First off, congratulations to Jennifer McClure for winning the Bolder Band giveaway!
Secondly, I hope everyone had a nice long weekend in honor of all of those who served in our armed forces. We had a fun weekend celebrating our friends’ wedding with my husband as the officiant.
Anyhow, I’ve been meaning to write this post for a week now, but just wasn’t sure how I wanted to do it, as it is not something I’m proud about. Two weeks ago at dinner, Keenan was taking a very long time to eat. He was not listening and trying to be funny rather than eating. After dinner, my husband was loading dishes into the dishwasher and as Keenan got up from the table, he thought it was funny to walk backwards (even though we told him not to). Well, as he walked backwards, he ran into the dishwasher which made him lose his balance. To break his fall, he put his left hand out which landed directly onto a steak knife that was sticking straight up in the silverware tray in the dishwasher. He severely punctured his hand (down to the tissue) and our kitchen floor was doused in blood. Keenan was screaming, I was going in panic mode and Mirella was crying due to all of the commotion. Luckily, my husband is good in these situations, due to all of his experience in Alaska, and immediately picked Keenan up and applied steady pressure to stop the bleeding. Since it was 7:00 p.m. and we knew there would be a long wait in urgent care, we called my mom to take my husband and Keenan, so I could stay home with Mirella. My husband sat in the back of of my mom’s car with Keenan to make sure he continued to apply steady pressure to the wound. Luckily, Keenan calmed down a bit, but he was still very scared and tearful about the whole situation (as to be expected). To make matters worse, he insisted that I go with him to urgent care, so it broke my heart to not be there with him. I was a worried mess until they got home.
Fortunately, Keenan was able to be seen within 30 minutes of arriving at the urgent care. The doctor cleaned the wound and four painful stitches later with a big bandage, Keenan was good to go. On the drive home, Keenan was surprisingly okay and told my mom and husband that “it was so funny that they took his blood pressure and temperature!” He definitely takes after my husband in trying to find humor in every situation, no matter good or bad!
The next day, Keenan was fine (though not using his hand much, since it was so sore), back to his old self and telling us repeatedly that he was not walking backwards towards the dishwasher EVER again! But, we all learned a lesson that day. We are certainly pointing all knives down in the dishwasher from now on. We only keep the dishwasher door open when we are actively loading dishes. Keenan learned that it’s not okay to fool around and play in the kitchen, and most importantly, that he needs to listen, as the whole incident could have been prevented if he had listened to us telling him to stop walking backwards.
So, am I proud of our little accident? Absolutely not. I feel more embarrassed that we let it happen. If the knives were pointing down in the dishwasher, he would have just bumped his arm or hand instead, of puncturing it. Was it scary? Definitely. I was scared that Keenan would go into shock, since he doesn’t do well with blood. As a parent, I hate to see my child experience pain and I wished Keenan didn’t have to go through all of that. I feel that we let Keenan down by not fully protecting him, but I also feel that he learned a valuable lesson in listening. I know accidents happen, and that they happen to anyone, but it was still hard to digest that it wasn’t our fault. Unfortunately, I know this is probably not going to be the last incident, but I’m hoping we don’t have to repeat that night for a LONG time.
On a more positive note, here is a family picture that we took at our friends’ wedding on Sunday!
Have a good one!
Questions:
Have you ever failed as a parent or experienced “bad parenting moments?”
Have your kids ever suffered any injuries? If so, how did you handle them?
What was your worst injury as a child?
Oh no poor Keenan! Don’t put so much guilt on you, we “fail” as parents so many times but it’s these moments that make us more experienced and better parents. I have 2 boys (9,6) and my youngest has had more E.R trips than I can count. Right now he has a long arm cast because he fell off the monkey bars before his baseball game. My husband was there and I was on my way and I felt so much guilt like as if I were there it wouldn’t have happened. But ya know what, he’s an active and healthy boy and he was just doing what kids do and accidents happen. Another time I was putting his shoes on and sat him on a kids table, I turned to grab his other sneaker and he fell face first into his toy box. His teeth went right through his lip. I felt horrible! But all he remembers is that his mama was there holding him while the doctors helped him and he got 2 Popsicles. It’s not easy being a parent but it is so rewarding and worth it. This probably won’t be your only E.R trip or “failed” mommy moment but just know your are a loving mom and your kids are blessed to have you, just as you are blessed to have them.
Thanks, Gina. Accidents happen and I’m sure even more so with boys. Keenan learned a very good lesson and in the end, everything was okay, which is most important.
Oh, no!!!
This was in no way your fault!!! You will never be able to prevent all of the accidents and, like you said, it was a major learning experience for Keenan!!! I truly hope that you don’t put this in the “bad parenting” category because it wasn’t at all!!!
I’m glad that Keenan is doing OK now and hope you are, too.
Super cute family picture!!!
We are all okay and his hand is healing wonderfully. It’s hard to not feel bad about the incident, but I know it could have happened to anyone and it was certainly a very good lesson for Keenan.
You have the sweetest family.
And please! Don’t blame yourself, gorgeous! It certainly wasn’t your fault – kids fall and get into trouble all of the time (especially boys, I have learnt) and sometimes that’s what they need to learn to be more careful.
My worst accident when I was a child? At 2 years old my dad asked me to “help” him make my mum a cup of tea, thinking I’d be content just watching – but the stubborn 2 year old who wanted to be the best daughter ever pulled the boiling hot cup of tea straight down on herself as she reached up on her tippy toes to the bench.
Needless to say, my mums relaxing cup of tea turned into an overnight hospital stay thanks to second degree burns (the milk in the tea was the biggest issue) and my parents learnt not to ask me to “help” with anything unless I could do it completely on my own haha
Thanks, Kristy. Ooh, second degree burns, ouch! I had a similar experience, but with a pot of hot coffee that my grandma accidentally poured on me as she was pouring a cup of coffee for my dad!
Oh my goodness so scary! Nothing to blame yourself about though. 100% not your fault and an accident that could have happened to any parent. If anything a great lesson for Keenan on why you tell him not to do things like walk backwards in the kitchen. Gorgeous picture of you four!
Thanks, Giselle! He definitely learned his lesson!
NEVER EVER think that you FAILED as a parent!!! HARDLY! We all have accidents!!!
Thank you!
:/ Poor little guy!! SO not your fault, Melissa! It’s just one of those worst case scenarios that actually happened. I have started putting my knives way back in the last utensil compartment because of Sadie (dog), she comes along and licks the dishes if I’m putting dishes in it.
Thanks, Heidi. It was a tough lesson to learn, but accidents do happen and I’m sure there will be many more in the future, unfortunately.