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Mishap with 3-year-old DS at a Hilton – WWYD? (sorry, long)
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Anonymous
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While vacationing in Florida last week, we stayed at a pretty nice beachfront Hilton. The desk chair in our room had this decorative cutout in the seat back, and DS – being a playful 3-year-old – stuck his head through the hole. He couldn’t get it out, neither could DH or I.
DH called the hotel emergency line, and the hotel sent someone to our room. That person (I think he was from the engineering dept.) quickly assessed that they needed to bring in the fire department to get DS out of the chair. (Very scary.) Five people from the fire dept. (both paramedics and firefighters) showed up. Two of them tried to pry the chair apart with hand tools. I was holding DS’s head, trying to keep him calm. He was a trooper. It became evident that it was going to take too long to pull the chair apart. So they used a power saw. They had to make two cuts barely two inches from DS’s head. I almost had a meltdown. (I’m pregnant, by the way, and I was trying my best to stay calm.) But DS was fine, and I was grateful. One of the hotel managers called the next morning to see how we were. I said we were fine but that I was really concerned about those desk chairs. It’s a hotel that has a lot of families staying there. The manager said the hotel is going through a major renovation over the summer, and those chairs will be gone. I’m still bothered by everything though. That’s a major design flaw. Even if that particular location gets rid of the chairs, how many other Hiltons have them? And where do the discarded chairs go? To a cheaper hotel? My DS was remarkably calm during the whole ordeal. What would happen with a child who is kicking and screaming? I’m trying to figure out what to do that would have some impact. Write a letter to Hilton’s corporate headquarters? Would that make any difference? Write about this experience on Tripadvisor? What would you do? |
Anonymous
| I suggest contacting the consumer products safety commission and reporting the incident. The Hilton is probably not the only place that has those chairs. |
Anonymous
| You should thank your lucky stars you DS is okay. I though you were going to say they called you to tell you how much it would cost you to replace the chair! You can't expect a hotel to be babyproofed for your child's age; it was your job to do that. |
Anonymous
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Kids have varying head sizes. Some heads could get stuck in regular rung chairs.
Do you really think these chairs should be removed from all use? I'm very glad your child is okay. That would have been upsetting to me, especially while pregnant. |
Anonymous
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OP, that sounds like it was a really scary experience for you and your son. I'm glad he's OK.
You ask "what would you do?" Honestly, my first thought was, offer to reimburse the hotel for the damage to their chair! I personally don't think that the "design flaw" on this chair is so dangerous to merit a recal of the product, if that is what you are thinking needs to have happen. It is not a chair intended for use by toddlers or preschoolers on their own. And yes, your child got his head stuck in the chair, but not in such a way that he was injured or likely to be strangled or anything. You had to cut the chair apart to get him out, but he wasn't choking in pain etc. A child with a slightly smaller head would not have gotten stuck; a child with a slightly larger head wouldn't have been able to go through in the fist place. So this is a possible problem for a small group of preschoolers who put their heads through things. Your child learned an important lesson about using chairs appropriately or else we get our heads stuck in them. So what I'd do is remind my child next time he sticks his head through something not to do that, because he might get stuck. |
Anonymous
| I would report to Hilton Corporate and CPSC. You're a good person to worry about this happening to others. (Ignore 15:17--why on earth this would fall into the category of "baby proofing" is beyond me) |
Anonymous
This was not a daycare center or a play area -- it is a hotel. |
Anonymous
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I actually thought you were writing to ask if you should reimburse the hotel for the damage to the chair and its personnel taking time to help you.
Frankly - and I'm a big safety-whore - I don't think the hotel is responsible for providing child-proofed chairs and I don't think you should do anything. |
Anonymous
The world is always going to have spaces into which kids can stick their heads. Those spaces aren't inherently dangerous. Parents try to keep kids from sticking their heads in. Sometimes the kid does it anyway. Far far more kids will be hurt jumping off chairs, as mine likes to do, than by these chairs. |
Anonymous
| There are lots of products all over the place that are dangerous for toddlers. For instance, you shouldn't leave your child alone in the bathtub at the hotel. You shouldn't let your child play with the elevator doors. Don't let you child open the window at the hotel. Do you think it's the hotel's responsibility to remove all of these things? |
Anonymous
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I am the first CPSC poster above. The CPSC doesn't necessarily recall a product based on one indicident, but it does log the number of incidents. It is not our place to say whether those chairs are an overwhelming hazard, but it is the CPSC's to determine if some action about the chairs in warranted.
I am so shocked at how we are blaming the OP here or minimizing the potential problem. Wouldn't you all feel just awful if some child was seriously injured and you could have done something to prevent it. That's all the OP is doing here. Three y.o.s will be three y.o.s. Sure, parents should have spotted the hazard, but it's not like they are suing the Hilton. Sounds to me like the OP just wants to warn others. OP, I can't imagine the fear you must have had. I am so glad it turned out ok. |
Anonymous
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I don't think it is Hilton's responsibility to provide child safe chairs. That being said - if I were in management in Hilton, I would want to know about the incident. So if I were you, I'd find a contact name at someone in headquarters at the Hotel, and write them to tell them about the incident. I would word it as informational - and something they may want to consider removing from their rooms - if they want to remain a family friendly hotel.
You could also contact the safety organization. Certainly there have been recalls of products that are related to child safety - like blinds - that would be in places that aren't neccesarrily required to be child-safe. They are the professionals. They will know what to do with the information. |
Anonymous
I dont think anyone is blaming OP, just disagreeing with her "design flaw" comment, and her implication that the Hilton is somehow at fault for having these chairs in the room. |
Anonymous
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I believe that the railings on decks have rules about how far apart the bars must be, specificially because of this issue.
It seems to me that a hotel that accepts children as guests (and that would be pretty much all hotels) should make a basic effort to child proof. This to me is a gaffe on their part. Now if her kid got his hand stuck inside a gumball machine (happened to a cousin of mine) or a raisin stuck in their nose at the breakfast bar (happened to my sister) THAT would not be the hotel's fault, I don't think. But the furniture in the room should be child safe. |
Anonymous
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I am on the side of all the people who do not see why the Hilton should change anything. I will not pile on.
I will add though that there was no hazard. There was no safety concern. Hazard's occur when somone could injure themselves. Nothing about this chair did, or could, injure your child. He just got stuck. There si a huge difference. Second, the building requirements for railings are so people/babies/pets do not FALL, not so that people do not get stuck. |