Keep an eye on your toddler!

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Toddlers

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amother

Seashell

Tue, Oct 20 2020, 2:16 pm

It literally only takes a second for toddlers to sneak away. Last year I was at our shul playground one shabbos. My 2 year old toddler was playing with the other kids nicely. I turned my back for just a moment when another parent asked me a question. I turned back to check on my toddler and she had disappeared from the enclosed park. In the one second I had my back turned she had followed another kid out of the playground and wandered into shul. For the 5 minutes I couldn’t find her I was so panicked. I’m the type of parent who keeps a close eye of my kids, but it literally only takes a moment.

amother

Denim

Tue, Oct 20 2020, 2:25 pm

Just this morning my toddler for the first time came out of her crib and followed me out the door when I left for a preschool childs bus. She brought along her shoes and a pamper. What I did? Picked her up and rushed back in. Things happen.

amother

Linen

Tue, Oct 20 2020, 2:31 pm

When I was a toddler I walked out our open front door and down a very busy main road. A couple found me, toddling in just a diaper, and went door knocking to all the nearby houses. One adult went to the door while the other adult stayed out of sight with me. When they came to my house, my mother answered the door and said, no, she wasn’t missing a toddler. The couple left to continue searching when a sibling realized that I was missing and ran down the road to tell them.
I’m a mother of a few small kids and I don’t think this story is normal AT ALL.
And yes, I am from a very big family.

amother

Jade

Tue, Oct 20 2020, 2:34 pm

Blessing1 wrote:

Are you purposely starting another child safety controversial thread???
We need to do our best within normal reason to keep our kids safe. We don't need to keep our kids on a leash. Things happen to kids even if they're constantly watched. We need to do our best.

Yes, this is a good reason to start another child safety thread.

Why?

Because if you analyse incidents that COULD have gone wrong and take the opportunity to analyze what you have to do to avoid those situations, you do real PREVENTION of accidents, BEFORE anybody gets hurt...

That's the classic method that has been used for a long time in aeronautics...

Analyze "almost accidents" to AVOID REAL ACCIDENTS.

So what should be done?

Lock the door

Lock the front door

Have a high-up lock the child cannot reach

Keep the child in sight at all times.

Always assign a responsable person for this child...

etc...

FranticFrummie

Tue, Oct 20 2020, 2:58 pm

This is a crazy story, and you are probably going to think I'm making it up to be dramatic. I swear, it's true.

When my brother was two years old, my parents lived out in the country on a 5 acre parcel of land. My brother always woke up at least an hour or more before anyone else, and he could get into anything. Sometimes we'd find him in the front yard, naked, playing on the swing set.

My mom put a hook and eye latch on the top of the door, and a string of bells on it as well. My bedroom was right next to the front door (weird house layout), so I should have been able to hear.

My brother got out of his crib one morning, and slooooooowly pulled a dining room chair across the room, without making any noise. Then he climbed up and slooooooowly opened the door, so the bells wouldn't ring.

A while later, the phone rang and woke up my parents. The country animal control called to let my parents know that there was a grizzly bear in the area, and to let them know if they see it so the bear can be sedated and relocated.

When mom got off the phone, she realized my brother was gone! We spread out and covered the 5 acres, calling his name, but he never answered. Finally, we found him all the way down at the property line, throwing sticks into the creek. We asked him why he didn't answer us, and he said "Don't wanna come in!"

At that moment, my dad looked up the hill that comes down into the creek across from us, and sure enough, there was the bear, headed our way. Surprised

My dad scooped up my brother, send me and my sister into the house with mom, and we all headed in as fast as we could. Mom called animal control once we were all inside.

My brother was so MAD that he couldn't play in the water anymore!

So yes, long story short, my baby brother nearly got eaten by a bear.

flowerpower

Tue, Oct 20 2020, 3:03 pm

weasley wrote:

If that were me I would be shaken!

Maybe the mother went into her room after the meal and cried? There were a lot of people there...

amother

Gold

Tue, Oct 20 2020, 3:04 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I was by a friend for Shabbos once. B'H they have a very big family. They entertain a lot, and that day they had another big family over.

At one point my friend looked around and said "Has anyone seen the baby?"

We searched the whole house, but couldn't find her. We searched the back yard, and couldn't find her. Finally we went out front, and she was sitting in the middle of the street!

She had gone out the door, down two flights of steps, and out the main front door. She was barely old enough to walk, but she could reach the doorknobs, and of course none of them were locked.

Everyone was like "Oh, she's fine." and they just picked her up and went back to the meal like nothing had happened. They acted like this happens all the time.

How long ago was it? Got any other interesting stories you remember from your childhood that you want to talk about?

Madam F.

Tue, Oct 20 2020, 3:05 pm

amother [ Green ] wrote:

But, like, what were they supposed to do? Hold a vigil?

I think op meant that their reaction looked like "oh its a daily occurence no biggie"

amother

Tue, Oct 20 2020, 3:14 pm

Madam F. wrote:

I think op meant that their reaction looked like "oh its a daily occurence no biggie"

That's exactly what it was like.

Another time, I asked them why they didn't have a safety gate at the top of the stairs. The dad laughed and said "They only fall down the stairs once, then they learn to be more careful."

He was not kidding, that was legitimately his philosophy. He called it natural consequences.

They are a really sweet family, but they take chill to a whole new level. I get so nervous when I visit them.

amother

Lavender

Wed, Oct 21 2020, 12:19 am

When my 2-year old ran out the front door while I wasn't looking, and a passing driver found him in the street and brought him back, I just said thank you to her and took him back inside. I'm sure she thought I was the worst mother ever.

Then I locked all the doors in the house, alternated between hugging him and telling him very firmly that we DO NOT GO OUTSIDE BY OURSELVES and called my husband and told him how scary it was.

If it happened at a Shabbos meal, I'm sure I'd downplay it until everyone left.

(A few of my other kids also managed to slip out without me noticing, I do my best but unless I cage them in, there will always be moments when I'm not watching.)

But I also don't have a baby gate on the steps. I don't let them crawl around upstairs unless I'm there, and once they are old enough to climb the stairs, I start teaching them to climb down too.

I find that the baby gates get left open so often by older kids that they don't help much.

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