To feel like the worlds WORST mother?

[pyjamaparty1]

Ds is 2, this morning he was stood on my hoover in the kitchen trying to get something off the side. I said to him 'get down from there before you fall and hurt yourself' and with that the hoover (Henry to be precise) moved and ds fell off, his leg landed all twisted and he screamed for a few mins then stopped crying, he sat on the sofa for the rest of the afternoon happy and content but wouldn't move, I tried to stand him up to no avail! By the time dh came home I decided to take ds to minor injuries, turns out he's broken his leg and now I can't help but feel guilt :-( I feel guilty for having my hoover out where he could climb on it, I feel guilty for leaving him so long before getting it looked at, I feel guilty for him having to wear a cast I literally just want to cry my eyes out. I just feel like the worlds worst mother at the moment!

Poor you and DS. If he’d been crying all day and distressed beyond the initial fall/ shock I’m sure you’d have taken him to get checked. Accidents happen, a hoover is a normal bit of kit. If he’d got up and fallen off a ladder I’d have said your fault why was it there. I know someone who broke DCs ankle whilst carrying child and slipped down stairs. You will feel guilty, we all do but try not to, he’s been quite unlucky to break it in the circumstances

@Letsmove1t thank you! He was more than happy to just sit on the sofa and watch tv, he wasn't crying at all until I tried to get him to stand up but even then it was more of a whinge than a cry. I'm usually the type of mum to be like ' oh up you get you'll be fine' but this has really knocked me for six! Dh broke his foot back in August and I saw how much pain he was in with that so I can't imagine how uncomfortable ds is feeling right now although ds has taken it like a man much more than dh! 😂

Young bones are soft and I think heal quite quickly. Brave little chap, good excuse to give him extra cuddles ( and bury the guilt). Get some rest, it’s so emotional when you feel you’ve let your DCs down when really you haven’t

@zzzzz I'm such an over thinker and at this time of
Night my mind is going crazy plus with the worry of how comfortable he is even though he's fast asleep, what's done is done I guess it's just such a horrible feeling

@Letsmove1t thank you! Think I just needed that little bit of encouragement that this guilt is normal. He's currently tucked up in bed with me and dh has made a bed for himself of the floor! 😂

Believe it or not this is something you will joke about in years to come. I have a cousin we regularly bring up the time when he was 3yo and dived head first superman style into a toybox while pretending to be a superhero and broke his arm. Of course at the time his mum was hysterical and felt awful but accidents happen and it won't be the first or last time so don't worry about it. Kids heal very quickly and don't tend to care about being hurt as long as they can carry on playing my cousin was running riot as soon as he got back from having his cast on, jumping climbing and whacking his siblings with his new 'shield arm'

Don't worry too much - when I was about the same age I banged my head on a chair and collapsed with only the whites of my eyes visible and my mum held me upside down by my ankles until my eyes rolled back round the right way. No medical consultation or anything!

I'm 44 now and I'm fine, although my mum still looks back on the episode with the horror that comes with hindsight!

@GobbyMcGobshite that's absolutely brilliant and has cheered me right up! Dh broke his foot back in August so I've already been trying to make a light joke out of it by saying ' like father like son' hopefully when his cast comes off I'll be much more relaxed!

Ahh don’t feel guilty op, these things happen. Watching and waiting when kids hurt themselves is the best thing to do, my ds would have me in a&e every week otherwise, the way he acts when he hurts himself. He did break his collar bone once though and stayed in school all day. He still says now it wasn’t that sore just felt loose! Kids feel things differently to adults, if he was in agony you would have known about it.

Your poor son and you.

These things happen. We've certainly all left our vacuums out. And I actually know of a doctor who's child fell at the park and hurt his arm. The child said his arm hurt but wasn't especially upset. He took his child for an X Ray two days later and his child's arm was broken ! And that's a doctor. He and his wife are great parents. They felt terrible and embarrassed but years later it's a funny story.

Bad mums wouldn't feel guilty!

Pft.. children fall off stuff..

My sister was visiting a friend for the day, running about, playing, fell over, whinged, carried on playing.. whinged some more, friends parents told her to toughen up etc etc...

She came home, more whinging so off to the Drs the next day..

Broken collar bone.

Friends parents... a GP and a nurse.

Another friend.. out for a walk, our family and theirs, and their youngest lad is swinging off a gate, is told repeatedly 'dont do that you will fall off and hurt yourself'. Inevitably he finds a gate that swings out over a steep drop, falls off, much crying and yelling, is told to get a grip and continue our LONG walk home (think up a mountain, welsh wales)..

Two days later - yes, broken arm.

Parents - doctor and teacher.

Children fall off stuff, they break stuff, as long as they don't go dead it'll be reet :) And doctors kids get ignored far more !!

You would be the worlds worst mother if you DIDNT feel guilty!

It took my mum 3 days to decide to take me to A&E when I was 7 after I fell off a step ladder, that I shouldn't have been on. I had broken my wrist in two places.

They are kids. It happens. Its not uncommon and no one will think you are a bad parent. It’s one of those things. Just move on.

DD 2 18 months old fell off play equipment at the park. Sent her to child care next day. At the end of the day, sent her home saying ‘she is guarding that left arm a bit’. To the doctor the next morning, he does not think it is broken but X-ray to be sure. Back to child care that afternoon and I went off to work.
Phone call just before the surgery closed to tell me arm was broken.
😢

Thank you for everyone's replies, ds is much happier this morning! He didn't show he was in pain at all which is why I think I left it a few hours before getting him seen. Ds has been sat on the sofa all day, me and dh was in the kitchen and ds shouts out ' I want cake' his royal highness has started giving his orders!

I broke my numerous in half and didn't noticed till I got up and my arm was dangling weird.

Friend of mine sent her daughter to school with a broken arm. Oops. Dc was a bit whiny but not in obvious pain. Got worse at school and off she went to hospital. Dc now an adult who teases her mum about it! Certainly doesn't think any less of her mum for it.

and ds shouts out ' I want cake' his royal highness has started giving his orders!

You better make sure the service given by his servants is up to scratch then . I hope he got an extra large piece of cake.

You’ll laugh about this one day, OP. I broke my arm as a child on two separate occasions and neither time I was taken straight to hospital! Once when I was about 8 and fell off some playground equipment, took my mum until the following afternoon to take me to hospital. Turns out it was quite badly broken and I ended up needing a small operation to ‘rebreak’ to correct it! Second time I was about 10 and fell over in the morning, took until dinner time for mum to take me to hospital and again it was broken. Both times she felt awful, but it’s now just a funny story we like to tease her with. Accidents happen, he’s been seen now and I’m sure will love being pampered while he has his cast on and can call out for you to do everything for him!

Oh bless you when my sister was 3 she fell off the trampoline and broke her arm. She was (and still is) a huge hypochondriac so my parents didn’t take her to A&E for 3 days. Turned out she’d broken her arm. We all have a laugh about it now, it’s become one of “those” family stories we tell again and again. Be kind to yourself x

@Perfectly1mperfect dh got him one of those tray birthday cakes as a small cake obviously isn't enough

I feel much better about it this morning, the guilt took over last night whilst he lay asleep next to me. It Definitely will be one of those family stories, especially his little demands!

My now adult DS had 12 broken bones in less than 3 years. Fortunately, only 1 happened in my care, the rest were all in school or at organised clubs otherwise SS would have been asking questions. Got to the point where I would just think not again!

Don't blame yourself, blame Henry. I've always thought he was a malevolent little shit behind that sunny smile.