a safety reminder...

[ladybug93]

last night, i got home late. knowing that i was going to be up early before everyone else in the house to leave again for work, i just laid my knives carelessly on my nightstand. unfortunately, i fell asleep without turning on my alarm and overslept a little. i woke to my youngest crying out in the baby monitor. i hurried to get ready for work while my wife brought him into our room. when i got out of the shower, i found him playing with my native salt. the knife was open and he had several small cuts on his hand. fortunately, they were very small and superficial and i was able to stop the bleeding quickly. he is fine, but it could've been way worse. he's only 18 months old, but i apologized to him profusely as he cried and i held his hand tightly while the bleeding stopped. he understands enough to know i'm sorry and to nod when i asked for his forgiveness. he may not understand yet what he can and can't get into when he's exploring, but he's a very smart kid.

anyway, i was using my native salt later in the day and noticed a few small spots of blood against the yellow of the scales. it's heartbreaking to know that a moment of carelessness on my part caused this. my poor little dude. i'm so thankful that he wasn't badly hurt.

we often think about safety when handling knives, but accidents still happen all the time. never lose respect for a blade for even a second, because that's when it will bite you and remind you how capable it is at slicing. be careful, but also be ever mindful of the accessibility of your blades to harming others. my other kids are older and know not to touch my knives, but he's too young and still feeling the world out. today he learned what very sharp lc200n feels like and it's my fault. protect your littles and make sure your blades are always secured out of their reach. don't be a dope like me.

[geronm042]

Error and mistake happens...and ends nicely most of the time.

Excellent post, with 5 and 3 years old at home, I feel the need to secure much more my knives than ever and you’re post is an excellent reminder for that. They are briefed not to ever touch them without me around and especially not to open them but you know kids of course... we all have been there :-D Thank you for that post.

This should stand as a permanent reminder of this forum :-)

[JuPaul]

Oh my gosh, that's scary! It's so easy to make those tiny mistakes that can have big consequences, and every single parent has done something like that. I hope you're not beating yourself up too much about it, but I know that it's hard to get the "but what if..." thoughts out of your head after a close call like that. Thanks a lot for posting - I also have a 3- and 6-year old at home - and this is a good reminder that's it's probably time to have another conversation about knife safety and rules with them.

[Notsurewhy]

Wow that hits home. Glad everyone is okay. Side note, I'm kinda impressed that your 18 month old managed to open a native. The spring on mine is pretty tight.

I found a 6in kitchen utility knife in my then 3year old's room behind the chair he likes to hide things behind. My wife or I (probably me) had left it on the cutting board and not put it away immediately. Thankfully no injuries but we had a long talk about knife safety after that.

[The Meat man]

That is scary ladybug! And a good reminder. So thankful that nothing serious happened!

[Evil D]

I'm sure that's a lesson learned. I come from a family (or maybe even a generation) that believes that education is the best safe practice, so this may well teach him some good in the future. I grew up with guns in the house and knives and such were just part of life and some of the outdoor stuff we did. My parents never locked up our guns or knives, instead we were taught that those things were not toys and you knew what would happen if for example you pointed a gun at something that you didn't intend to kill or destroy (and that's besides getting your back porch painted red for doing so).

When my kids got old enough to walk around and fiddle with things I worked with them to know not to touch certain things. Granted not all kids are as...I guess reliable...as mine and will do it anyway (I definitely don't feel comfortable with guns not being locked up like my parents were) but regardless education is absolutely essential. You can only child proof your home so much, eventually they'll see how interested you are in knives and want to know what the big deal is and that curiosity will lead to this sort of thing. Your boy is young but he'll remember what knives can do and it may save him from worse accidents someday.

[benben]

Thanks for the post, reminders like this are always eye openers, glad he's not hurt anymore than he was! My daughter is 18 now, when she was 5 (that seems a lifetime ago) there was another 5 year old boy at our church who's 7 year old brother shot and killed him, the 5 year old found the pistol and they both were playing with it. Very early in the morning, the mom was in the bathroom getting ready for work.

It absolutely rocked that family, tore them apart! It is still to this day one of the worse things I've ever experienced and I'm not a family member! Me and my wife trying to explain the situation to my then 5 year old little girl was heartbreaking!! They were really close friends.

I still see that older brother a couple times a month, great kid, good looking young man.......just wonder what's in his head? Safety never takes a day off! Again, thanks for the post ladybug, I know you're beating yourself up, just be thankful and lesson learned with minimal consequences!

[JonLeBlanc]

Yikes glad he's ok!

[Prototrophic]

I'm glad it wasn't that bad. This should be a reminder to everyone not to carelessly put knives anywhere especially if you have kids. I just recently purchased a Cuisinart Ceramic Cookware set with kitchen knives I found a good review on this Cuisinart Ceramic Cookware Review, now I just have to keep it out of reach from the kids too to be safe.

[acer]

Thanks for that , glad the outcome was to too serious. I have no children of my own but have a very inquisitive Miniature Schnauzer who I think is the bees knees , and so does he , and appreciate the reminder that these items at heart have a real life purpose. Vets bills aren’t cheap. All the best out.

[jdw]

Great post ladybug and a great reminder as the holidays get started. My son is grown but it reminds me to be more conscious with little visitors coming around. This is another example of good people on a great forum.

[JuPaul]

Thanks for the post, reminders like this are always eye openers, glad he's not hurt anymore than he was! My daughter is 18 now, when she was 5 (that seems a lifetime ago) there was another 5 year old boy at our church who's 7 year old brother shot and killed him, the 5 year old found the pistol and they both were playing with it. Very early in the morning, the mom was in the bathroom getting ready for work.

It absolutely rocked that family, tore them apart! It is still to this day one of the worse things I've ever experienced and I'm not a family member! Me and my wife trying to explain the situation to my then 5 year old little girl was heartbreaking!! They were really close friends.

I still see that older brother a couple times a month, great kid, good looking young man.......just wonder what's in his head? Safety never takes a day off! Again, thanks for the post ladybug, I know you're beating yourself up, just be thankful and lesson learned with minimal consequences!

That's horrifying. And the reason our firearms are always locked in a big safe. Even children that are educated about guns and knives - as mine are - aren't capable of fully grasping the consequences of their actions. And impulse control is minimal in young kids. Excuse me while I go hug my kids and hide all my knives now...

[benben]

Thanks for the post, reminders like this are always eye openers, glad he's not hurt anymore than he was! My daughter is 18 now, when she was 5 (that seems a lifetime ago) there was another 5 year old boy at our church who's 7 year old brother shot and killed him, the 5 year old found the pistol and they both were playing with it. Very early in the morning, the mom was in the bathroom getting ready for work.

It absolutely rocked that family, tore them apart! It is still to this day one of the worse things I've ever experienced and I'm not a family member! Me and my wife trying to explain the situation to my then 5 year old little girl was heartbreaking!! They were really close friends.

I still see that older brother a couple times a month, great kid, good looking young man.......just wonder what's in his head? Safety never takes a day off! Again, thanks for the post ladybug, I know you're beating yourself up, just be thankful and lesson learned with minimal consequences!

That's horrifying. And the reason our firearms are always locked in a big safe. Even children that are educated about guns and knives - as mine are - aren't capable of fully grasping the consequences of their actions. And impulse control is minimal in young kids. Excuse me while I go hug my kids and hide all my knives now...

Horrifying doesn't even begin to describe the days, weeks, and months after that accident, it sucked the life out of our church for a long time! My two children were 5 and 3 at the time, and yeah......lots of hugs!

[ChrisinHove]

Thanks for the post, reminders like this are always eye openers, glad he's not hurt anymore than he was! My daughter is 18 now, when she was 5 (that seems a lifetime ago) there was another 5 year old boy at our church who's 7 year old brother shot and killed him, the 5 year old found the pistol and they both were playing with it. Very early in the morning, the mom was in the bathroom getting ready for work.

It absolutely rocked that family, tore them apart! It is still to this day one of the worse things I've ever experienced and I'm not a family member! Me and my wife trying to explain the situation to my then 5 year old little girl was heartbreaking!! They were really close friends.

I still see that older brother a couple times a month, great kid, good looking young man.......just wonder what's in his head? Safety never takes a day off! Again, thanks for the post ladybug, I know you're beating yourself up, just be thankful and lesson learned with minimal consequences!

Jeepers. That’s a terrible tale.

When we were small our old man always drilled into us that “you can’t turn the clock back”.

Mind you, I still have a scar from us playing with his WW1 bayonet collection.... (a French pigsticker iirc).

[Wartstein]

First and foremost: I am glad that he is fine!

Thanks and my appreciation to you for posting this safety reminder! Not everbody would do so and admit kind of a carelessness, but you did and it may very well safe some little ones from getting harmed.

[Sumdumguy]

That's no fun! I remember having a similar(but less painful) experience. Mine was about 3 or 4 at the time and I had left one of my knives on the table in the living room.

My daughter comes into my office toting it with both hands. She said "Here Daddy, you forgot your knife." Fortunately she knew not to open it(gun and knife safety, almost since birth) and held one hand over the spine so it couldn't open while she was carrying it.

Either way, it opens your eyes. I definitely keep the guns put up(still accessible), but I admit I am still completely careless with where I have knives in the house. Training is key though. Start now and don't stop till they're grown.

I'm glad he's okay and has some newfound knowledge(silver linings)!

[curlyhairedboy]

Accidents happen, I'm glad it wasn't too bad!

[kennethsime]

My dad gave us all Swiss Army knives when we were 6 years old; the Sportsman was his model of choice. Ours were dulled, his was sharp.

I was the youngest of 3, and one day when I was 4 or 5 I found out where Dad kept his knives. I played with one several times over the course of a week or so, and each time managed to cut myself more and more while trying to figure out what a sharp edge felt like.

Eventually, my parents started to notice all the tiny cuts on my hands, and I was in trouble. Luckily, they decided the pain was punishment enough, as I had clearly learned my lesson.

[dsvirsky]

Glad your son is okay.

When my son was little, I switched my around the house carry (back) to slipjoints with stiff backsprings. Not really a painful decision since I own some nice custom ones, but I felt a lot better knowing there was absolutely no way he could open them and hurt himself.

[bearfacedkiller]

All my knives are either in a gun safe or on a magnetic strip in the kitchen that my son cannot reach. The only other knives around are the ones in my pocket. Guns are also always locked up unless I am carrying them. I am quite cautious with my boy. He is a strong willed and brazen.

My boy is now 5 but when he was about 2 I had a similar incident. I was using a Mule in the kitchen and stopped to use the bathroom and I left the knife on the cutting board. When I came back out he was standing there holding the knife by the tip in a sort of pinch grip with the handle sticking up. I calming told him not to move and slowly took the knife from him. He had a small cut like a paper cut on his finger tip that bled just a little bit. He cried a bunch and I am not sure if it was because it hurt or because he thought he was in trouble. I took it as a lesson learned and he has been better since.

I have let him in the past year use knives just a little bit and only closely supervised. I have a pic of him at 4 years old cutting veggies with a high performance Gyuto and Petty. He has a lot of respect for blades but I still keep them locked up and I watch him like a hawk. You cannot be too careful.

He has seen enough dead animals that I have shot and watched me butcher and clean enough fish and game that he seems to understand what both tools are and what they can do. Still, I watch him like a hawk. You cannot be too careful.

Sorry for the ramble, glad the kiddo is alright!