While reading this I couldn’t help but wonder what YOUR mother thought when you almost died. Twice. See, here’s the thing, you NEVER stop worrying about your kids hurting themselves. Physically or with just plain bad decisions. I have 4 grown up kids and have seen way too much pain and heartbreak that I could do nothing about except be there if they needed me. Right now it’s ALL on you to teach the kids what to do, and not do, to survive. After they grow up it’s on them. Been following you (I sound like a stalker, honest, I’m not) for a few years now and it’s pretty obvious that you’re a great dad. As someone who didn’t have a “great” one, I feel I can judge, lol. Teach them as best you can knowing that, as they get older, they’ll do “it” anyway. If for no other reason than to test what you told them to not do, or do. It’s the nature of the beast. In the meantime I’m glad Mae is okay ish. I’ve broken my toe and it’s HORRIBLE. Way worse than a bigger appendage.
The key is to not tell your parents there's anything wrong until you're safely in the hospital with an IV in your arm. Then there's no reason to worry. Usually, my near-death attempts come on so fast that there's not time to warn anyone anyway. I barely know in time.
Ouch. Poor Lucy, that had to hurt. I once put off taking our daughter to the ER when she banged into the wall before the beginning of an indoor soccer game. She could be very dramatic with injuries so it was always hard to tell how bad she was hurt. Anyway, turned out her arm was broken but she was fine with it because she got to have a pink cast to show off. Our pediatrician said he'd also done the "shake it off" advise with his own kid who also ended up with a broken arm, so I shouldn't feel bad by delaying to take her to get checked out. You know the saying to your kids after they've done something stupid: "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?" Well, guess what. She did. We parents just can't warn them of every situation that could cause harm or even that they'll listen if we do.
A good friend of mine was deaf in one ear after her husband threw a firecracker and it exploded early right next to her ear. Since my kids knew her, they at least knew what the effects were if they were too careless in their fireworks fun. If I'd thought of safety glasses back then, I would have made them wear them so that was a great idea you had.
If her foot still hurts tomorrow or the bruise is on both sides of her foot, bring her to the Emergency room. I have broken a bone in my foot and did not know until day three. All I did was step off the curb in a manner my foot disagreed with. The doctor looked at both sides of my foot, saw both sides were bruised, and declared it broken, then sent me to x-ray, for funzies, Also to confirm his diagnosis.
Now is the time to realize you can't protect your children from everything. They can wear all the protective gear in the world and still be hurt emotionally.
For the record
I am way more afraid of fireworks being let off by amateurs in the backyard than by professionals who take massive precautions.
I agree that amateurs with small fireworks are far more dangerous than professionals with big ones. As for Lucy's foot, she's basically back to normal. It's amazing how quickly kids heal.
In my place fireworks are prohibited for non-specialist use for the entire year (which doesn't stop some folks in my village to launch them from time to time throughout all seasons) except for the New Year's Eve night. Which is when basically everybody in rural areas is having a show smaller or larger. In urban people tend to rather ban them even on that occasion, causing annual debates in internet and family gatherings. There was a time my uncle and dad often joined forces in blewing vast amounts of money through what neighbours had called "the greatest fireworks show in the village". They were having their launching station in the scarp garden of our or uncle's house, depending on who hosted the NYEve's party and were very cautious, becasue we never had any accident (which cannot be said about one of my cousin's classmates, who had a metal prosthetic hand after blewing up the original with a firecraker in junior high school). However since 2018 they have stopped for two reasons: the official one is that they want now to be friendly to the environment, while the unofficial one is that prices have increased way above the level tolerable to them. But the final pyro show made at least a memorable send-off. On NYEve 2017/2018 they were launching the fireworks not too far from the uncle's house and that part of the garden is also close to his neighbours' home. The show lasted for about fifteen minutes, was very bright and loud. This was more than enough for the neighbour, who went out and shouted her irritation in words like "You don't go to church! You have no God in hearts if you make such noise!". She is devout religious and for her having little fun that way seems to be improper, but other church folks think otherwise.
Must have been quite the show for her to invoke the wrath of God against you. The firework that blew up that kid's hand must have been huge. Either that or it was a small one that he held on to really tightly. Either way, it validates my decision to stay far away from them. I need my fingers most days.
Yeah, she's always sits in the finest, heated pews in our parish church and always present to carry figures or portraits during processions. But she wasn't always like that. When I was in kindergarten, she often was bringing us eggs from her hens and had some time to chat on life, so we always spoke of her with respect. I don't remember when and what caused her to change.
My dad was a surgeon and when I broke my leg (tibia) skiing when I was 10, he was convinced it was just bruised and I walked on it for 2 full days, including through a couple feet of snow. When I refused to go to school for the big Valentine's Day party that Monday (with the shoe boxes and treats), my parents knew something was up. Plus I honestly was really quiet and didn't usually complain about anything. So he took me into the hospital with him on his rounds and dropped me off at x-ray while he checked his own patients. My mom was pretty shocked when we walked in the front door later and I was in a cast and on crutches. :-/ He did feel badly about that. It just looked bruised but was painful to walk on. In his defense, he was a urologist! Even the ortho guy said he didn't think it was broken. Hairline fracture. Go figure. No minor injury would have kept me from the Valentine's Day party at school. ;-)
Poor Lucy! I hope by Friday she only has an ugly bruise to show for this misadventure.
When my son was a freshman in college he called one afternoon to say he’d just had surgery for a torn ulnar nerve. It’s seemed the Sport of the Month was putting on a ski jacket and running thru the dorm smashing the glass on fire extinguisher cabinets (or maybe fire alarms - as you know, sometimes it’s best not to ask for all the details). I did have to admire his advance planning of taking his ski jacket to college … in Boca Raton. Unfortunately the broken glass penetrated thru nylon, down, skin, etc. Fortunately, BR being the upscale community it is, one of the country’s best hand surgeons was on call and the long story short is things turned out pretty much okay. But you know your kid’s an adult when they call to tell you they’ve given permission on their own for a major procedure and are only giving you an FYI!
My children have a way of landing on their feet. My son did not want to be in college and after the injury - to his dominant arm of course - he had to take a medical leave as he couldn’t write, etc (just a tad pre-computer). This saved him from a less honorable departure. But he took off to CA, did a bunch of crummy jobs, and decided it would be good to come home to get his degree. Now he’s a very successful commercial real estate developer. His only regret is that he went to Helen Hayes for rehab and the other patients were so much more severely disabled that he refused to continue. So he has some weakness in that hand that could have been overcome but on the whole all good.
I had a co-worker who threw dynamite into his grandpa’s pond on the farm. The percussion would kill the fish and there’s dinner. Questions about why dynamite was left lying around went unanswered. Anyway, he’s missing a couple of fingers on that hand. Didn’t stop him from doing all the regular things like working, getting married and having children. Still, that claw hand is scary!
Independence Day is my favorite holiday. Too bad it’s on the hottest day of the year. Class C fireworks are not allowed in my county, so the fireworks store over the county line is pretty busy this time of year.
In middle school, I fell out of a tree and landed wrong on my right foot. It swelled up and painful to touch, but I could walk to school almost ok. Three days later I complained about my foot and how it
was sore and swollen even though I kept icing it. Mother gave in and took me to the ER, there was a metatarsal bone that had broken. Walking cast, plaster walking cast, no lovely fiberglass cast. Did mention that I lived in Florida where it rains a lot?!
“My kids will never know what it’s like to be raised by an actual adult.”
My daughter says she wants to be like the mom she got to know after she was thirteen. Haha. I’m amazed she lived previous to that. I was definitely naive.
So glad that Lucy’s foot turned out (mostly) ok - i.e. no need for ER! The image of her bundled into a full suit of armor, plus a life jacket, plus safety goggles (or maybe a welder’s mask), plus flippers, plus a parachute - she would be ready for land, sea, and sky! Navy SEALs - move over!
While reading this I couldn’t help but wonder what YOUR mother thought when you almost died. Twice. See, here’s the thing, you NEVER stop worrying about your kids hurting themselves. Physically or with just plain bad decisions. I have 4 grown up kids and have seen way too much pain and heartbreak that I could do nothing about except be there if they needed me. Right now it’s ALL on you to teach the kids what to do, and not do, to survive. After they grow up it’s on them. Been following you (I sound like a stalker, honest, I’m not) for a few years now and it’s pretty obvious that you’re a great dad. As someone who didn’t have a “great” one, I feel I can judge, lol. Teach them as best you can knowing that, as they get older, they’ll do “it” anyway. If for no other reason than to test what you told them to not do, or do. It’s the nature of the beast. In the meantime I’m glad Mae is okay ish. I’ve broken my toe and it’s HORRIBLE. Way worse than a bigger appendage.
The key is to not tell your parents there's anything wrong until you're safely in the hospital with an IV in your arm. Then there's no reason to worry. Usually, my near-death attempts come on so fast that there's not time to warn anyone anyway. I barely know in time.
That's true. A parent's worries about their kids never ends. It just ends up as worries about more dangerous adult situations.
Ouch. Poor Lucy, that had to hurt. I once put off taking our daughter to the ER when she banged into the wall before the beginning of an indoor soccer game. She could be very dramatic with injuries so it was always hard to tell how bad she was hurt. Anyway, turned out her arm was broken but she was fine with it because she got to have a pink cast to show off. Our pediatrician said he'd also done the "shake it off" advise with his own kid who also ended up with a broken arm, so I shouldn't feel bad by delaying to take her to get checked out. You know the saying to your kids after they've done something stupid: "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?" Well, guess what. She did. We parents just can't warn them of every situation that could cause harm or even that they'll listen if we do.
A good friend of mine was deaf in one ear after her husband threw a firecracker and it exploded early right next to her ear. Since my kids knew her, they at least knew what the effects were if they were too careless in their fireworks fun. If I'd thought of safety glasses back then, I would have made them wear them so that was a great idea you had.
If her foot still hurts tomorrow or the bruise is on both sides of her foot, bring her to the Emergency room. I have broken a bone in my foot and did not know until day three. All I did was step off the curb in a manner my foot disagreed with. The doctor looked at both sides of my foot, saw both sides were bruised, and declared it broken, then sent me to x-ray, for funzies, Also to confirm his diagnosis.
Now is the time to realize you can't protect your children from everything. They can wear all the protective gear in the world and still be hurt emotionally.
For the record
I am way more afraid of fireworks being let off by amateurs in the backyard than by professionals who take massive precautions.
I agree that amateurs with small fireworks are far more dangerous than professionals with big ones. As for Lucy's foot, she's basically back to normal. It's amazing how quickly kids heal.
In my place fireworks are prohibited for non-specialist use for the entire year (which doesn't stop some folks in my village to launch them from time to time throughout all seasons) except for the New Year's Eve night. Which is when basically everybody in rural areas is having a show smaller or larger. In urban people tend to rather ban them even on that occasion, causing annual debates in internet and family gatherings. There was a time my uncle and dad often joined forces in blewing vast amounts of money through what neighbours had called "the greatest fireworks show in the village". They were having their launching station in the scarp garden of our or uncle's house, depending on who hosted the NYEve's party and were very cautious, becasue we never had any accident (which cannot be said about one of my cousin's classmates, who had a metal prosthetic hand after blewing up the original with a firecraker in junior high school). However since 2018 they have stopped for two reasons: the official one is that they want now to be friendly to the environment, while the unofficial one is that prices have increased way above the level tolerable to them. But the final pyro show made at least a memorable send-off. On NYEve 2017/2018 they were launching the fireworks not too far from the uncle's house and that part of the garden is also close to his neighbours' home. The show lasted for about fifteen minutes, was very bright and loud. This was more than enough for the neighbour, who went out and shouted her irritation in words like "You don't go to church! You have no God in hearts if you make such noise!". She is devout religious and for her having little fun that way seems to be improper, but other church folks think otherwise.
Must have been quite the show for her to invoke the wrath of God against you. The firework that blew up that kid's hand must have been huge. Either that or it was a small one that he held on to really tightly. Either way, it validates my decision to stay far away from them. I need my fingers most days.
Puritan wannabe
Yeah, she's always sits in the finest, heated pews in our parish church and always present to carry figures or portraits during processions. But she wasn't always like that. When I was in kindergarten, she often was bringing us eggs from her hens and had some time to chat on life, so we always spoke of her with respect. I don't remember when and what caused her to change.
Probably a good call, instant bruising usually means no break. Poor kid does seem to take after you doesn't she? LOL
She avoided the hospital, so she doesn't take after me at all. I would have gotten much more seriously hurt for better content.
Poor Lucy. Hope it heals quickly and well.
My dad was a surgeon and when I broke my leg (tibia) skiing when I was 10, he was convinced it was just bruised and I walked on it for 2 full days, including through a couple feet of snow. When I refused to go to school for the big Valentine's Day party that Monday (with the shoe boxes and treats), my parents knew something was up. Plus I honestly was really quiet and didn't usually complain about anything. So he took me into the hospital with him on his rounds and dropped me off at x-ray while he checked his own patients. My mom was pretty shocked when we walked in the front door later and I was in a cast and on crutches. :-/ He did feel badly about that. It just looked bruised but was painful to walk on. In his defense, he was a urologist! Even the ortho guy said he didn't think it was broken. Hairline fracture. Go figure. No minor injury would have kept me from the Valentine's Day party at school. ;-)
Poor Lucy! I hope by Friday she only has an ugly bruise to show for this misadventure.
When my son was a freshman in college he called one afternoon to say he’d just had surgery for a torn ulnar nerve. It’s seemed the Sport of the Month was putting on a ski jacket and running thru the dorm smashing the glass on fire extinguisher cabinets (or maybe fire alarms - as you know, sometimes it’s best not to ask for all the details). I did have to admire his advance planning of taking his ski jacket to college … in Boca Raton. Unfortunately the broken glass penetrated thru nylon, down, skin, etc. Fortunately, BR being the upscale community it is, one of the country’s best hand surgeons was on call and the long story short is things turned out pretty much okay. But you know your kid’s an adult when they call to tell you they’ve given permission on their own for a major procedure and are only giving you an FYI!
I've had bilateral ulnar nerve surgery. That account made me cringe as I remembered what it was like.
My children have a way of landing on their feet. My son did not want to be in college and after the injury - to his dominant arm of course - he had to take a medical leave as he couldn’t write, etc (just a tad pre-computer). This saved him from a less honorable departure. But he took off to CA, did a bunch of crummy jobs, and decided it would be good to come home to get his degree. Now he’s a very successful commercial real estate developer. His only regret is that he went to Helen Hayes for rehab and the other patients were so much more severely disabled that he refused to continue. So he has some weakness in that hand that could have been overcome but on the whole all good.
That's great news. I'm glad he's doing well.
I've lived on streets that sounded like WW II for several days. Luckily, this street has been pretty quiet since we moved here.
They new to quiet down when you showed up. You are not to be trifled with.
I had a co-worker who threw dynamite into his grandpa’s pond on the farm. The percussion would kill the fish and there’s dinner. Questions about why dynamite was left lying around went unanswered. Anyway, he’s missing a couple of fingers on that hand. Didn’t stop him from doing all the regular things like working, getting married and having children. Still, that claw hand is scary!
Independence Day is my favorite holiday. Too bad it’s on the hottest day of the year. Class C fireworks are not allowed in my county, so the fireworks store over the county line is pretty busy this time of year.
There are more fireworks stores than weeds this time of year. It's a very easy way to blow up money.
In middle school, I fell out of a tree and landed wrong on my right foot. It swelled up and painful to touch, but I could walk to school almost ok. Three days later I complained about my foot and how it
was sore and swollen even though I kept icing it. Mother gave in and took me to the ER, there was a metatarsal bone that had broken. Walking cast, plaster walking cast, no lovely fiberglass cast. Did mention that I lived in Florida where it rains a lot?!
“My kids will never know what it’s like to be raised by an actual adult.”
My daughter says she wants to be like the mom she got to know after she was thirteen. Haha. I’m amazed she lived previous to that. I was definitely naive.
So glad that Lucy’s foot turned out (mostly) ok - i.e. no need for ER! The image of her bundled into a full suit of armor, plus a life jacket, plus safety goggles (or maybe a welder’s mask), plus flippers, plus a parachute - she would be ready for land, sea, and sky! Navy SEALs - move over!
....There were a few audible squeaks 😜.
Yes, the farm fireworks incident was kind of scary 😳