Blind cords

[applecandy]

Was I being unreasonable to call out a particular influencer/celeb for posting a video of her toddler standing on a window ledge playing hide n seal behind a blind with the cords clearly visible and at perfect height to get tangled in. I dread to think what would happen if she slipped.

It just takes 15 seconds for a child to lose consciousness in a blind cord related accident. You can buy hooks to lock them away.

Anyway, it appears she deleted my comment. I assume others too. I was polite by the way but highlighted the danger and way to fix it.

The video remains.

I think the video should be deleted and she should use her platform for better reasons.

@ectoone it's just an expression.

My comment WAS polite. I told her there were hooks to tuck them higher.

My school emailed all parents last week to remind them to send grapes in cut up. It was polite but firm.

I could have been offended and "I know best" and in the 80s we didn't cut them up...

But if it prevents even one choking incident then isn't that great!

Accidents happen, I've been in hospital more times than I'd like with my kids. I know! My kid escaped a high hair once. Me and husband thought each other had done buckle up. I was furious at myself. No harm was done but could have been awful. Lesson learnt!

She didn't need to say anything, do you not get that?

Why are you being so secretive about who this is if it's a video in the public domain?

@WandaWonder no I get it. Nobody needs do anything in life.

On insta:

Feathering the empty nest doesn't need to talk about child loss but she does and for that I have a lot of respect for her and I'm grateful for her work on this.

Mother pukka doesn't need to campaign for flex working, but she does and she's a legend for her work in the area.

Nobody needs do anything but if you do good, you'll usually be remembered for doing so.

Surely it's a win win situation.

This is a great example of what I was trying to say about criticism. You have instantly defended yourself, which is all the influencer was doing by deleting comments. With any luck she will look into it, but I understand completely why she jumped to hide critical comments, regardless of how you put it.

@ectoone of course she can do as she pleases. If she wants to hide comments fair enough.

My usual mode of defence is to explain - "actually these are safe these cords because x, y, z"

It takes a big person to take on criticism, I get it I really do.

It's quite eye opening just how fake social media is, I mean I knew it was bad and I'm always careful about ads as I know celebs will promote any old thing for cash.

The inability to have conversation is eye opening. Some insta accounts are basically shops and nothing more.

@applecandy

your faux confusion is lame. She's an influencer (earning from her likes not her morality) of course she doesn't want sensible feed back, just 'aww hun' & likes.

you're being lame pretending not to understand she's much worse than being lame, she's a moral wasteland!!

Isn't there a thing that they have to be secured now? These are mine fitted recently, no children and not going to be any children and the fitter said he still had to fasten them

Yes, that's called a cleat. Its regulation now.

But the child has been taught its ok to play there/around d the loose cords and may well go play there another time, with no supervision. You do the maths.... can't watch them every second...

@Pinkpinkpink15 what's with all the "you are lame" comments...

I'd rather be "lame" and point it out to her than her have a strangled child all because I thought "nah it's lame to think she'd listen to little old me"

I get it... I'm lame.

@daisybe this girl might well have those clips but sadly there is still a bit of slack in the cord. And given the girl is standing on a ledge, I feel it would be easy to slip and if you were tangled it would be disaster.

To be fair, even if there was no blind, if my child was standing on a window edge they wound get a firm "NO, get down" until the message got through that we don't do that.

@KrisAkabusi this is a short video of a woman who was in the room filming her children when her child was being strangled on blind cords right in front of her eyes. My youngest child is 17 so this might have been on the radar of lots of parents at the time it happened but it should be shown again to make people see how quickly it can go wrong.

It is a difficult watch especially the Mum's hysterical reaction to seeing her child this way.

I assume she's talking about a fitness coach recently separated from an ex rugby player, if not she's another one who might benefit from a warning. A friend of a friends child died in this way and the fallout was horrific

Why are you also being so secretive? It's weird. Why drop clues and not just say who it is? From your description I have no idea so I might have no idea even if you say the name but I'm mystified as to why anyone thinks they need to be coy about something that a celebrity has chosen to put out there themselves.

I dot know for sure who she's talking about so don't want to name and shame someone googleable who may well have heeded a similar warning but if you don't know who it is from that description you really don't know who it is.

@VisionsOfSplendour :)

It is not really relevant who it is I guess. Isnt there a sort of rule we don't name and shame on mumsnet like that. The latest videos just made me v nervous and I know they know! There are now other comments. Hopefully they will notice them and prevent the climbing near to cords.

Even if it is safe, the next window might not be... round a friends house etc.

I'd rather be a "paranoid" person than like the family in that very scary video below. Bloody hell that made me sick.

We recently had new blinds, they are all child safe.

Isn't there a sort of rule we don't name and shame on Mumsnet like that?
No. Why would there be? It's not a private account or remotely libelous given it's something whoever this is chose to display.

I don't care who it is (and sounds like I won't have heard of her anyway), I just find the secrecy weird.

@applecandy

I didn't say you were lame, I said faux 'not understanding' is lame. & explained why, which is not because you pointed it out to her, but because you're pretending not to understand why she won't take it down.

ive already told you my opinion of her. Fo you really need that repeated.🤦🏻‍♀️

she's an 'influencer' not a health & safety guru. She wants the 'likes' not to have to act responsibly.

The blinds are clipped in the video, I just watched it and they've got the fastenings clearly visible

I totally agree. I'm a bit shocked looking at the photo there as (I make roman blinds for a living living so know the inside and outs of those blinds) the strings on an open blind run down so a kid can easily get caught in them, esp on wider blinds where there could be 3 or 4 coils, therefore 3 or 4 strings. the chain looks loose, too.
Really, with kids and pets, the cleat should be replaced if broken.
Shame. Its overlooked but the new regulations regarding blinds came in for a very real reason!!! I tell all my clients they have to use a cleat when installing. The kit company ask for the floor to fitting height to ensure the chain isn't too long and all components are technically designed to unclip or break if enough force is added, there's still a chance to get caught, injured and worse though. The cords are strong and can cut skin with enough weight!

Trouble is, I'm aware of this as I have to be because I make them. A client asked me to repair an old blind and thankfully took my advice to replace the old style hand made mechanism (wood baton and metres of strings) for a new up to reg kit, her kids are older teens so no risks there, but she understood the safety aspects and I made no profit swapping out the mechanism. Both happy.
But. A lot of people don't get it. Can tell them til you're blue but they simply just don't understand it. Until something happens.

I agree. And with all the other risks out there that we can't control, that's a simple fix that can be controlled.

My neighbours 2 year old died due to these cords

Op damn right you did the right thing

You do have the option to share the video with a warning on your post about the cords and if you want also how you commented but your was deleted.

Some people are blind to dangers until some thing bad happens to them.