Just Wondering Your Opinion

[sahm1225]

On another forum I belong to a mom writes about how she walked away for a minute & walked back to her 4 year old w the blind cords Round his neck hanging. She was able to cut him off and besides a wicked bruise and scared our of his mind, he's fine. Thank God!

So my question is do you think a 4 year old has the logic to understand that that was dangerous? I just replied that I'd dig a little deeper to his 'I wanted to' generic answer just in case and mke sure the rest of the house was child proofed since he's a curious boy and I got slammed!! They said a 4 year old lacks the capacity to understand dangerous situations...

Do you think that's true? If yea, then I expect way more from my kids and dcks!

[Willow]

The human brain doesn't finish growing until a person is in their early 20's. It's fact, rather than opinion, that the part of the brain that is capable of properly assessing danger and using logic is the very last portion to mature.

It's why we pull the stupidest stunts in our teens. We believe we are invincible and don't think things through. Like, ever.

Four year olds are absolutely just as.......ignorant (for lack of a better word).

Kids love wrapping whatever they can around their arms, legs, fingers, toes, bodies etc. Heck, I had a 5 year old that would pull her pony holders out of her hair and then twist them around her tongue. There's really nothing unusual about it nor would I expect to get any sort of reasonable explaination as to why out of a child that young.

[cheerfuldom]

I hate blind cords. I think kids a lot older than 4 can get pretty curious and get into trouble with those. I understand what you were trying to say OP but I also understand why the moms got on the defensive. You were saying in a round about way that this could have been prevented possibly and then the moms think that you are implying that this original mom was at fault. The reality is that things happen. There is no way you can really child proof everything everywhere and unfortunately, while your advise was sound, the timing was really bad. No one wants to feel that they are being blamed when something like this happens to their child. Dont take it too personally. everyone has times when online people jump all over them.

[sahm1225]

Let me knock on wood that I haven't had a kid wrap things around their necks!

I know their brain isn't finished growing. I was just thinking that maybe something else could've made him wrap it around his neck & jump (like watching it on tv, an older sibling egging him on, etc).

I'm glad the little boy is okay and that she shared her story. It reminded a lot of moms to check their blinds,

[sahm1225]

I hate blind cords too!

I was just surprised how many moms said their kids don't know whats dangerous to play with.

I didn't tell the mom tips or say anything until the mom asked for baby proofing tips. I got slammed for saying to make sure cleaning supplies & knives are locked up. The original mom was grateful for that. The other moms said I was making the kid sound suicidal! I just figured my gosh if a kid thinks its a good idea to put a cord around his neck & then jump, then mixing cleaning solutions might sound good!

I said dig a little deeper because maybe an older sibling told him too or something you know?
Sorry. I'm rambling!

[DaisyMamma]

I think a 4 year old might not know better. He probably thought he was doing something fun. But I can see the other side of it too, some four year olds would know better.

[butterfly]

a 4 year old BOY may not know better. :: coming from a mother of 2 boys... They can be down right stupid in the stuff they pull.

I actually had a dck that did that very same thing - at home, NOT at daycare. He had a terrible line around his neck for weeks. It had to be terrifiing for the parents and the child.

Luckily I happen to know that parent well enough that I knew the child was being cared for and it was just a freak thing. If it were anyone else I would be calling CPS to investigate child endangerment.

[Josiegirl]

I've had 5 and 6 yo's put their backpacks around their necks. Kids do really ridiculous things sometimes. Wasn't there a celebrity's child that died awhile back, after getting tangled up in the treadmill cord? Can't remember how old the child was.
I get nervous when I see a dck come in with those shiny mardi gras type beads on(or any other necklace). As soon as mom leaves, the necklaces go away.
Have no clue if that child actually saw something that led him to want to try it too, but man, kids will think of crazy stunts all on their own.

[JoseyJo]

I don't think your comments were out of line at all. If one of my children put a blind cord around their necks (not that I have them down, but you know) I would FOR SURE make sure everything that I thought was at all dangerous was put away!

I wouldn't get mad at someone saying "What about your cabinets, do they have locks? What about knives and matches can he reach them?"

I do agree though that some kids are just clueless. My 14 yo STILL is not allowed to mow the yard even though his brother has been doing it since he was 10. Every time I let him try he does something stupid that scares me 1/2 to death! I have just this year let him start weed eating w/ plastic line, with constant supervision I am terrified of him learning to drive!

[Unregistered]

you can "childproof" your house as much as you want and kids are going to find something to get hurt on. I think we go a little overboard with the locks and soft corners on everything. Of course, put the knives and medications away, but kids are sneaky little buggers and honestly not too smart. With some of the stupid things my toddler does, I don't know how she'll survive to do stupid things into her teens.

[AmyLeigh]

I hate blind cords too!

I was just surprised how many moms said their kids don't know whats dangerous to play with.

I didn't tell the mom tips or say anything until the mom asked for baby proofing tips. I got slammed for saying to make sure cleaning supplies & knives are locked up. The original mom was grateful for that. The other moms said I was making the kid sound suicidal! I just figured my gosh if a kid thinks its a good idea to put a cord around his neck & then jump, then mixing cleaning solutions might sound good!
I said dig a little deeper because maybe an older sibling told him too or something you know?
Sorry. I'm rambling!

An extended family member of mine switched over to all natural cleaning products when she had children. Then her son (4 or 5 yo at the time) drank welding flux in dad's garage! He had burns all the way down his esophagus and into his stomach. He still has health issues because of it, ten years later.
Kids will do weird things because they just aren't thinking that there will be consequences. That's why they require so much supervision.

[2grls4us]

My friend has a very active boy and did the same thing with the blind cords. Was probably about that same age. He was standing on the back of their couch and jumped even. He said something about being a super hero I believe. About that same time frame he managed to get under the sink past the child safety locks and dumped cleaning supplies into his dad's huge fish tank, helping dad clean the tank I think was the reason for that one. Needless to say she shortened all of the cords in her house, the ones she didn't remove all together and they put a lock on a closet door that he could not reach for all of the cleaning supplies and things they did not want him getting into. He also had twin sisters only a year younger so they followed him everywhere and watched everything he did. Now at 10 & 11 they just tattle on him.