Thursday, April 10, 2008

So this is why kids aren't supposed to use treadmills!

Okay, I hope that for those of you who know me well, would know that I'm not usually a slacker parent, one who doesn't care or pay attention to what my kids are doing, and for sure know that I don't beat my children. Mary, I know you'll read this and get chills up your spine because I've too have seen some of those legal attorney pictures myself (she worked for a fitness place as a legal assistant to the attorney and saw many, many photos of some nasty injuries while exercising) and know that I should not ever let my child use a treadmill - but....but... I got the "park avenue eyes" (Mom that's for you).

Now that my apology to Mary is taken care of, we'll begin. Beavercreek Elementary is doing a program called Shape Up Oregon. The kids can cross off one segment of their trip across Oregon by exercising 30 minutes. You can cross off up to 3 segments a day. Those of you who know Redden know he's an over acheiver and would settle for nothing less than 3 segements a day. Anyway, the weather here has been absolutely horrible as far as rain and hail is concerned. He's been having a hard time getting outside to be able to cross of that last segment of the day. The day before yesterday it was raining so he couldn't play basketball, ride bikes or run around the yard playing soccer, so he asked if he could run circles in the loop of the house, so I let him :( Bad idea! Talk about kaos at dinner time. Yesterday he ran into the same problem and asked if he could get on the treadmill. In the past the treadmill has been absolutely 100% off limits to my children. Where things have been bad outside and because Redden had given me "puppy dog eyes"and promised to be careful, I decided to go ahead and lay out some rules of the treadmill. We wear socks and shoes, you are not allowed to go over 2 mph and no horsing around. He agreed. I watched for a few minutes and it looked as if everything was going good. 28 minutes into the 30 minute journey I hear a sad screaming/cry. I go into the bedroom to find that Austin said he had "saved" Redden who was pinned to the wall behind the treadmill. Come to find out Redden has taken off his shirt because he was hot. Either his legs turned into jello or he tripped. The belt pushed him to the back against the wall and trapped his legs and the treadmill continued to spin because I hadn't fastened the safety strap to him. So, it was spinning and burning his back as he was trying to move a million different ways to try to stand up but couldn't. Poor kid, refused to take a shower this morning, refused to put on a shirt, refused to put on a backpack, to ride the bus, or to play outside at recess. Needless to say I took him to school to discuss this and a few other items with his teacher and ended up volunteering the morning there.





Today we saw a break in the rain. Haleluja!!
The Aftermath...The picture does no justice.

8 comments:

Bill & Jen said...

eeewww!!! I was talking to you on the phone when that happened...so it's actually my fault for taking you away from your kids....So sorry Redded...next tell your mommy to get off the phone.... :)

Anonymous said...

Dude I can't believe that you let your son run on a treadmill without parental supervision. You so do not win mother of the year award! That goes to me for letting my son swallow a paper clip!!!! :o)

Shena said...

geez! I hope you learned a lesson! :) I'm glad that's all that happened. My kids are the same. Something about the treadmill intrigues them. I'm glad Redden was ok!

Brian and Mal said...

good one, Andrea.. Now i'm nervous. I'm getting a treadmill. Apparently they are pretty dangerous.

Lacey said...

I'm so glad that he wasn't hurt any worse. It is so easy for kids to get hurt and as moms we always seem to blame ourselves. Trust me, you are not the only one that this type of thing has happened to. Kaitlyn has a little mark just inside her hairline where I accidentally burned her with a curlingiron when she was little. I still feel bad when I see the scar. I think this type of thing happens to all of us.

Elder Blake Andreasen said...

Its nice to know your human too! :) I would like you to find me one mom that doesnt regret letting their own child do something which they ended up getting hurt, Just like letting your child going boating when you knew that someone was going to get hurt

Castiel Moyes said...

I promise to not let my lawyer husband read this or you he might have to contact child social services.....:)

Mark and Lachelle said...

Poor kid!! I think the treadmill at the Rasmussen household just sat there and collected dust. The only time we used it, was to put our barbies on it, and watch them fly across the room! I'm glad we never used it to run on...cuz I'm sure we probably would have been hurt too!! Our poor barbies...