What did you do that you know your little monkey ass had no business that caused you to rue the day you thought of it?

I'll go first. I was 7.

I had a loft bunk bed. That's the one where the bottom bunk sticks out perpendicular to the top one and you fit a dresser under there too.

Lifelong comic book freak, I had grey and blue footie pj's. I had a navy blue towel. You know where this is goin.

I had to patrol Gotham City from my rooftop.

I just didn't stick the landing.

My chin hit my knee and all my teeth went into/through my tongue.

So up until then, I thought I knew about pain.

To this day, nothing has hurt me so badly. And I had no fuckin business.

What about y'all?

I hit my back on the diving board twice in one week when I was 10. The first time, I was bruised from my butt to my ribs on one side. The second time, I hit on the other side, bruising my back (again), scraping my thigh and cutting my ankle in two place.

But my injuries were nothing compared to my sisters' - all of whom hit the board at one time or another. One sister scraped her face while doing a back somersault in warm-ups before a meet - skinned her nose and actually ended up with green paint (from the board) on her teeth. Another sister hit her foot doing an inward somersault, and dislocated one of her toes. When they pulled her out of the pool, it was sticking straight up.

My parents certainly didn't raise any weenies.

The helmet kept me pretty safe as a child.

But to all the parents on the board, how do you deal with it when your kids get injured?

I'm scared to death of that. Its one thing for me to get hurt.

If my little boy or girl comes to me with an exposed bone or a mouthful of blood, I'm gonna pass the fuck out.

How do you get past this inevitability?

DrRockdapuss said:

But to all the parents on the board, how do you deal with it when your kids get injured?

I'm scared to death of that. Its one thing for me to get hurt.

If my little boy or girl comes to me with an exposed bone or a mouthful of blood, I'm gonna pass the fuck out.

How do you get past this inevitability?

No, you won't. Your protective instincts will kick in and your top priority will be helping your child.

The best parents save their breakdown for later - and have it away from their injured kid.

Genesia said:

DrRockdapuss said:

But to all the parents on the board, how do you deal with it when your kids get injured?

I'm scared to death of that. Its one thing for me to get hurt.

If my little boy or girl comes to me with an exposed bone or a mouthful of blood, I'm gonna pass the fuck out.

How do you get past this inevitability?

No, you won't. Your protective instincts will kick in and your top priority will be helping your child.

The best parents save their breakdown for later - and have it away from their injured kid.

Is that how it works? I really really hope so. I wanna be like the kinda dad to say "hey, you're alright, walk it off." but I don't know.

Mind you my mom saw me pass out once and then she passed out. Lmao.

Let's see...

* When I was 4 or 5, I took a big swig of gasoline from the pop bottles my dad stored fuel in in our garage. My mother kicked his !$#@ over that.

* When I was 9, I was trying to leash my dog, who HATED folk messing with her neck, and she bit my hand up pretty bad. Had to have it wrapped for several weeks. My father kicked her !$#@ over that.

* When I was 10ish, I climbed up on the side of our tub to adjust the shower head... and slipped. My head hit the edge of the bathroom sink on the way down, and I had to get stitches in the corner of my right eye. I was really fortunate I didn't put my eye out. I kicked my own !$#@ over that.

* When I was 12, I knocked out my two front teeth in a BMX jumping accident. My friends and I constructed a makeshift ramp, and we would simply ride over it, doing aerial tricks. I was pretty good, but a friend ahead of me failed to clear the landing area after his jump (and, frankly, I failed to wait for him to do so) -- and to avoid crashing down on him, I did some wierd maneuver that rocketed me over my handlebars face-first into the asphalt. The dental bills kicked my parents' !$#@es over that; they kicked mine (I had perfect teeth until then ); and I'd have liked to kick my friend's, but I think he moved away that summer.

DrRockdapuss said:

Genesia said:

No, you won't. Your protective instincts will kick in and your top priority will be helping your child.

The best parents save their breakdown for later - and have it away from their injured kid.

Is that how it works? I really really hope so. I wanna be like the kinda dad to say "hey, you're alright, walk it off." but I don't know.

Mind you my mom saw me pass out once and then she passed out. Lmao.

My parents are totally like that. I never saw either of them freak out when any of us got hurt - no matter how bad it was. Once they established that we were breathing , they'd stay with the injured sister (applying pressure if she was bleeding and just generally calming her down) while sending another of us for ice (my mom was a great one for getting ice on injuries immediately).

Once, we were on vacation and my youngest sister decided she wanted to climb the slide part of the pool slide. Well, she slipped (of course) and fell chin first onto the pavement below. As soon as my mom could see that my sister hadn't broken her neck (though she was bleeding profusely), she grabbed a towel and pressed it to my sister's chin, while sending me for a) my dad and b) a bag of ice from the hotel ice machine. My dad held my sister while my mom slipped on a swim cover-up and sandals and off they went to the emergency room.

Oh - and should say at this point that my mom had had food poisoning for a couple days prior to that, so she wasn't in great shape, either. But she held it together for my sister's sake.

Lammastide said:

Let's see...

* When I was 4 or 5, I took a big swig of gasoline from the pop bottles my dad stored fuel in in our garage. My mother kicked his !$#@ over that.

That reminds me of the time I found an old can of spray paint in the garage and accidentally sprayed it in my face.

My mom had to scrub my face with turpentine to get it off.

DrRockdapuss said:

Genesia said:

No, you won't. Your protective instincts will kick in and your top priority will be helping your child.

The best parents save their breakdown for later - and have it away from their injured kid.

Is that how it works? I really really hope so. I wanna be like the kinda dad to say "hey, you're alright, walk it off." but I don't know.

Mind you my mom saw me pass out once and then she passed out. Lmao.

She's right.

My daughter has had two biggies -- one when she got into it with our cat, and he put a deep gash across her face; another when she hit her eye (much like I'd done), jumping on and falling off of her bed.

There's the initial shock, of course, but composure becomes second nature in the wake of the kid's breakdown. What I have to control for is overcompensating in future preventative measures: I was inches away from having the cat's whole damned paws amputated and padding my daughter's room like some psych ward.

Genesia said:

Lammastide said:

Let's see...

* When I was 4 or 5, I took a big swig of gasoline from the pop bottles my dad stored fuel in in our garage. My mother kicked his !$#@ over that.

That reminds me of the time I found an old can of spray paint in the garage and accidentally sprayed it in my face.

My mom had to scrub my face with turpentine to get it off.

Was it at least a pretty shade?

Lammastide said:

Genesia said:

That reminds me of the time I found an old can of spray paint in the garage and accidentally sprayed it in my face.

My mom had to scrub my face with turpentine to get it off.

Was it at least a pretty shade?

Nope. Rustoleum - flat black.

I was lucky, actually - the can was basically empty. So it just sort of "spat" at my face, rather than coating it completely.

I grew up in an old farmhouse (the same one my grandfather lived in when he was a child). The upstairs bedrooms all had these metal vents in them that were about 18" x 18" square. The top of the vent (on the floor of my bedroom) had slats that could be opened or closed, then there was a cut through the floor/ceiling to the room below where that opening (in that room's ceiling) was covered with another piece of metal grating. My bedroom was above the kitchen.

One day when I was in the first grade I came home from school and saw (but didn't really make a connection) the top part of the vents on the porch, where my mom was repainting them. I went upstairs to my bedroom and because of the way my furniture was arranged, the bed was in front of where the floor vent was. I walked around the end of the bed (instead of hopping over it like usual) and stepped right into the vent hole. The bottom metal piece gave out from my weight and I fell through the floor/ceiling, bounced off the top of the refrigerator, and landed on the stove (luckily the burners were not on).

I tore the inside of my lip (I guess when I fell through the ceiling it caught on something) and scratched my chin. I had to have 1 stich in my lip. My mother felt terrible!

[Edited 11/24/10 8:47am]

I have a few but one of the most memorable would be the scar I have under my eye from not listening to my mom when she told me REPEATEDLY not to run on the wet carport floor (I was playing in the kiddie pool). I slipped and fell face first into the headlight of our car which was busted from a fenderbender.

This thread has extreme childhood photowhoring potential. Imma fight that urge.

johnart said:

I have a few but one of the most memorable would be the scar I have under my eye from not listening to my mom when she told me REPEATEDLY not to run on the wet carport floor (I was drinking in the kiddie pool). I slipped and fell face first into the headlight of our car which was busted from a fenderbender.

This thread has extreme childhood photowhoring potential. Imma fight that urge.

Old habits die hard, huh.

[Edited 11/24/10 8:49am]

Genesia said:

johnart said:

I have a few but one of the most memorable would be the scar I have under my eye from not listening to my mom when she told me REPEATEDLY not to run on the wet carport floor (I was drinking in the kiddie pool). I slipped and fell face first into the headlight of our car which was busted from a fenderbender.

This thread has extreme childhood photowhoring potential. Imma fight that urge.

Old habits die hard, huh.

[Edited 11/24/10 8:49am]

But I bet I was gnawin on a chikkunz leg or a pork chop or somethin.

johnart said:

Genesia said:

Old habits die hard, huh.

But I bet I was gnawin on a chikkunz leg or a pork chop or somethin.

It's better not to drank on an empty stomach.

Genesia said:

johnart said:

But I bet I was gnawin on a chikkunz leg or a pork chop or somethin.

It's better not to drank on an empty stomach.

Children are not exempt from drankin responsibly.

johnart said:

Genesia said:

It's better not to drank on an empty stomach.

Children are not exempt from drankin responsibly.

Jesus Juice.

When I was about 15, I wanted to surprise my mom by washing the dishes. She worked as a nurse and when she got home, she was usually very tired after dealing with her patients. Anyhow, things were going well, that is until I got to the carving knife. I grabbed the handle in one had and proceeded to wash the blade with the sponge. All of the sudden, I saw red. The blade had cut the sponge in half and sliced through my left thumb. The funny thing is, I did not realize what happened until I my little brother looked and says, "Mickey, where is that blood, coming from?" That's when I panicked. My thumb was hanging by a threat and blood was everywhere. It was a good thing that my brother had enough sense to call my mom at the hospital where she worked. She told me to jump in a cab and meet her in the hospital lobby. I was rushed into surgery and my thumb was thankfully reattached. I have full feeling in it and I can use it. Believe it or not, the worst part was, the shot that they gave me, in my thumb, to numb it. That hurt like a bitch... To this day, more that 15 years later, I stay away from that knife...

shorttrini said:

When I was about 15, I wanted to surprise my mom by washing the dishes.

I read no farther than this. I can only imagine what came next.

When I was in my early teens, I was with a bunch of freinds and we used to gather in a park which had a wooden 2-tier log type fence all around it and on the other side was just brush and overgrown shrubbery and bracken and anyway, I was sitting on this fence with all my freinds just talking away and suddenly the bar I was sitting on somehow flipped backwards a bit and I overbalanced and somehow landed on my back right in a huge bed of bracken and thorns and stinging nettles!! I had stinging nettle welts and scratches all down my neck, back and upper arms and backs of my legs for about 2 weeks and the more I scratched the itches from the nettle stings the more they got worse!! I was covered!!!!! I was screaming out in pain!! I ended up having time off from school cos we went through what seemed like gallons of calamine lotion and disinfectant!!!!!

Its still vivid in my mind even now 40 years later!!!!

[Edited 11/24/10 11:45am]

• I don't know how old I was, but there used to be a Great Eastern store down the street from us. I got separated from my mom, and wandered down the hardware aisle, where there was a saw sticking out into the aisle. I have a big scar on my leg to prove it.
• When I was in 3rd grade, I fell on my face on a Girl Scouts skating trip. My front tooth is porcelain now.
• When I was 15, I thought it'd be a really good idea to zoom through a parking lot on my 10-speed. I flipped over a woman's hood as she pulled out of a parking space. The "scrape" scars on my left elbow tell that story.
• Then there was time that I was sitting in the back seat (no seatbelt), and my mom stopped short. I have a scar on my right knee from that experience.
• Oh! I almost forgot the scar on the side of my right hand from when I had to get stitches after I got so pissed I squeezed the Pepsi bottle I was holding, and it shattered in my hand.

I was a mess...

I had the same kind of bed as DrRockdapuss - with the wardrobe and stuff underneath. One morning I decided i'd climb down the ladder facing outwards, my foot slipped on the rung and I lost my footing and scraped the skin off my back pretty badly.

When I was very young I was being chased by my sister and ran into the ironing board. It was face-height and I hurt my lip pretty badly. It left me with a permanant lump in the corner of my bottom lip.

Thinking about childhood injuries I realise that I've caused more injuries to people than myself. My best-friend (aged around 8 or 9) scraped her tummy really badly trying to follow me walking along a wall and jumping across a gap.

Another friend (aged around 13) was having a seatie on the back of my bike and I was going too fast. Somehow she managed to lose her balance and fall, but she held on to the bike as I rode along at speed with her arm and head dragging along behind.

squirrelgrease said:

The helmet kept me pretty safe as a child.

did you have to do special exercises with a medicine ball too? I did

shorttrini said:

When I was about 15, I wanted to surprise my mom by washing the dishes. She worked as a nurse and when she got home, she was usually very tired after dealing with her patients. Anyhow, things were going well, that is until I got to the carving knife. I grabbed the handle in one had and proceeded to wash the blade with the sponge. All of the sudden, I saw red. The blade had cut the sponge in half and sliced through my left thumb. The funny thing is, I did not realize what happened until I my little brother looked and says, "Mickey, where is that blood, coming from?" That's when I panicked. My thumb was hanging by a threat and blood was everywhere. It was a good thing that my brother had enough sense to call my mom at the hospital where she worked. She told me to jump in a cab and meet her in the hospital lobby. I was rushed into surgery and my thumb was thankfully reattached. I have full feeling in it and I can use it. Believe it or not, the worst part was, the shot that they gave me, in my thumb, to numb it. That hurt like a bitch... To this day, more that 15 years later, I stay away from that knife...

omg

shorttrini said:

When I was about 15, I wanted to surprise my mom by washing the dishes. She worked as a nurse and when she got home, she was usually very tired after dealing with her patients. Anyhow, things were going well, that is until I got to the carving knife. I grabbed the handle in one had and proceeded to wash the blade with the sponge. All of the sudden, I saw red. The blade had cut the sponge in half and sliced through my left thumb. The funny thing is, I did not realize what happened until I my little brother looked and says, "Mickey, where is that blood, coming from?" That's when I panicked. My thumb was hanging by a threat and blood was everywhere. It was a good thing that my brother had enough sense to call my mom at the hospital where she worked. She told me to jump in a cab and meet her in the hospital lobby. I was rushed into surgery and my thumb was thankfully reattached. I have full feeling in it and I can use it. Believe it or not, the worst part was, the shot that they gave me, in my thumb, to numb it. That hurt like a bitch... To this day, more that 15 years later, I stay away from that knife...

Wow!!!

When I was 3 we had just moved into a new house. The front door had a glass door with a sliding window. Well my Dad was working outside and I kept opening and closing that glass door saying "Hi Daddy".

My Mom was cleaning house, and when she came into the living room she warned me to stop playing with that door. I didn't listen. Next thing I knew I was opening the door, and closing it and the glass came down on my left hand pinky nearly cutting it off, the side of my finger was just hanging there, and I was screaming and holding the bloody banana I was eating while my finger also bled all over my Princess dress and my Mom's new carpet.

After that I just remember my parents rushing me to the clinic (they didn't do the ER back then) and my family Dr. sewed my finger back together.

i tried on my dad's flip flops and was walking down the few porch stairs...2 or 3 and tripped. my knee landed on the rain gutter. i still got a scar and that was 20-25 yrs ago?

i punched out a window once cause mom didn't hear me banging on the door from the backyard as a kid

when i was 16 i fell down the stairs while holding a blowdryer. the prongs from the cord dug into the bottom of my foot. my leg had been pins and needles since. barely any feeling in my thigh. told i got nerve damage.

around 18 or 19 i was on a computer chair backwards and it tipped over. i landed on my chin.it was in the basement with concrete under the carpet.. big scar.i wanted to take a picture of me mooning the camera using the self timer...