Teach your Children to be Safe!

My children do not like that I work in the emergency department as a nurse. If they were to describe my parenting style, I think they would compare me to "Marlin",the clown fish from the movie Nemo. Each shift I work, I see children that have injured themselves; many of these injuries could have be prevented. This blog list a few cases that I have seen at work and probably contributes to how I parent at home. "Oh don't do that!", "Be careful!", "That's not safe!".
This is not meant to scare you, just think!
Cases:

• 18 month old child required16 stitches in the face from yes, a Golden Retriever! One of the most common things we hear is "He has never bitten before".
• 4 year old child was reaching for a book, stood on the bottom shelf and down came the bookshelf ! "Nail them to the wall"
• 3 year old child was in Daddy's car while he was washing it and put the car into neutral. The car rolled backwards and landed on the neighbor's front grass. Luckily the child only ended up with 2 stitches. The sad part of the story is that Dad saw it happening and tried to stop the car from rolling and the car ran over him. He had some serious injuries, but was okay.
• 8 year old child standing behind Dad as he was batting at a baseball game. Dad threw the bat and hit the child in the face. (Took the child's first 4 front teeth out!)
  
• 9 year old riding down a set of stairs with bike and no helmet. "Boys will be boys!"

It only took a few minutes to jot down a busy week in emerge. I could go on and on, but what I really want to instill here is that you need to teach your children to be aware of their surrounding. They are their own best defense against accidents.
Until next time, take care and be safe!
Nicole Turney