Washing Machine Tragedy

[nannyde]

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/toddlers-tragic-washing-machine-death-sends-warning-parents-202400944.html

[mac60]

What a tragic story. Freak accident, this is what we would call it here. The man did say that the lid was left up like she always does. I would have to say the washer safety was not working correctly, as my washer will not go thru the complete cycle unless the lid is down. I will always say that daycare providers watch children much closer than their own parents in many instances.

[MommyofThree]

I agree that it must of been broken because I thought that was a saftey thing all machines have that the lid must be down for it to work. so sad.

[Meyou]

My washer is 25 years old and can run with the lid up except for the spin cycle.

[Kaddidle Care]

How horrible. The older machines will run with the lid open - remember when you had to add the fabric softener during the rinse cycle?

Now the machines have that safety feature where it won't run unles the lid is closed and mine even latches for extra safety.

[saved4always]

My old top load machine would fill with water and aggitate the clothes but would not spin if the top was up. So a child could totally drown in it. That is such an awful, scary story. I feel so bad for the poor mother!

When my kids were little, I would have thought nothing of starting the machine going and then remember I had other things to go into the machine and run upstairs to get them with the machine still open and filling. It is just not something that I would have thought about as a drowning hazard. With the daycare, it would not have been able to happen....even if I got to throw a load in, my dog is gated in the laundry room away from the kids, but with the machine and, to even get to do it, the clothes would already have to be in there. Plus, I have a front loader now and it locks when I turn it on so it is fully loaded before filling.

My heart goes out to this poor mother.

[nannyde]

Mine just has to be shut on the spin cycle. I got it used 18 years ago from one of my dc moms and it's lived with only one minor repair. I do about three loads a day so it's been a good machine. (not to jinx it now and have it blow up). When it did have problems it was within two days of my dishwasher and my fridge breakdown so I had the fortune of three repairs in a couple of days.

One thing I think of in this story is what the legal consequence to her will be for the lack of supervision. My guess is it will be zero.

If this would have happened with the same aged child, with the same machine, at the same time in a child care provider home the consequences would be HUGE. The provider would have been liable criminally for lack of supervision.

This is the kind of thing I'm speaking of when I say that the care of other peoples children is nothing like the care of your own. This parent was allowed to leave her really young toddler unsupervised for a pretty good amount of time and have access to water and have the worst possible scenario happen. I'll bet you the "legal" consequence to her will be nothing.

Now there may be more to the story but if this ends in just a "freak" accident where she SHOULD have been supervising the child but did not KNOW the risks of water access... the case will most likely close quickly.

Parents are allowed to make critical and fatal mistakes with their children because they are their children and they have the most to loose if death happens. We aren't allowed to allow a one year old baby to run the house and climb without having an adult doing direct supervision. He had to have shown her his climbing ability LONG before this happened to be that skilled of a climber.

So when you have a child who wants out of the supervised area to run the house remember this story. When you have one hanging on the gate because what's on the other side of the gate is a better gig than what is within the gated area.... It's okay for us to limit "run the house" and "climb the ___" because we can't take the risk that something like this will happen. Parents can. We can't.

[countrymom]

hmm, I don't know, its a sad thing that it happened, but I will guarentee you that she was gone for awhile. Sorry, I'm trying to figure out how a child managed to climb ontop of a washer, second, there is an agitator in the middle, so that will stop him from fallining in all the way. Also, my washer was 10 yrs old (before it went out) but it had a function that when the lid was up the water stopped. I don't know, I'm one to analyze everything, and this story is just one that has too many loop holes. But I have to agree, that I think as providers we do watch the children way better than the parents.

[countrymom]

Mine just has to be shut on the spin cycle. I got it used 18 years ago from one of my dc moms and it's lived with only one minor repair. I do about three loads a day so it's been a good machine. (not to jinx it now and have it blow up). When it did have problems it was within two days of my dishwasher and my fridge breakdown so I had the fortune of three repairs in a couple of days.

One thing I think of in this story is what the legal consequence to her will be for the lack of supervision. My guess is it will be zero.

If this would have happened with the same aged child, with the same machine, at the same time in a child care provider home the consequences would be HUGE. The provider would have been liable criminally for lack of supervision.

This is the kind of thing I'm speaking of when I say that the care of other peoples children is nothing like the care of your own. This parent was allowed to leave her really young toddler unsupervised for a pretty good amount of time and have access to water and have the worst possible scenario happen. I'll bet you the "legal" consequence to her will be nothing.

Now there may be more to the story but if this ends in just a "freak" accident where she SHOULD have been supervising the child but did not KNOW the risks of water access... the case will most likely close quickly.

Parents are allowed to make critical and fatal mistakes with their children because they are their children and they have the most to loose if death happens. We aren't allowed to allow a one year old baby to run the house and climb without having an adult doing direct supervision. He had to have shown her his climbing ability LONG before this happened to be that skilled of a climber.

So when you have a child who wants out of the supervised area to run the house remember this story. When you have one hanging on the gate because what's on the other side of the gate is a better gig than what is within the gated area.... It's okay for us to limit "run the house" and "climb the ___" because we can't take the risk that something like this will happen. Parents can. We can't.

thats what I'm trying to figure out, how did this child manage to climb into the washer, he had to have done it before. My ydd has always been a climber, but she never ever climbed my washer. I agree nanny, I think parents need to be punished when stupid accidents like this could have been prevented. This makes me angry that as a provider I can be charged, but a parent being stupid doesn't get charged, yes I know they lost a child but they should be punished also, makes them think twice.

[momofboys]

Very sad My washing maching (high efficiency, newer model) will not do one thing if the lid is up. And actually my older machine (it was about 24 years old when it was retired due to many malfunctions, ) wouldn't function with the lid up also if I recall correctly but I think it would fill up with water with the lid open which obviously could pose a problem.

[Blackcat31]

It is a horribly sad thing but seriously?! the mother was "in the living room looking at a magazine"!?!?
"She normally stays in the laundry room, but this time was distracted"?!?


Those are statements from the video (bout 40-45 seconds in)

This IS a VERY tragic situation but I wouldn't really call it an accident. I would call it poor supervision all together. Accidents are what happen when we have done EVERYTHING we can to safeguard something or someone and something still happens.....in the living room reading a magazine is NOT doing everything possible to prevent this. :confused:

I'm not trying to make this mother out to be a bad person or anything, as I am sure I have been guilty of using less than perfect supervision or prevention methods with my own children at one time or another during their childhood years, but like Nan said, parents aren't held to the same standards of responsibility or liability as others.

I am sure this mother is absolutely devastated but she does have some accountibility in this situation in my eyes.

[nannyde]

I definitely didn't supervise my own like I do the daycare kids BUT I safety proofed the house.

Here's a picture of my son hanging on a gate when he was about that age: http://www.nanshouse.com/apps/photos...otoid=41875715

I put up gates around electronics and hook latched the doors to the laundry room, bathroom, ebay room. I built half walls between the kitchen/dining room with half doors hooked on the kitchen side.

He had the upstairs playroom, his room, and the living room to free run without supervision. All the shelving and dressers are bolted into the walls.

He did "run the house" from about thirteen months old and then outside in the back at around three. I have the dc kids to age five and they have never done either of those at any age.

I wish we could allow "run the house" and climb the ____ because it's way more fun for everyone.

[Blackcat31]

Nan~ Your son is absolutely ADORABLE!!!!!!!!! lovethis

[nannyde]

Nan~ Your son is absolutely ADORABLE!!!!!!!!! lovethis

I didn't have anything to do with it but I must agree.

[Country Kids]

I have to say, that I feel for this mother. I can't imagine living with this for the rest of your life knowing that it could have been prevented. In my eyes that is punishment enough. It wasn't a deliberate act, it was an accident. If she had been a helicopter parent everyone would have come down on her for that also because she would have been to over bearing on her child and never let them explore.

Please don't pass judgement on this mother, we don't even know her. She just lost her precious baby in a terrible accident that she will probably rewind in her mind for a long, long time. Even though we all say we wouldn't do anything like that, other things can happen and then it becomes a reality.