Another View You Can Use! My #1 Job is SAFETY!

My number job as a caregiver/preschool/childcare owner and operator is hands-down (no pun intended) SAFETY!  As Dr. Becky Baily says with Conscious Discipline, "My job is to keep you safe and your job is to help me keep you safe." 

But, there are times when little ones are simply too little to help keep themselves safe.  There are times when I am glad to have finally found a solution to an issue I had MAJOR (but thankfully minor) incident with myself many years ago.  The photo above looks like I am trying to sneak into a room with my fingers creeping in...what it is, is a demonstration of "WOW!"  This is called a "Door Safety Bumper."  I received this sweet little device from www.pinchnot.com.  If you do not have these installed on your doors at home as a parent or if you are a provider and do not have these...CLICK THE LINK!  These bad boys are only 5$ bucks.  5$ Bucks???  I know I sound like an infomercial.  I speak from experience...

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When the fun S.T.O.P.S.!

Like I said...I speak from experience.  Many years ago I was ushering all my little ones in the door from an afternoon of play.  "Bitiests" first, then followed by my older ones.  As I was making my mental headcount, knowing that I had indeed brought everyone in, I paused...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ...??? I knew that #7 was my oldest, behind me and waiting for my command to close the door.  But, where was 6?  Where was my babiest baby of the group?  He was hard to miss toddling around like a Weeble Wobble.  At that same moment I heard a horror-flick scream.  All the children's heads turned and my startled #7 reacted by trying to close the door even harder...WAAAAHHHHHAAAAHHHH!!!  Then silence as my littlest sweet potato began sucking air to let out another wail.  All in the same moment of ushering the children in, making my mental count, and my oldest closing the door, the baby had simply turned from in front of me to behind me as we were all crowding in and stuck his chunky little fingers in the door RIGHT. AS. IT. WAS. BEING. CLOSED!! 

This all happened simultaneously and I didn't see him move from right in front of my legs to right behind my legs because I was carrying another child, so my view was blocked for a split second.  The older child, in an attempt to keep everyone inside was just doing what she thought was best and slamming the door shut...and the baby...well, my little fella' just wanted to go back outside after his blankie...  My heart sank as I scooped him up and assessed the damage.  Poor little boy!  His fingers were bright red with a definite mash line across the upper knuckles.  I called momma as I was trying to comfort him and advised her to come and take him for x-rays.  

This young family didn't have insurance and I wasn't about to straddle them with a payment from something that occurred while under my care.  This was about 20 years ago and the E.R. visit cost me about $800.  In today's world I probably wouldn't have covered the x-ray reading for that!  He was fortunate...the mash wasn't severe and he was totally over it by the time momma even arrived.  But, as a concerned provider, I wanted assurance that his little fingers were going to be A O.K.  They were, no damage.  

 

We were all lucky that day...

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission 26,000 amputations and fractures happen EVERY YEAR!  I had NO IDEA!!!  

After that incident I searched for a solution to keep the door from ever slamming again.  At that time, there weren't any products on the market.  Since then, I tried a few things here and there, but being a home-based daycare, there simply wasn't anything that fit right.  Everything was either made for commercial style doors or I needed to be an engineer to install the thing! 

Another product Pinchnot.com has is amazing too.  It is called Safety Shield and if you can peel a sticker, you can install this product.  This one keeps the hinged section of the door from being accessible to little hands.  It is a bit more than the bumper but WELL worth it's weight in rosy cheeks and happy hands.

I have only had the Bumpers installed for a few days and now that the door can no longer be closed without MY personal intervention to flip the Bumper to the closed position, they have even stopped playing with the door.  It's no longer an option... no longer a game...and no longer a threat to the little fingers of my babes.  That's $5 worth investing!

Just a another View You Can Use and a product worth the mention!

This is the company so you can find it easily!  Click on the logo and go STRAIGHT to their website!  I am NOT a paid endorser so when you make your order, tell them where you found their products!  Thanks!!