The Injured List

Some days I’m not sure if my children will make it to their next birthdays. Granted, children are very resilient but they also do some really dumb stuff. At least three of the accidents I detail below would have meant a trip to the hospital, if not the morgue, had they happened to me. Thankfully, none of the six serious accidents we had this week resulted in any trips anywhere.

1. Sarah (11 months) fell down a flight of stairs, top to bottom, at my brother-in-law’s house. She earned a black eye, but no injuries. We’ve never lived in a house with stairs so we’re unaccustomed to kids falling down them. Apparently it isn’t that out of the ordinary at their house. Each of my nephews has been down them at least twice. We’re not overly protective, but I think we’d at least have a gate.

2. Sarah fell off one of her brothers’ tricycles and smacked her head on the driveway – hard. It was that kind of dull sickening thud. I have no idea how she got on the tricycle, but it isn’t hard to imagine. She’s a climber and her brothers are all too eager to help. She cried and probably had a headache for awhile, but came away with only a scratch on the side of her head.

3. Aaron (2 ½) and Eli (3 ½) were arguing over whose turn it was to use the vacuum cleaner (yes, their mother allows them to vacuum their own room). Eli got mad and tried to run over Aaron with the machine. I’m not sure how it happened, but the vacuum took an amazing amount of flesh off of one of Aaron’s big toes. It’s the kind of wound that makes my hair stand up a little bit to imagine how it feels. He’ll probably wear a bandage on it for a couple weeks, but he should be fine.

4. Aaron has been screwing around after bedtime recently. Apparently he gets up and plays in the dark. A few nights ago we heard screaming and came rushing in the find him lying on the floor. It seems he had climbed up to the top bunk (Eli’s bed) and fallen off. He must have hit the dresser on the way down because he had a scrape and a huge knot on his thigh. Probably could have broken his leg.

5. We are constantly warning the boys about running, jumping, playing, etc. when carrying sharp or stick-like objects. A few nights ago (the same night Aaron fell off the top bunk, actually) Eli was dancing while brushing his teeth. He fell and jabbed the handle end of the toothbrush in his eye. Everybody had a good scare, but he turned out to be fine. He did not poke his eye out or damage it in any way, but I’m pretty sure he learned the lesson.

6. Then just last night, Eli, my oldest and extremely intelligent child, did something that still makes my knees weak. Alone in his room after dinner, he climbed up onto the low sill of the big window in his room, wrapped the cord from his mini-blinds around his neck, and jumped. I have no idea what he was thinking. I’m sure he wasn’t trying to kill himself, but man he could have so easily. If that cord had twisted and snagged on itself instead of running free… The blinds are anchored in the concrete wall; they easily would have held his 35lb. body. As it was, he just got a nasty rope burn.



We’re good parents, really, we are. But we cannot watch our children and protect them every second of their lives. If we tried, they would rebel and do something really stupid, or grow up without the skills to survive in the real world.

These are God’s children. They belong to Him and not us. They have been entrusted to us to care for and train in His ways the best we can. We pray for them daily, but their safety and ultimate fate lies in His hands.

Block Party

When we bought our first house almost six years ago, we were sorely disappointed to find that our neighborhood lacked much of a neighborly feel. Sure, there were folks there that we came to know and love, but they were certainly the exception rather than the rule. Most folks did not know each other, and kept mostly to themselves. One of our immediate neighbors were originals from twenty-something years ago and told of the early days when there were block parties and the moms would get together during the day for playgroups. Being idealists, we made an early effort to revive this neighborly spirit, but it was to no avail. Language barriers and general disinterest prevented it from ever really getting off the ground. We were eventually forced to move on due to declining property values.

When shopping for this, our second home, we placed a higher emphasis on the neighborhood itself, and not just the home. By now we had learned that even the perfect house was no good if the neighborhood was a loser. In Atlanta, the quality of the local schools is a very important factor for home values, and is a good indicator for the quality of the neighborhoods. The schools are less of a factor here because of the school choice programs, but I developed my own indicator that I call The Starbucks Test. As you can probably tell if you’ve read my previous posts, we are very pleased with our new community. And it keeps getting better.

Today was the Block Party.

It was actually the Clearwater Neighborhoods Day, as part of which the city sponsors block parties in 25 neighborhoods including mine. That tells me that my neighborhood is one of the Top 25 in Clearwater. This is not a high-budget affair, so the financial sponsorship is not significant, but I enjoy living in a community where neighborhoods are a priority. The only expenditures that I observed were the hot dogs, bottled water, and the clowns. Oh, and the fire trucks.

There were actually several folks from the city on hand, but the fire fighters were definitely the coolest. There was a regular pumper truck and a fire rescue vehicle (which is basically an ambulance). Unlike the Touch the Trucks event, there were no garbage trucks to distract my boys and they went over every inch of those fire trucks. Every compartment was opened, every tool was examined, and every operation was explained.

They showed us their map book they use to navigate to a fire. The book is maintained by the city (digital GPS maps are not accurate enough) and shows the location of houses and fire hydrants. If a hydrant can’t be located nearby, they do carry a strainer, but the hydrant is preferable because their 1,500 gpm pumps will empty the typical swimming pool in under 10 minutes.

They showed us the infrared/thermal camera that they use to “see” in a smoke-filled building. They say it is real easy to spot a human body in a burning building because it shows up on the camera as a cool spot. I had a mind to do some experimentation with the camera, but was under close spousal supervision and had to refrain.

They showed us a variety of axes, bolt cutters, sledgehammers, shovels, brooms and other tools that are stowed away in various locations on the truck. One boy who fell and skinned his chin in the street was the envy of the other kids when he got a band-aid from the fire truck’s first aid kit.

One of the firefighters even suited up in full regalia, including mask and helmet. He got down on his knees and let the children approach him. They were intimidated at first by the mask and the sound of the oxygen, but eventually got over it and closed in to rummage his pockets (Aaron found a screwdriver). I’ve seen this evangelism to children a few times now but continue to marvel at the perceptiveness of the strategy. The police and firefighters go out of their way to be recognized by children as friends. The police obviously want to preempt the adversarial role that they are often placed in by the teenage years, and both hope to reduce the tendency for small children to hide from them in a dangerous situation.

Needless to say, the block party was a big hit. I felt very much the first-timer when I observed the other dads and their plastic cups, but I’m a quick learner and I’ll have mine next year.