Minty Fresh
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Anyway, I just had to share this with someone....because if I share it with anyone in real life, it would be gossiping since most of my friends know this person:
As Bob's mom was buckling him into his carseat, she bit off a little piece of the HARD CANDY she was eating and gave it to him. I was thinking to myself, "Did I really just see that?? No....surely it was not hard candy." But then I glanced at her hand as she crinkled the wrapper and put it in her pocket. Yes, it was, in fact a little shard of hard candy....maybe a peppermint of some sort.
Please, moms, tell me that I have not become my mother (paranoid about the safety of my children to the point of total lunacy) and that I am normal for thinking it is unsafe to give a 16-month-old a piece of hard candy as he is about to ride off in the back seat of someone else's vehicle! Ummmm......excuse me, but in case you hadn't thought about it, I will be driving and not able to supervise your baby while he sucks on a little hunk of hard candy!!! What are you thinking? Sure, it was a little piece, but not negligibly small. I waited until she had walked back in the house and tried to take it away from him....and while I probably should have, I did not fight with him very long. I gave up and thought to myself, "If she thinks it's fine, then I'm not going to sweat it. It's her child."
But throughout our little 7 minute drive, I could hear him sucking on the piece of candy in the back seat. I had my visor mirror pointed at him and I found myself glancing up every 2 seconds to make sure he wasn't choking. At one point, he made a little coughing sound and I just about pulled over...but I looked back, and he seemed fine. He survived the ride, but I ended up wishing I just would've endured the tantrum that would have surely ensued by prying his jaws open and taking the candy away, rather than fearing he would choke to death while I was driving down the road.
Note to self: Bob's mom is NEVER going to babysit my child.
Labels: babysitting, general complaining, griping about people
posted by Unkempt Mommy at 7:17 AM
5 Comments:
he he he he, ha ha ha! Woah, that was too funny about your mental note! Ahhh, thanks for that.
Yeah, that was a risky one. I'd be the same way. I probably wouldn't have gotten it away from him, and then just prayed the whole time. I guess just pray next time you'll have balls enough to get it from him. That's what I'd be praying and have prayed when I didn't do what my gut told me. Yikes. I'm glad all is well though.
Are you cool enough with Bob's mom to bring it up in kinda a light hearted way and tell her she just about gave you a heartattack for your ride home because of the toddler with candy and no good way of doing the hiemlich if he choked?
I'd kinda laugh with her, but then say man you really scared me with that. Maybe I would...depends on how brave I felt.
I don't think you are overreacting at all.
I used to let my son eat while we drove around, but not anymore. For some reason a while ago I remembered this time I babysat for a couple of boys-they were eating french fries and one of them shoved one all the way into his mouth and gagged so hard, I had to fish it out and it scared the crap out of me.
I couldn't imagine how terrible it would be if I was driving, you know?
I wouldn't let Bob's mom watch my kids either. ;0)
Oh my goodness... well you know my thoughts on sugar and such, from my blog (HATE IT!) - so my thought here is NO, it's NOT ok! Sheesh! That's crazy - you don't give wee ones hard candy at that age, and well you just shouldn't... I mean, I'm not a crazy person here, I give me kids candy now and again. You have to. Otherwise they'll become insane in their want for it. But at that age, he doesn't need it.
Sidebar on the same note: I subbed today in the nursery at my boys preschool and one of the teacher's kid had a LARGE chocolate bar in his lunch... he's 14 months old. I was told he ALWAYS has chocolate... goodness! Don't get me started! Hee hee!
YEah hard candy can be dangerous for big kids (mine have to SIT and eat hard candy) let alone little ones. Here is a trick I learned a long time ago about having kids in the back seat. You know how your mirror has day and night settings? I set my night at the top, looking out the window view and my day at the back seat, then I can easily flip between when I hear the wron noises in the back seat, and at night it is quite eay to see out the back view (it works just like if you put your night setting at the "up" position." I hope tha tmade a bit of sense, I realize it might not. Anyway it worked really well, and I still do it even though my youngest is now 5.
You are not over reacting. Not IMO... and Smarties today? Geez... must be a sugar household... ;)
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home