Hug your kids (NA)

[Ken Ibold]

Yesterday's scoreboard read: Pavement 1, Parker 0.

It was a beautiful day and the kids had finished all of their chores. I was installing an electrical box in the kitchen ceiling for a new light fixture when the kids went outside to ride bikes. We live in a gated community with fairly quiet streets, and I didn't think much of it.

A little while later, the doorbell rings, and it was a woman down the street. She had my 7 year old son, Parker. He had his 11-year-old brother's shirt balled up over his face and was screaming bloody murder. My other son and daughter arrived on their bikes at about the same time. Parker's description: "I was traveling at a high rate of speed and I didn't see the stop sign until Steven slowed down and started turning. I tried to turn, but my bike jerked and I fell off. Everything was black for 1 second, and then I saw my blood everywhere."

I'll spare you the gory details, but five hours later we were finally headed home from the emergency room and a visit from a plastic surgeon. 7 stitches between his nose and upper lip, a mild concussion, a shiner, and a lot of lost skin on the right side of his face.

The people in the pediatric ER said they'd seen eight bike crash victims that day. Parker was the only one among them who had been wearing a helmet.

So last night the five of us got little sleep, but we all grew a little bit as a family. Coulda been much worse. Thankfully it wasn't.

 

[poadeleted1]

Yesterday's scoreboard read: Pavement 1, Parker 0.

It was a beautiful day and the kids had finished all of their chores. I was installing an electrical box in the kitchen ceiling for a new light fixture when the kids went outside to ride bikes. We live in a gated community with fairly quiet streets, and I didn't think much of it.

A little while later, the doorbell rings, and it was a woman down the street. She had my 7 year old son, Parker. He had his 11-year-old brother's shirt balled up over his face and was screaming bloody murder. My other son and daughter arrived on their bikes at about the same time. Parker's description: "I was traveling at a high rate of speed and I didn't see the stop sign until Steven slowed down and started turning. I tried to turn, but my bike jerked and I fell off. Everything was black for 1 second, and then I saw my blood everywhere."

I'll spare you the gory details, but five hours later we were finally headed home from the emergency room and a visit from a plastic surgeon. 7 stitches between his nose and upper lip, a mild concussion, a shiner, and a lot of lost skin on the right side of his face.

The people in the pediatric ER said they'd seen eight bike crash victims that day. Parker was the only one among them who had been wearing a helmet.

So last night the five of us got little sleep, but we all grew a little bit as a family. Coulda been much worse. Thankfully it wasn't.

Thankfully. But he will learn. Just glad the results were not more serious.

 

[wsuffa]

The good news is that he'll be OK and a lesson was learned. The bad news is how the education was imparted.

My middle brother has a crown on one of his front teeth that is the result of a little bit of overly rough play around the house when we were kids.

Let's hope that the child-protection authorities don't come after you as a parent for not watching them more carefully.

 

[Frank Browne]

Ken, I'm glad your son was not hurt more seriously. I hope he doesn't have too bad of a headache tomorrow.

 

[poadeleted3]

Sean has finally learned to look for cars when crossing the road, which means that this is the spring he gets to learn to ride the bike we got him last year, and the scooter a fellow pilot gave him... we don't have a yard to speak of, so it's all asphalt and concrete for him. Gotta tell ya, this isn't the post I needed to read!!!

Glad your kid is more or less OK... can't stand it when my son gets hurt.

 

[woodstock]

Ken, glad he's ok. I don't know if I'd survive child-raising - I'd be a nervous strung out wreck constantly.

I'm REALLY glad he was wearing a helmet. I hope he wears one when he starts riding motorcycles!

 

[HPNFlyGirl]

Ken...Glad to hear Parker is ok. Is he going to need surgery?

Last year around this time my nephew had an accident on his swingset. It was one where the sliding board is attached, and he was climbing up the "ladder" to slide down and he slipped. When he slipped he caught his nose on the wood and it ripped everything back. You could litterally take the skin flap that was hanging and flip it over his eyebrows. Poor little Chasey, he had to have emergency surgery that night. Now he has to go see a doctor, frequently, to make sure his nose is healing properly, since he could have breathing problems later on in life.

Good thing is big brother Jordan, 5 at the time, called 911 (with out his mom knowing) and the paramedics came and took them to the ER.

Those of you with little ones make sure they know how to call 911 in an emergency. It could save a life.

 

[ScottM]

Parker was the only one among them who had been wearing a helmet.

Yowsa, glad he is ok. I ride a lot and always wear a helmet. Since I ride fast and have spent a lot of time over 20mph and sometimes over 30mph I have wondered what would happen if I were to take a header. One of the pro-riders, [SIZE=-1]Saul Raisin,[/SIZE] took a header a few weeks ago and he has been in a coma since.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Do they make full face helmets for bicyclists?

Sounds sort of like the summers of my youth, about once a week it seemed someone was screaming off to the hospital or dentist. Amazing we all survived. Parents were on first name basis with emerg room staff.

 

[bbchien]

Do they make full face helmets for bicyclists?

Sounds sort of like the summers of my youth, about once a week it seemed someone was screaming off to the hospital or dentist. Amazing we all survived. Parents were on first name basis with emerg room staff.

Glad to hear he'll be OK. It's a pretty traumatic thing, when this sort of thing happens....

 

[DeeG]

Ken, glad to hear the kid is OK. I feel fortunate in that mine made it through childhood without getting hurt (scrapes and such don't count)

Good thing is big brother Jordan, 5 at the time, called 911 (with out his mom knowing) and the paramedics came and took them to the ER.

Those of you with little ones make sure they know how to call 911 in an emergency. It could save a life.

Since answering 9-1-1 calls is what I do for a living, I couldn't agree more. The second most important thing after calling is for them to know where they are. Especially if they are not on a 'normal' land line (I don't trust the VOIP yet).

We get lots of cell calls from kids where all they know is they are 'at the park' (which park, there are a bunch of em); 'at home' (they have no clue what their address is, or even what street they are on, and all they have is a cell); 'on the lake' (OK, we have about 15 lakes that you can take a boat on.......), etc.

I really hate playing 20 questions when someone is hurt and needs help. Trying to guess your location is NOT a good thing.

 

[Tom-D]

Coulda been much worse. Thankfully it wasn't.

You'll find that your highest highs, and your lowest lows, will come from your children.

Thank God he's alright.

Scares are charicter lines with memories.

 

[Bill]

So last night the five of us got little sleep, but we all grew a little bit as a family. Coulda been much worse. Thankfully it wasn't.

Ken, I'm glad Parker came out OK, bike wrecks can be bad.

 

[MSmith]

I'm glad to hear that he's OK.

I never did anything like that, but my brother did.

One time he was jumping a scooter (the old red kind) over a step and the center came down on the step. He went over the handlebars and landed on his face without time to get his hands out. He had an ER trip followed immediately by an emergency orthodontist trip to get the braces actually attached to his teeth again.

Another time he got brought home by a woman we knew in town. She had made a right turn at a corner in front of him (his fault - she had signalled well in advance before he got there) and he ran into the side of her car.

All in all, I think he wrecked 3-4 times in his high school years - all on a bicycle or similar device.

 

[TMetzinger]

Glad your son is ok, and glad you had access to a plastic surgeon!

So far my daughter has been trauma-free (after I went back and got recertified as an EMT - I thought about getting my PA license back but decided I really wasn't gonna work on my own child unless things were REALLY bad - in which case a license wouldn't matter). I had gotten stitches several times by MY third birthday but so far she's only got one skinned knee and some bruises.

 

[astanley]

Yowsa, glad he is ok. I ride a lot and always wear a helmet. Since I ride fast and have spent a lot of time over 20mph and sometimes over 30mph I have wondered what would happen if I were to take a header. One of the pro-riders, [SIZE=-1]Saul Raisin,[/SIZE] took a header a few weeks ago and he has been in a coma since.

Hey Scott, Saul is out of his coma - he even removed his own breathing tube when he started to figure out what is going on. He had a history of epileptic episodes on his bike, so it looks like this is a repeat of the same thing. It's good to see him on the mend, they are going to be bringing him back to GA for rehab.

Now, back to the title at hand, I too spend a lot of time on two (nonmotorized) wheels nowadays. Both on my mountain bike and my road bike, I logged just under 400 miles last month (two international trips killed my riding time). It's amazing to me to be just riding along and see people without a basic helmet on - especially kids. I was coming up my hill, after a nice 65 mile bike ride on Saturday, and I saw a 12 year old, sans helmet of course, crash into the concrete sidewalk at speed. He was fine (got up, hopped up on his bike, when I yelled "Are you OK?" he yelled "Sure thing mister"), but watching him dump gave me the heebie jeebies.

I have smashed enough helmets, have enough bruises and scars to remind me to always wear my lid. While, as you can see, they don't prevent all injuries, I'm glad Parker was wearing his. How is he feeling today Ken?

I'm not sure why my parents let me keep riding a bike, I seemed to crash and burn pretty hard once every summer...

Cheers,

-Andrew

 

[TMetzinger]

As far as I know, my three speed (modified to house 6 "D" model rocket engines) is still hanging in the tree in the middle of the creek I tried to jump when I was about 12. I had minor cuts and scrapes from the branches on the way down to the creek bed, but that was it. I didn't hit the ramp right and so was several feet to the right of my intended course - which probably saved me.

I wonder how many other boys were inspired by Evel Kneivel to go out and hurt themselves?

 

[Ken Ibold]

I have smashed enough helmets, have enough bruises and scars to remind me to always wear my lid. While, as you can see, they don't prevent all injuries, I'm glad Parker was wearing his. How is he feeling today Ken?

I kept him home from school Monday, because Sunday night we were on the "wake up every 4 hours" drill and he slept poorly. Tuesday was better, but he punked out noticeably at about 3 pm. He went to school today, and he's looking and feeling much better.

He wanted to play in his baseball game last night, but I wouldn't let him, since he reported that sometimes he'd get a little headache when he bent over. Can't have a pitcher who can't bend over, donchaknow.

The raspberries on his forehead, nose and under his eye are much better (thanks, Neosporin) and from what I can see the stitch lines are very clean.

 

[Ken Ibold]

I wonder how many other boys were inspired by Evel Kneivel to go out and hurt themselves?

Count me among them, though sans the rocket motors.

 

[astanley]

Do they make full face helmets for bicyclists?

Sounds sort of like the summers of my youth, about once a week it seemed someone was screaming off to the hospital or dentist. Amazing we all survived. Parents were on first name basis with emerg room staff.

Yes, they do Dave. Primarially built around BMX, Freeride, Mountain Cross, Downhill, and Trials riding, however... general MTB and road riding the beanie-style of lid is still predominant. I do not wear a full face for any of my riding; I had the priviledge of eating a bridge lip 2 years ago trying to step up onto said bridge (18" step-up on a mountain bike trail, just didn't give it enough oomph) but that hasn't convinced me to move to a full face.

I wear an Animas and a Pneumo:

and

I am on my second Animas, I made a pretty solid dent (about .5") in my Animas crashing off of a trail into a mature sapling (about 8' tall tree) down a 15' embankment, late last fall. That same lid also protected my gourd on a 3' drop crash onto the pavement in front of my best friend's new home.

I'm a 100% Giro guy.

Cheers,

-Andrew