DS just started reception (disclaimer - am in Europe so this means kids are 5/6 yrs).
he has been settling well and have bonded with several boys, one of whom we invited over for a playdate on Sunday afternoon. I invited the parents to stay for coffee as first time so thought they may want to get acquainted a bit, but they politely refused and said they’d just drop the boy off. I already met the mum twice at school and had a friendly chat. The dad dropped the boy off and seemed to be in a hurry to leave. The boy played well for about 2 hours (play date was meant to be 2.5 hours), both in the garden and inside, with me keeping an eye on them but not being next to them every single minute. Just 20 mins before the boys pick up
time I was in the loo when I hear a shout and cry and DS comes running and tells me the friend got hurt. I rush to him and see he has banged his head against the radiator which is behind the sofa, bleeding and there is cut. I cuddle him and clean the wound and call the parents immediately and explain and apologize profusely. I can tell the cut will likely need gluing but no stitching, as it’s a bit gaping but not very deep or big. The dad arrives shortly after and seems ok although understandably not happy and worried, together we inspect the wound and DH offers to take them to emergency, but as the dad is on his bike and the live not too far away he says it’s okay and he’ll go home and then take the boy to emergency. All through this both DH and I are being polite, very apologetic and kind to the boy. In my panic I tell the dad that DS once heard his head on the same radiator and I’ve been meaning to move the sofa but haven’t got around to it. (DS hurt his head on it three years ago, we have since hosted hundreds of playdates and no child ever got hurt at our house ever before or even went near the radiator, so I had forgotten about it entirely). Later that evening I text the dad and ask how the boy is and apologize again. No response. The next day there’s a coffee morning in DS’s class, my husband attends and the boy and his parents are there, DH says the dad is chatty and seems ok and tell
him the boy indeed went to A&E and got his wound clued, but the mum is avoiding DH. I then sent her a message last night asking how the boy is and saying I understand his head was glued and I hope he will recover soon and that I’m so sorry her got injured at our house. She only responds hours later with a thumbs up. No words. Now, I’m certain that’s an expression she’s angry with us, and I feel so terrible and worried. I mainly feel really bad a child got injured in my care, but Im not sure there was much I could’ve done different. While it’s true that radiator by the sofa isn’t very safe, I’ve literally hosted 100 of playdates over the years and no kid ever went near it as they usually play in DS’ room. I suppose I could have been more vigilant and ensured that they didn’t go in the living room, but as I was in the loo, I hadn’t noticed that they went in there. I think likely they’re angry because it’s just generally upsetting when your child Gets hurt, especially in someone else’s care, and that perhaps because in my panic I told them that DS also once got hurt there, they think I should’ve thought about keeping the boys away from the sofa, and I do feel terribly guilty that I didn’t think of it, but as mentioned, we have hosted hundreds of playdates and never has anyone got near that radiator, so it just don’t occur to me at all, which is suppose is my fault at some level. However I did apologize several times and do all I could to help, so I don’t understand the mum’s behavior, and am very stressed out about it, especially at the beginning of a new school, when we will have to be in the same class with these parents for years to come, it feels really stressful to start off with an incident like this. Wondering what else I can do at this stage?