This week on Momversation Giyen Kim wants to know what happens when someone else’s kid gets hurt on your watch.
What you don’t know, is that after a party gone wrong Giyen was asking Mindy Roberts, Karen Walrond and me to tell her something to make her feel less awful. I think I did the job nicely.
What I want to know from you is, what do you do when someone else’s kid gets hurt when you’re watching them?
In my experience, younger kids react to adult’s responses when they get hurt. If a kid falls down or gets bumped up I stay calm, love ’em up, patch ’em up and go on just as I would if my own kid got hurt. That said, we live in a very litigious culture and I personally live in an area where every other household houses a lawyer. As a rule, I don’t watch people’s kids if I don’t know the family well. When kids come over to play I find out food allergies and emergency contact info *before* the parent leaves. The reality is, kids get hurt. If a parent spazzes out about it I probably won’t have their child over again.
Depends so much on the kids and the parents. and I’ve found boys are different than girls – sorry – but it’s true. Once my husband was pulling 2 neighbor kids in a bike trailer (helmets on) and hit some gravel and dumped them into the driveway. I spent the next hour pulling gravel out of their road rashes w/ tweasers. I was mortified. Then the mom shwed up and said. “Oh for cry eye, we’ve seen way worse!” (mom of 4 boys) and the boys instantly started regailing her w/ stories of the awesome crash rolling on the floor in slo-mo. Shwew!
Not long after, had a neighbor girl over and she got a sliver in her foot from my deck and i thought I’d have to amputate her damn leg by the way she was wailing. Even after the sliver was out she was beyond consolation. Her dad showed up and scolded me for 20 mins about the surface of my deck. Needless to say, no more play dates w/ that family.
Teens are a whole other animal completely aren’t they?
Luckily I don’t have to worry about that though b/c I’ve made a pact w/ my kids to hold steady at 12 at least until I finish menopause.
So. My parents were keeping my son for the weekend when he was around 2. He walks into their TV room, holding a slobbery pile of chalky pink pills, and has a pink ring around his mouth. He had gotten into my dad’s blood pressure medicine. In fact, most of my son’s injuries and bumps come during someone else’s watch, come to think of it. So I have the reverse scenario… I feel all the guilt because I wasn’t there to prevent it from happening!
Oh, and my parents took him to the ER and both he and my dad drank charcoal to make sure he wasn’t poisoned. My dad drank it out of guilt and to entice my boy to drink it.
Your Dad is amazing. FYI his birdhouse just got moved to another tree. Many babies have thrived there.
I’m so glad that it is still being used! :) And yes, he is. I lucked out in the parents department, that is for sure!
What a great video! I love Momversation! I can’t wait to go check it ou!
Wow. . okay, I guess I should just accept that two or three playgroups per week, with like five kids, the odds are THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN SOMEDAY. I will brace myself, and prepare to shower mother of injured child with liquor, or chocolate, or more liquor. Thanks!,
x,
Paula
http://www.adhocmom.com