...When the E.R. registrar knows your entire family by name and can recite all of your pertinent information just as well as you can.
Last Wednesday evening, Noah asked me if he could jump on the trampoline. Joe was already in the backyard and dinner was about five minutes away from being ready so I told him to go ahead, but make it quick because I was nearly ready to put dinner on the table. As I sat the dish of asparagus (Noah's favorite) on the table I heard the screams from out the back door. Noah had fallen wrong on the trampoline. Not off of the trampoline, just landed wrong when he was jumping. I have no idea how it happened since I did not see it and every time I ask, I get a different version.
I could tell his arm was starting to swell and he was really in a lot of pain, so I left dinner on the table and Joe taking care of the babies to rush Noah to the E.R. Turns out that his arm was broken just below the elbow and just above the wrist. They put on a temporary cast and he had to see the orthopedist the next day for his full cast. Poor guy is spending Spring break in a cast.
I asked for the darkest color they could find because I knew how it would look after just a few hours, not to mention a few weeks. Unfortunately they ran out of dark blue and had to use white! It is no longer white, but is now an awful shade of disgusting. He had a couple of rough nights at first, because he had a lot of swelling and it would make the cast tight in addition to the pain, but now he is doing great.
The doctor also reamed me out for letting my kid jump on a trampoline. We have not decided yet what we are going to do about the trampoline. Joe wants to get rid of it, but I feel like it was just a freak accident that could have happened walking down the steps. We are always very careful with the kids on the trampoline, they have to have an adult watching and only one can jump at a time. But as the Dr. so rudely told me, "There is no careful with a trampoline!" So what are your thoughts...freak accident or an accident waiting to happen?
5 comments:
Well my kids can blame Noah for them not getting a trampoline! We have been thinking about getting one, and the day after Noah broke his arm someone offered one to us. I told my husband I really wanted it, but I had to pass. I've always heard horror stories about trampolines and broken arms...
We have the small trampoline in the house, with handles on it, and I think that is as far as we are going to go.
Trampolines are fun. There were three of us, well four if you count Kelly, and there was only one accident. That accident was caused when three "little girls" tried to add soap, water, and a kiddy pool to the mix (I'm sure Holly could fill you in on many more similar incidences). This ONE only resulted in a sprained ankle, and taught a valuable lesson. We also grew up around 4 wheelers and go carts, we are all still alive. We were well supervised but not hovered over. They will only be kids once and fear should not keep them from having fun (within certain parameters of course) or learning responsibility, which will come with mistakes.
If we allow fear to govern our lives, we will never have any stories to tell nor will we learn any lessons in life.
No, I don't know what its like being a mother but I am grateful that my mom and dad let us do things that had they succumb to it, fear would never have allowed. It is also my opinion that when kids are kept from certain things, they are more likely to be rebellious teenagers.
In my line of work, I see many kids from "good parents" who are doing things just because they know mom and dad wouldn't allow it. This is when they get in trouble.
Well, your broken arm came from monkey bars! When you consider how many children played on those every day and how many total accidents, you really do have about the same chance of breaking an arm by walking down the steps.
I believe it was just a freak accident, I really think the benefit he gets from the exercise outweighs the risk.
Michelle is wrong, there were two incidents with the trampoline. I managed to pop my knee out of joint for the first time, on the trampoline, of course there were three of us on there and all our shoes too bouncing around. Then the incident with the water and the sprained ankle. I agree with you, weird things happen at weird times, if you take away EVERYTHING that could hurt us, we would be in bubbles in a padded room! Just a thought! If it was bad enough to make Noah not want to get back on it, get rid of it, otherwise....
I would have had to tell the dr. to shove it. Who is he to tell you what to do with your kids?! I do think it was a freak accident and agree with the others, if we take away everything that they could hurt themselves on, they'd have to sit in front of TV or play video games. Oh, wait, that's dangerous to their health. My kids have a trampoline without a net (gasp!) and they haven't had any accidents. So, I hope you all get to keep your trampoline and enjoy it!
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