got knocked down by a car.

DS3 (2) was on a window sill and opened the window, upstairs. Luckily it has a safety mechanism on it where it can only open slightly, otherwise he would have fallen out of the window.

When DS2 was a baby we went on a caravan holiday, and DS1 (2 years old at the time) got hold of a kitchen knife. He was a danger to himself but he also stuck it through DS2's travel cot where he was lay in it!! Every time we go on a caravan holiday now, the first thing we do is move all the knives/scissors out of reach.

😱

Coming home from a weekend away a few months ago, as we accelerated onto a dual carriageway I turned round to smile and wave at DS and saw that DH had forgotten to strap him in! I had to twist right round my seat to do him up while we were moving

Oh and a funny one - when we stay with my DPs DS has his own cot which just fits next to the bed in their spare room. The base is at its lowest setting so getting him in and out can be a challenge, unless you clamber right out of bed (which involves crawling to the foot as there’s no room either side).

One night DS was wailing and couldn’t be soothed so DH rolled over and lifted him up over the side into our bed. When he eventually settled DH tried to put him back - except DS is v heavy (15kg plus) and the cot is considerably lower than the bed, so DH damn well nearly went in with him! And he sleeps naked, so all I could see was a nude bottom waving around as he tried not to fall over the side I didn’t laugh a bit, honest

These are all giving me collywobbles! DS pulled a lamp down on his head aged 2, still has a scar in his hair. I fell down the stairs holding him at 2 months old, chucked him to DH who was standing at the bottom of the stairs and did a super rugby ball catch. DD toppled a kitchen stool onto her mouth and bashed her teeth, no lasting damage thank goodness. So many things that could have been much more serious.

Have a few but the main one was we used to live on a steep incline. Me and 3 DDs were going out somewhere in the car, but just after I pulled away remembered I'd forgotten my purse, so I turned around and went back, facing down the hill on the wrong side of the road iyswim. I got out the car and just as i got to the gate (about 2 meters-its a wide path) I heard a clunk so turned around and the car started rolling down the hill. I ran after it and somehow managed to get the door open and get in the seat and pull the handbrake on. I'm forever thankful there were no cars either parked or coming up the hill as all 3 of my DDs could have been hurt/worse. I now ALWAYS park in gear. Oh and that rumour about a mother being able to lift a car off her child is bollocks because I tried to pull on the door 1st to stop it and it didn't work

Few more...
Dd1 pulled a chest of drawers over onto herself when she was about 3 but luckily they jammed on a £ shop plastic chair.
Dd2 had her head slammed in the car door by the wind. Nasty cut on her head, but fine otherwise.
Dd3 bless her. Went to the farm with school, feeding the donkeys. She was a bit scared so I said "it's ok, it won't bite" she proceeds to feed the donkey and it grabs her finger in it's teeth and wouldn't let go until the guy who works there smacks it's nose. Sorry DD! (It was bruised but no skin broken) She also got a tick on her bottom eyelid about 3mm from her eyeball from rolling down a hill (have a pic if anyone's interested?)

When DD was 6mths old she was lying on my bed while I put my make-up on. I was sat on the edge of the bed looking in the dressing table mirror. She was right next to me. While I blinked at myself, post-mascara, I caught sight of her reflection. She was rolling over into her back, which she'd only done once or twice before. As I turned to look at her, making enthusiastic noises of praise, she kept on rolling...over and over to the other side of the bed and then disappeared over the edge. I didn't even know she could roll from back onto front. She never had before.
It seemed a very, very long time between her disappearance over the edge of the bed and the thump of her hitting the floor. There was another dreadful pause before she started howling.
She was absolutely fine, but I shudder every time I think of it. I was right there, but I couldn't catch her.

Put DS1, toddler, in his car seat- but had DS2 in sling so strapping DS1 In was awkward.

Dealt with DS2, completely forgetting to go back and strap DS1 in. This happened twice, once I was at traffic lights, about to enter motorway when I realised. The other time, waiting to turn right into a busy dual carriageway.

Can't believe I did it twice. Must have been absolutely exhausted in those early days.

OP my nanny did the same as you but with a sharp paring knife. It landed in my 4 yr olds foot. I consider that a non-event😅 He keeps telling people she stabbed him.

When I was about 4 I was running with sissies in my hands having cut my little boyfriend some flowers. I tripped and the blade went up the back of my eye into my skull. Luckily I missed the eyeball but the blade did pierce my lid and I've a scar. That could have been a proper disaster.

Sissies😂

Thought of another one. Ds was pushing his little sister on the swing. Him behind and me in front, when he suddenly decided he no longer wanted to do it, so ran off, straight into the path of the swing next to us. Sent him flying.

When my dd was about 18m a light bulb exploded for some reason. She walked in holding a handful of broken glass but fortunately didn't squeeze so completely unharmed.

4 kids, dc1 with challenging behaviour, so many nr misses but a few st I know out, 6/7 weeks old, fell off the bed after I had dozed off in exhaustion, not a scratch on him, about 2yr old and managed to pull one of those old fashioned approx 40” big backed heavy TVs onto him, ran into the room to find it on top off him, his head sticking out the top and his arms and legs sticking out the bottom and sides, again not a mark, when he was about 5, we were in a supermarket with one of those big escalators that are flat and you can take trolley up, was paying at the till and suddenly noticed movement out the corner of my eye, he’d grabbed the belt bit on the outside of the escalator and was merrily hanging on whilst it ascended, horrifyingly he made it approx halfway before I’d ran up it and managed to grab him off, seconds more and he would of been pushed off onto hard floor about 20ft below as the upper floor meant there was no further to travel on the outside of the esculator.
When he was about 2 I had him in his buggy, had dc2 in a sling on my front and we stopped at a crossing on a busy main road, pushed button and when the green man appeared we started to cross, just as a car speeding through the right light cms away from dc1 buggy, if we’d have been half a step further not the road he would of taken the buggy out, I was so shocked I was shaking and never ever step out now on crossings until the cars have actually stopped!

I can’t really think of any nr misses with the rest, they probably were but dc1 was so unpredictable and hard work I think I was always one step ahead with the ones that followed

Holiday home
DH and I were having a row discussion on the stairs, ds comes behind DH and somehow tips over him and bounces and tumbles down the stairs. He was fine, we both thought it was the end.
Another time I got a big electric shock from the uncovered mains power under the stairs- ds was right next to me.