Recently I read an article in the Vancouver Sun about a study done that found that accidents involving children are not accidents at all and that they were all deemed to be avoidable.
I feel I'm the voice of experience on this issue as I will explain briefly.
My beautiful daughter Kaitlin was just a newborn in 1994 and at the time we were living in the basement suite that my dad and I had developed over the winter.
It was a daylight suite so there were only four steps down to the entryway landing.
The problem was that they were all built with concrete which offered no soft landing for a child.
Thus I lined the landing and steps with plywood including a lower level handrail.
To add another layer of cushion at the entryway, I put a rubber welcome mat.
A number of months moving forward I had just seated myself across the table from my daughter at the dinner table.
I was horrified to see the "W" bruised across her face and not a whimper about it! Thank God I acted on my instincts.
As with my boy Kyle, he was always a rambunctious kid so when we walked together I always had my middle three fingers in his hand and my thumb and baby finger I always kept tip to tip around his wrist with enough force that I could counter any quick unexpected moves that a young rambunctious child is capable of.
It was awkward at first but quickly it became second nature.
A few years later, Kyle and I were standing at Third and Dominion waiting for the crosswalk light to turn green.
Beside us crossing the street weretwo young ambassadors for the city hired to greet tourists.
I did not notice that a candy cane was passed to my son while crossing the road.
Kyle dropped the candy cane on the street and then when we stepped on the curb Kyle took off back to pick up the candy.
It caught me by surprise but Kyle wasn't able to break my grip and a second later a yellow cab went streaking over the candy cane!
We can save children from serious hurt by following through on our instincts.
Miles Thomas
Prince George
