When you became a parent, you did everything possible to make your house child safe. You put your favorite sharp ornaments in the attic. You even made sure your carpet was tucked in place. All the better for reducing the risk of household accidents and making your home safe for your little one.
Sadly, the rest of the world isn’t quite as child-friendly as you might hope. While shop owners and the like do have a responsibility of safety, these are rarely targeted towards tiny humans. Add to that the fact that kids tend to get excited while running around new places, and it’s no surprise falls often occur outside the house.
The sound of your child’s screams ripping through a shop may be your worst nightmare. Still, there’s a pretty high chance it’ll happen at some stage during your parenting journey. When it does, it’s crucial you know what to do. This isn’t as simple, after all, as a bump in your household. As such, we’re going to look at a few steps you may want to take after that initial falling impact.
Check the severity
First, you need to check the severity of what’s happened. Kids are sensitive little things. The strength of their cry may be more to do with shock or embarrassment than an actual injury. Before you rush off to find a first aider, then, it’s worth checking things over. If your child looks genuinely injured, you shouldn’t move them. But, if they get straight up and don’t even have so much as a scrape, you can brush them off and move on with your day. If there’s any visible mark, or if their cries don’t subside, you’re going to want to take this further in the following ways.
Speak to a member of staff
The first thing to do would be to approach a member of staff. This could be someone on the shop floor or failing that someone on a customer service desk. Either way, let them know what’s happened and ask for a first aider. Though it may seem extreme, you should do this for even a small cut. A first aider will be able to both treat your child on the scene, and run through any necessary paperwork with you. This will include things like an account of what happened and a report of the injury as it stands. Far from wasting your time, paperwork like this is invaluable if the injury worsens or becomes infected. In that instance, you may well want to contact personal injury lawyers like those found at the Thomas Law Offices to represent a compensation claim to cover medical costs. You don’t stand a chance at receiving monetary returns if you don’t take the step of filling those forms in the first place. That failure could see your child suffering without means to afford the medical care they need. Don’t let it happen. Make sure that you sit down with someone and go through all the forms necessary.
Check the area of the fall
Once the first aider has patched your little one up and filled paperwork with you, it’s worth returning to the area of the fall. It may be that the trip was due to nothing more than your little one falling over their feet. Goodness knows what happens to most kiddies often enough. Still, you can’t rule out the risk of hazards being behind this whole thing until you check. If may be that the floor in the area is uneven or cracked. Perhaps something like a wire poses a trip hazard right where the fall occurred. You should look out for these things for two main reasons. Again, something like this could go a long way towards fighting your battle if things go any further. On a more fundamental level, checking this ensures the same thing doesn’t happen to another child. Even if your little one got away with a small cut, you can’t assure injuries won’t be worse the next time around. Make notes of everything you see and be sure to point out any issues to a manager before leaving. The sooner you bring their problems to their attention, the sooner you can be sure they’ll clear things up. And, with something like this, the sooner is more definitely the better.
Take pictures
It’s also well worth taking a few pictures before you leave. Take a photograph of any hazards in the area before addressing the problems with a member of staff. This ensures that it doesn’t end up being your word against a big company if this does culminate in a legal battle. You should also take the time to photograph your child’s injury. If they stuck to their training, the first aider should have taken their own pictures. Often in legal battles, though, paperwork like this ends up going missing. To avoid that, you should take some snaps and keep them safe. If nothing else, this will help you track that injury. That will ensure you spot signs of infection before they become serious. That shop floor was probably nowhere near as clean as your scrubbed ones at home.
Get your child home
The shock of their fall and then the trauma of speaking to a first aider is sure to take their toll on your child. As such, you should aim to get them home as soon as you can. Whatever you do, don’t continue to drag them around more shops with you. Caring for your children should be your priority, after all, and having to walk on an injured leg is sure to do more damage. What’s more, they will have lost all excitement for being out and about after what happened. If at all possible, put those other errands off for another day and get your little one on the couch as soon as possible. After an experience like this, the chances are that they’ll appreciate some sofa time with mom and a good movie.
What are your thoughts? Please share in the comments below, I really would love to know.
Until next time, shine amongst the stars!
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