THE most stupid and dangerous thing EVER

[hatstand]

I've clamed down now but this afternoon was FURIOUS. I took my dds to their ballet class at a gym. Afterwards I walked into the changing rooms just next to where the class is (where I would happily let DD1 go the loo on her own) to find....an ELECTRIC DRILL on the floor!!!!! Cordless thing, ready to go, just lying there. There was no-one in the changing rooms but kids milling about all over the place outside. I was nearly in tears at the thought of a 3 year old with an electric (scuse my language) f*ing drill. Needless to say I went BALLISTIC at the 20 year old muppet who had left it there. He apologised and said he was under a lot of pressure to get a job so I told him he neeed to talk to his supervisor and question whether it was appropriate to do this kind of work while the changing rooms were in use. I sought out a manager and went mad at them too. They're bloody lucky nothing happened.

Tend to agree with the others that say it's not the most dangerous thing ever. They are quite difficult to operate, and also quite heavy, so the average 3 year old would have to lift it, point it at herself or someone else and then work out how to turn the thing on. It was stupid of him to leave it lying around, but....

Issymum - bizarre you ( or your doctor) should mention it but I ALWAYS halve grapes. A child (about 3) round our way choked to death on one and I've always been a bit paranoid about it since - especially the really hard round ones.

I completely agree with hatstand. My DD is completely accident prone and would quite easily impale herself on a drill without having to turn it on. And yes, I do halve grapes. It's just a matter of time for us really with the choking. I can't even relax at a play centre because she always tries to to do a swan dive off the top of the slides (I keep doing mad slow-motion nooooooooooooooooo leaps to catch her. So far have always got there in time, but one of these days my cappuccino will win).

I am the most paranoid mother in the world (odd as I am pretty laid back) to the point that I am openly laughed at in my family.(Once told my sister to be careful while she was carrying dd about 2m across the lounge to my shame!)
However...
In my part of the world, Surestart organise 'Babysafe' days when someone comes around from a company that train doctors and nurses in CPR. We were told that cocktail sausages are very dangerous for littlies (just the shape to fit nicely in the windpipe!). Also those long thin ice lollies. In fact the trainer said that her son had been eating one and had a coughing fit and it went straight down. She said that she had to do the Heimlich manoeuvre on him so vigorously that the blood vessels in his eyes burst. (Common apparently if you do it right. Similarly, cpr can also often break ribs)
I always halve grapes.

oh yes Sofia - I just leave open boxes of Persil around for my DS to play with.......no actually he 'helps' me carry the shopping through from the hall to the kitchen when it's delivered each week. If I take some heavy milk to the kitchen and come back to find him carrying it what am I expected to do???

I still can't believe that some people seem to be missing the point about this drill.......there wasn't ONE child in the room - there were several children in the room and in my opinion 2 children together could switch one of those drills on - and a 3rd could easily run into it. Not to mention it a few of them tried to pick it up together and dropped it - a lot more damage could be done by one of those than a box of persil.

dh left a corded drill lying on the bathroom floor at xmas. I picked it up thinking that as a responsible parent he would have at least turned the power off, my finger slipped & I nearly drilled a hole in my leg. My dds are 7 & 9 so would easily have done what I did.

This has happened to me, well my DS. My DH left the drill in our porch charged up and DS did manage to switch it on and hold it drill bit to the tiles and gouge a few holes in our floor, I was just thankful I went to investigate the strange drilling noise (I thought it was my neighbour) and that DSs toes did not get in the way. He was 2.5 btw.

I think if we all looked around our houses we would find things that could represent a hazard to our children but which we accept as part of our daily life. Ive always considered my house to be quite safe but that doesnt mean my kids havent been injured in it

I reckon I can top the lot with 2 I've seen. First one - pavement outside our house was being resurfaced. They were using a great big spinning cement cutter machine which they left on and unattended spinning a few metres from our front gate as they drank their tea in their van and my dss came running merrily out of our gate. I was so shocked I didn't actually say anything!

Second one is a cheat because it happened in Turkey where I taught in a large private school. The local police would often come in at dinner time and help themselves to a free meal from the canteen (nobody would argue with them!). One idiotic Pr* left his safety catch off his gun and accidently fired it as he stood up - in a canteen full of about 500 kids. Luckily the only damage was a hole in the floor and a very red faced cop but after I saw that I would believe human stupidity can sink to any depths!!

Shimmy, I think you win the prize!

that is scary!! (the gun one)

Well I think that Westcountrylass has proven QED that an unattended drill is exceptionally dangerous for toddlers as young as 2.5....

shimmy - you just need to read a few Darwin Awards for stirling examples of human stupidity