Hi everyone, I've read in the past that sometimes we (meaning everyone who has kids) don't know if we should trust this person who is asking for a playdate or maybe we know the parents from school and feel like we should trust our kids in their home. After what happened at GOOD friends of ours I will allways have a list to ask the mother of a playdate.
We went to our GOOD friends home for an 11 year old birthday party our bgb are 7. After being told that the little dog will bite and the rest of the house is safe for our kids to run around and play and that me and my dh can relax we did just that. Two hours later our dd and ds son came running to us (they looked like they saw a ghost) then our other ds came running in bleeding from his eye. He was shot with a BB gun that was lying on the floor loaded and the safty switch was on auto rather then off. Auto made the gun just shoot when the trigger is pulled. My other ds picked up the gun not knowing it was a BB gun and pulled the trigger. The gun looked like any toy gun, it even had the orange cap on the front of it.
Our ds who was shot is doing ok, he got very lucky (he could've lost his eye) our dd and ds are doing ok (nobody wants to sleep by themselves) Me and my dh are recked!
From now on anytime my kids go to a home I will be there with a list of questions as to what is in the home. And please if you feel funny doing the same use my ds story to give you a reason why. We knew this family for 10 years! How hard is it to make sure your kids put their toys away or lock their room or just tell our kids don't go into his room. After they told our kids that the little dog bites they didn't touch or look at it!
Please get your questions ready to ask we got lucky it could have turned out much worse!
Donna Proud Mom to Tyler, Samantha, Zackary - 7 years old

Wow! Im sorry that happened to you. A BB gun should never be left unattended in a house, especially if its loaded. I can remember my mom keeping strict tabs on my brothers BB gun. If she hadnt, prob one of us would have ended up with an injury.

I work at a hospital and BB guns are seriously dangerous. This was years ago, but an 11 year old brother of a teen mom, shot her baby through the window. She was hit in the head with the BB and suffered permanent damage. Really really sad.


Kelly
GGB born 30 weeks

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Thanks for a great reminder. Sorry you had to go through this but it sounds like it could have been much worse. Sometimes I feel better knowing my kids are good kids and won't get into trouble but I need to remember that sometimes trouble can find even the best kids.
Also a great reason to teach our kids to respect any gun. (not sure how that works in with the toy variety though--I can totally see that happening to my kiddos. Guess they should ask before touching any gun even if they think it's a toy?

Andi
g/b/g
triplets
will start 1st Grade in 3 wks
and turn 7 a week later

OMG How scary!!!! Something very similar happened to us. Well nobody got hurt. But I let my kids have a playdate at a VERY good friends house. I didn't find out about this till a month or two later but...my kids were talking about playing with a BB gun and how they were shooting it at the wall in the older brothers room. I was SO mad!!! The older brother is 11 and they were all playing with him in his room and with this BB gun! I had no idea until they told me a month later.

I too now ask MANY questions now before they go to any friends house. One of them is if they have ANY type of guns including BB guns and are they locked up. I have given my kids strict instructions that they are not under any circumstances to play with ANY type of gun...period. But they are kids and I know they are intrigued and may do it anyway. I also have friends who let their kids run around the neighborhood. That's another rule of mine. We are not allowed to run around the neighborhood unattended. So that is something I have to ask before the go also.


Terri~
12/21/01 at 33 weeks

Terri,

I'm still a wreck, I wake up at night with my heart pounding. I'm just trying to tell as many people as I can ask questions! Who cares if the other family thinks you're crazy it just might make them remember what is in their house. And if you have to cancel a play date because they don't have the same rules, big deal we got lucky.

Donna Proud Mom - Tyler, Samantha, Zackary - 7 years old

I agree Donna. We have been dodging sleepovers for this reason. I just don't know what goes on in other peoples homes even good friends. They have different rules. My dd has been asked by the same person twice now for sleep overs. I really like the mom and have become friends with her. But my gut says no! She has an older sister who is one of those depressed teens and I don't know the step father. So we have just made a rule that our family doesn't do sleep overs period! I don't care if people think I am paranoid or over protective/ helicopter parent, whatever. Who cares?!


Terri~
12/21/01 at 33 weeks

Terri,
I got chills. Go with your gut feeling. Like you said who cares!

Donna Proud Mom - Tyler, Samantha, Zackary _ 7 years old