PARENTING vs TEXTING:Danger Ahead-Part 3

TIP OF THE WEEK-10/18/12 PARENTING VS TEXTING: Danger Ahead-Part 3 Dr. Wally Ghurabi, medical director of the emergency center at the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center and Orthopedic Hospital is quoted as saying, “ It’s very well understood within the emergency medical community that utilizing devices-hand  held devices-while you are assigned to watch your kids-that resulting injuries could very well be because you are using those tools.”

There possibly may be other factors that are causing the increase in toddler injuries such as toddlers engaging in riskier behavior or parents’ tendencies to rush off to the ER for minor accidents. However, experts don’t agree with that because injuries to older children where adult supervision is not as stringent are decreasing.

Furthermore, parents do not usually incriminate themselves as the cause of their child’s injury. When parents are asked to describe how the child was hurt, they respond by saying such things as “He fell out of a tree or he stumbled into the swimming pool or the television fell on him.” Usually, they are asked no further questions. Doctors do not ask whether the child was being properly supervised.

There is a natural tendency for toddlers to hurt themselves if they are not properly supervised, according to David Schwebel, a professor of psychology at the University of Alabama. Parents also seem to understand that kids will find a way to hurt themselves even when they’re in the same room with them.

There is much more to this WSJ article that also contains disturbing anecdotes

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