You Did What?!: Part Two

As promised, here I am, back to share my safety blunders. In all seriousness, I share them to bring awareness to what can commonly go wrong when we let our guards down or overlook common child proofing basics. I am guilty of this as well even when I thought we were completely covered. So here goes…

Safety Mistake #2: The Unsafe Front Door: So as far as child proofing went in our house, we thought we pretty much had our bases covered. Gates at top and bottom of stairs, electrical outlet covers, latched cabinets and drawers, out of reach medicines and household cleaning supplies, you get the point. Why we overlooked the front door, I actually have no good explanation for that. We had the top door latches but never installed them. I remember having the conversation with my husband and for some insane reason we thought it wasn’t necessary.

Up until the day in question, we had never left our child unattended, and at 3 years old he couldn’t even work the lock. Okay, I’ll be the first to admit how flawed that logic was in retrospect. Families lead busy lives and with ours just expanding by one little baby girl…well you can’t be in two places at once. Reason number two this logic was flawed: although he can’t open it now, he will someday and that day will be at the exact moment you leave him alone! This is exactly what happened in our house. And really, I should know better. I teach parents to watch for developing milestones…it’s called anticipatory guidance and I’ve given it a lot: ” your baby will be rolling over soon so never leave him/her unattended on a changing table, bed, etc”.

We became complacent, thinking at 3 years old, we already knew what he was and wasn’t capable of…wrong! Anyway, it just happened to be one of those days, a perfectly chaotic day that was the perfect setting for what was about to unravel. I was anxiously awaiting my husband’s arrival so he could take over baby duty as I prepared to make one of my rare appearances at work. It would be a tight switcheroo and he was running late. So, as soon as he got home, I handed him the baby with the instructions: “she needs a nap now”, and I settled our son in on the couch with one of his favorite episodes to wait until daddy was done.

I was off, door locked but not child proofed. Well, you can guess what happened. My husband comes downstairs to find the front door wide open and our 3 year old son heading for the side walk because he “wants to say good-bye to mommy”. Reliving this moment even now gives me palpitations. Again, counting our blessings that nothing terrible happened to our son. Another terrible safety blunder by Dr.Mom that I will never forget.

These are the safety lessons we learned and want to pass on:

1. Don’t become complacent about safety even in your own home. Re-evaluate your child proofing needs in your home at each stage of your child’s development. What may not be a concern now, my be a huge safety issue in 6 months.
2. Be proactive, don’t wait for something to happen. It’s always “better to be safe than sorry”.
3. Reassess your family’s situation i.e. new sibling, new job = new schedule. All these things can create new safety issues that you hadn’t thought of. Both of the big safety mistakes I’ve shared with you happened to our son when we were in the new stages of being parents of two. Situations we hadn’t encountered before.

Thanks so much for reading and for sharing your safety stories! Here’s to keeping our kids safe!