Can you tell me about a time when you screwed up and your child got hurt?

[Anonymous]

OP don't listen the troll telling you that being upset is damaging to your child/ren. Of course you're upset!

But this is a long road ahead. There will be mistakes. You learn. On and on and on. Love drives it all and that is the most important thing.

[Anonymous]

OP, it happens to everyone. My DD4 fell off her climber, which is about 2 feet high, on our patio and needed 6 stitches in her forehead. There totally is a scar. But you have to stop mentally re-living it and let the experience fade into your long-term memory.

We all have to live with things like this, and finding a way to cope without making your kid and yourself miserable is part of the job.

[Anonymous]

Oh OP! It happens most of us probably have a story like that - I know I do! The baby was crying and I wasn’t paying attention and toddler fell down brick steps. Broke two teeth. Face scraped all to hell. Oh I felt terrible!

Be easy on yourself!

[Anonymous]

OP- I decided as a new walker at 10 months to toddle over to the dishwasher and ingest the delicious-looking “candy” my mom had just sprinkled into the dishwasher.

My mom was quite literally standing over me and in a split second, I ingested an alarming amount of dishwasher detergent that contained lye.

We were in a small town (and pre-911) and so my mom threw me into the car and raced me to the ER. Story goes that there was a delay in treatment; doctor was unsure if I should get my stomach pumped and have the lye-containing liquid further damage my esophagus/voice/throat. Decision was made that I’d need to be given several large bottles of milk to neutralize the detergent. A few hours and many diaper changes later, I went home - completely unscathed.

Accidents happen. It’s ok, OP. Please know that we, as parents
absolutely can’t prevent these terribly stressful events and injuries from happening. Really, do what you can to be kind to yourself - you did exactly the right thing at the right time: you took your DC immediately to the ER. Barca to you for your clear thinking!

[Anonymous]

Brava!

[Anonymous]

My 3 year old tripped over my foot, fell into the baseboard, and cut her head open, needing 3 stitches. This was in March 2020 right after everything shut down and everyone was freaking out about having to be in public. Especially at an ER!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh good lord OP. You're going to screw up your kids if you hate yourself because one of them fell.

Hard disagree. If you don’t hate yourself for at least a few days or weeks after a preventable accident like this, you’re a callous parent. If it lasts longer than that, then yes anxiety issues may be at play.

[Anonymous]

1 month old infant rolled off the bed, head hit the hard wood floor. He was our first and we had no idea infants could roll like that. Thankfully he was okay but I'll never forget that feeling of terror and guilt.

Our 8 year old was "helping" dad with lawn work at the top of a hill, he lost his balance onto her, took her down the hill breaking her leg in two places.

[Anonymous]

One time I was pointing something out to DD while we were on the train, and I accidentally poked her in the eye. In going to cup her face in my hands and say I was sorry, I accidentally POKED HER AGAIN IN THE EYE. Her eye teared up and we laughed and I apologized and we moved on.

[Anonymous]

That sounds scary Op. I was the person who posted the thread below originally. Also, the same child was once on her dad’s shoulders and he put her down and she immediately ran across the path just as a bicycle was coming around the corner. The bicyclist went flying as did my child. Amazingly both were okay and even more amazingly the biker was a pediatrician. That same day (later) he was lifting her off his shoulders and dislocated her wrist (nursemaid’s elbow) because she twisted as he was getting her down and we didn’t know yet never to hold her by her forearms. Two days later we had to call the fire dept when she ran ahead of me and slammed the door and locked herself in our apartment’s laundry room. It was a long, long week. She is a happy healthy 4 year old and the burn I describe below healed beautifully

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/733506.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That sounds scary Op. I was the person who posted the thread below originally. Also, the same child was once on her dad’s shoulders and he put her down and she immediately ran across the path just as a bicycle was coming around the corner. The bicyclist went flying as did my child. Amazingly both were okay and even more amazingly the biker was a pediatrician. That same day (later) he was lifting her off his shoulders and dislocated her wrist (nursemaid’s elbow) because she twisted as he was getting her down and we didn’t know yet never to hold her by her forearms. Two days later we had to call the fire dept when she ran ahead of me and slammed the door and locked herself in our apartment’s laundry room. It was a long, long week. She is a happy healthy 4 year old and the burn I describe below healed beautifully

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/733506.page

This is OP. You’re so kind. I think I am actually pretty guilty of hyper vigilance/perfectionism because this is the first time in almost 5 years that anything like this has ever happened to my kids.

Also, good god people were freaking mean to you on that pizza thread. I’m so glad I’ve gotten nice feedback on this thread. I’m already feeling really awful and if people piled on it would have been terrible and I would have deleted the thread.

Thank you again to PP and everyone who has responded.

[Anonymous]

OP, I slammed the rear door hatch on my daughter's head.

[Anonymous]

OP, it doesn’t even sound like she was badly hurt. Just a little. You are fine, it happens to us all. Forgive yourself right now! And your DH sucks for not reassuring you.

[Anonymous]

I haven't yet screwed up my kids (that I know of), but things like this happened all the time to me and my 4 siblings. I rolled off the tailgate of a truck when I was 1. My brother kicked me down the stairs when I was 4. I'm deaf on one side because my brother ruptured my ear drum. My dad broke my brothers arm when he grabbed him while falling.

Guess what, though? We're all fine. Kids are resilient and their bodies are made to take an impact. It's how nature works.

[Anonymous]

Stuff happens OP. We all have stories. When my daughter was a baby I accidentally gave her my son’s Zyrtec instead of her Zantac. Had to call poison control. She was fine and we labeled their meds with their names after that!

Same kid as a 3 year old was goofing around climbing up DH’s back and slipped, and he caught her by the arm to stop her fall and dislocated her elbow. That was a pandemic ER trip. Doctor fixed it in seconds but he felt awful and still cringes if anyone brings it up.

My son had a bad cut on his chin at day care and they put a bandaid on and we didn’t realize it needed stitches. So we didn’t take him to the doctor and it scarred. He’s 7 now and it’s still visible though much better. I still kick myself for that one.

Not to mention all the close calls. We all go through it and learn from it.