I always have lots of stories to tell my attendees in my classes, this is partly due to the fact that my children are incredibly clumsy!  In fact I would go as far to say they are the clumsiest children on the Wirral; however I think other parents would disagree with me.  If there is something to fall over, bump into, trip over, break, drop or spill then my kids will find it.  I like to think that I have a fairly chilled out response to most minor injuries, I guess that’s the paramedic side of me, remaining calm in an emergency, but there have been the odd occasion where I have freaked out! 

My first experience of ‘damaging’ one of my children was when Harry fell out of a high chair at around aged 9 months.  My fault, I hadn’t strapped him in properly, he slid out of the bottom of the seat like a slippery eel and banged his head on the floor.  He screamed, I screamed, he cried, I cried!  Lots of bleeding followed (it never ceases to amaze me how much head injuries bleed), pressure applied and bleeding stopped.  Off to A&E we went where he had some steri-strips applied, a head injury advice sheet given and lots of cuddles.  I left the hospital with a whole new level of parenting guilt upon me, Harry left the hospital thrilled to bits with a new teddy he had been given by the staff! 

Since that first scary accident there have been many more in the Dodd household.  I could probably write a book but in a nut shell we have dealt with numerous head injuries, objects shoved up nostrils, swallowed coins, teeth knocked out, teeth knocked back up into the gum, falls down stairs, falls from bikes, sprained ankles and broken arms. 

Kids will fall, kids will bump in to things, kids will break limbs but I tell you what, kids are made of strong stuff.  I’m always amazed at how resilient children tend to be, they just seem to “get on with it” and my kids are no different.  My middle child jumped off a swing a couple of summers back whilst we were at the caravan in North Wales and landed on his arms; he cried a little bit, I checked his wrists, no swelling, no deformity, no obvious injuries and he was moving them freely.  I decided to observe him and within a couple of hours he had started to ‘guard’ his right arm and seemed reluctant to use it.  Off to Bangor hospital we headed, where an x-ray showed not 1 but 2 broken wrists!  Once again I left a hospital with my parenting guilt through the roof, Charlie left with the thrill of having a plaster cast on one arm and a splint on the other, he thought they were “cool”!! 

I guess what I’m trying to say is that kids will have accidents, we simply cannot prevent every little accident from happening but what we can do is be prepared for when they do happen.  When your child is injured or ill it is one of the worst feelings you can experience as a parent, sometimes you feel helpless, other times guilty.  Having some basic first aid knowledge and skills really can help to give you the confidence to deal with the inevitable accidents that occur; having that knowledge not only empowers you but means that you can start providing care and treatment straight away.

On a Mini First Aid class you will learn all about CPR, choking, burns, meningitis awareness, febrile convulsions, bumps, breaks, bleeds and much more and it only take 2 hours.  So book a class, learn some knowledge, skills and gain confidence in baby and child first aid, I promise you will have to use at least some of it in your parenting life!