You know how when infants start to get some strength in those little arms and legs, they sometimes very suddenly push off of you while you’re holding them and lunge away? One of our friends had little experience with babies and he was holding his firstborn the first time she tried this and he started to lose his grip on her. He quickly grasped one of her legs to keep her from falling. He did keep her from hitting the floor, but her leg rotated at an odd angle in the process and it broke. He felt like the biggest a$$hole in the world for breaking his baby’s leg, but everyone understood that this stuff happens.

Another time, I was at a party and a couple left in a hurry after they got a phone call from their parents, who had been babysitting their toddler for them. The grandpa had gone down a slide at the park with their little one on his lap and the toddler’s leg got caught between the outside of his own leg and the slide and had gotten twisted. The child’s leg turned out to be broken and the grandpa was extremely distraught.

My mother always says it’s a wonder any of us survives childhood.

Anonymous wrote:My DS needs a life altering surgery next year. Wasn’t identified when younger when could possibly have been avoided. A mother’s guilt never goes away, even if people say “bad luck; you did your best; not your fault; you didn’t know”.

This sounds much different than the other laugh stories. I hope your DS is ok.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister was 16 months and in one of those Walker baby contraptions. She "drive" herself down the stairs to the basement. My parents came running and brought her upstairs to make sure she was ok (for reasons no one can explain they out her back into the thing once they were sure she was ok) and then they started fighting over who was at fault for leaving the door open and not watching her. She drove herself back down the basement stairs while they were fighting!

She is fine.

This made me LOL and I'm also glad she's OK!!

Only because you said she was fine and this probably happened a long time ago, but this made me genuinely LOL too. This is sitcom worthy.

When I was about the same age, I somehow managed to get both my head and butt wedged in one of those contraptions (it was like today’s jumperoos, but with wheels). My dad was out of town and my mom couldn’t get me out. She panicked, picked up the whole thing with me in it and went to a neighbor for help.

I washed the covers on our Anywhere Chairs and the foam pieces were laying on the floor. I thought it would be fun to play "Floor is Lava" and my 4YO was jumping on them. Slipped and fell face first into the fireplace (which was ALWAYS covered in thick blankets that were being washed with the covers) and luckily only needed glue and not stitches.

Good news is, the same doctor that glued my OTHER son's face back together from a run-in with the leg of a bench in my bedroom when he was 14 months old a year before was working on that day so he got 2/2 facial gluing for my kids!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2-year-old fell off a dock in a place where the water was shallow (less than 12 inches). Somehow he didn't get hurt, probably due to the padding on the floatie thing he was wearing.

Pat yourself on the back for requiring him to be safe on the dock with a life vest! So many parents don’t do that and much worse things happen.

Well hey, way to be positive! He turned around to look at his dad, who was behind us, and just veered right off the dock. For the rest of the trip he kept saying, "I pall gock" meaning "I fall dock". I'm like yep, thanks for the reminder...

OP HUGS

You did nothing wrong. Accidents happen.

Anonymous wrote:My sister was 16 months and in one of those Walker baby contraptions. She "drive" herself down the stairs to the basement. My parents came running and brought her upstairs to make sure she was ok (for reasons no one can explain they out her back into the thing once they were sure she was ok) and then they started fighting over who was at fault for leaving the door open and not watching her. She drove herself back down the basement stairs while they were fighting!

She is fine.

This made me LOL and I'm also glad she's OK!!

I have countless stories of injuries our kids have sustained on our watch, and I'm a pretty risk-averse person. It happens (a lot).

When I was a kid, my dad took my little sister to the playground and let her jump off the swing when it was in like, rocket-to-the-moon mode. She shattered her ankle but it was three days before anyone took her to the doctor because she never actually said anything about pain but was dragging herself around on the floor.

A year or so later I loaded her onto the back of this rickety old bike even though our parents had forbidden it. She got her foot caught in the spokes of the back wheel and I kept pedaling. Mangled her ankle and foot and she was casted again. Lots of questions at the hospital :/ We joke about it now but at the time my parents were mortified.

Anonymous wrote:My 2-year-old fell off a dock in a place where the water was shallow (less than 12 inches). Somehow he didn't get hurt, probably due to the padding on the floatie thing he was wearing.

Pat yourself on the back for requiring him to be safe on the dock with a life vest! So many parents don’t do that and much worse things happen.

My toddler ran her ride on toy into the bathroom and knocked the hot curling iron onto her bare foot. I had just set it down and turned to pick up a hair clip. Second degree burn. I felt guilty for years.

My sister was 16 months and in one of those Walker baby contraptions. She "drive" herself down the stairs to the basement. My parents came running and brought her upstairs to make sure she was ok (for reasons no one can explain they out her back into the thing once they were sure she was ok) and then they started fighting over who was at fault for leaving the door open and not watching her. She drove herself back down the basement stairs while they were fighting!

She is fine.

My 2-year-old fell off a dock in a place where the water was shallow (less than 12 inches). Somehow he didn't get hurt, probably due to the padding on the floatie thing he was wearing.

I was letting my toddler play on a park bench surrounded by concrete (mistake 1...), and then I turned my back for one second and she fell off and somehow bit THROUGH her tongue and has a scar to this day.

I had a big old heavy television fall on my forehead when I was around 6. My daughter caught her fingers in a heavy bathroom door at a store. Stuff happens... forgive yourself. The fact that you worry is proof you are a good parent!

I thought I set the brake on the stroller and turned around for a few seconds and when I turned back DS was rolling down our steep driveway towards the road. I couldn't catch the stroller and it fell off the curb and DS did a face plant onto the road. Thankfully no cars were coming, it was early and we lived on a quiet residential street. Luckily he was securely strapped in and only got some minor abrasions on his face. From then on I double checked that the brake was set.