Son knocked unconscious on Butlins ride.

browneyedbazzi

forgotmyname wrote: »

Health and safety spoils everything.

I don't think 'Health and safety' spoils anything - I think people who over-zealously interpret health and safety legislation/guidance and use it as an excuse to be kill joys are the ones who spoil things.

paddedjohn

OP mentions no seat belt but ive never seen a dodgems yet that didn't have them fitted, maybe she sat on it and didn't see it.

SidP

There's a certain predatory attitude from some members on the MSE forums that makes me a little queasy. Too frequently I've seen responses that seemed designed to do nothing more than call into question the OP's sanity, morality or intelligence, and not in polite terms either.

One of the things in this thread that I think has been misunderstood is the OP's following statement:

[His brother] remembers his 7th birthday as the birthday where his brother nearly died.

The OP is not saying that she remembers it this way. How her 7 year-old son remembers it is very much a factor of his youth. Though others here may not have the advantage of such a reflection, I know quite clearly that there are certain events in my own past that I interpreted, at the time, as being far more serious than they were, due to simply being too young to appreciate them in another way. The events were still unpleasant ones, but less so than my inexperience encouraged me to believe. My misapprehension nevertheless affected me profoundly, as you would expect it to, because it's what I believed to be true.

The misapprehensions associated with youth are one of the many reasons many need the help of mental health care professionals later in life.

Hopefully this one example of how the OP has been misjudged will encourage those of you with a negative attitude towards her (now deleted) post to re-think your attitude to other things she wrote. Personally, I feel a deep sympathy towards her and her husband. Seeing their son like that in the middle of what was supposed to be a fun day out must have been deeply upsetting. Those of you unable to recognise that, and who post in that ignorance, only make her life more painful, not less. Doubtless that's why she removed her post.

Sid

Money-Saving-King

SidP wrote: »

and who post in that ignorance, only make her life more painful, not less. Doubtless that's why she removed her post.

Sid

People can control themselves as to how an event effects them by how they react. By over reacting this causes self induced emotion that there is otherwise no need for. People over react and get themselves into a state that they shouldn't. Just look at all the other threads started in the vent forum by the person who started at co op discrimination thread, a classic example of how someone creates their own dramas.

Most of the time the comments to such threads as this simply state when someone is over reacting. It is advice, not ignorance.

LouLou

earthstorm wrote: »

when i was a kid ( many moons ago) you went on dodgems and could travel anyway you wanted and bump anyone.
now it seems you have to all travel in the same direction and not bump into each other ( so the fun taken out of the ride)

It was like the Wild West, but I loved it! (35 odd years since I was on the dodgems as a kid myself!).

Seriously, though, I'm sorry your boy got knocked out but it was an accident and one that couldn't really have been prevented (though, as already mentioned, I haven't seen dodgems without seatbelts, that's very odd). And I wouldn't have allowed a little one on there with me without one, either.

If others decide to bump and ignore the rule, what can they do? If I was concerned about internal injuries I'd have called an ambulance/went to A&E as a precaution. (I see you did, and nothing alarming came of it, which is good).

It was upsetting, I'm sure, but I would put it down as a nasty bump and it seems no-one was seriously hurt. I certainly wouldn't go near their dodgems again.

The only thing that would concern me and could be deemed negligent would be the lack of seatbelts.

Fosterdog

SidP wrote: »

There's a certain predatory attitude from some members on the MSE forums that makes me a little queasy. Too frequently I've seen responses that seemed designed to do nothing more than call into question the OP's sanity, morality or intelligence, and not in polite terms either.

One of the things in this thread that I think has been misunderstood is the OP's following statement:

The OP is not saying that she remembers it this way. How her 7 year-old son remembers it is very much a factor of his youth. Though others here may not have the advantage of such a reflection, I know quite clearly that there are certain events in my own past that I interpreted, at the time, as being far more serious than they were, due to simply being too young to appreciate them in another way. The events were still unpleasant ones, but less so than my inexperience encouraged me to believe. My misapprehension nevertheless affected me profoundly, as you would expect it to, because it's what I believed to be true.

The misapprehensions associated with youth are one of the many reasons many need the help of mental health care professionals later in life.

Hopefully this one example of how the OP has been misjudged will encourage those of you with a negative attitude towards her (now deleted) post to re-think your attitude to other things she wrote. Personally, I feel a deep sympathy towards her and her husband. Seeing their son like that in the middle of what was supposed to be a fun day out must have been deeply upsetting. Those of you unable to recognise that, and who post in that ignorance, only make her life more painful, not less. Doubtless that's why she removed her post.

Sid

Personally I don't think there has been any misjudgement at all.

OP said herself that the ride didn't look safe while she was queuing, between watching people bumping each other, the boy getting off crying and the staff not paying attention. Yet she still chose to take her children on the ride. We don't know whether there were seatbelts that were ignored and not used or no seatbelts at all but either way it was an oversight on her part to allow her child to use the ride without a seatbelt.

Also the seven year old brother will only think his brother almost died if that's what his parents told him had happened, to say it's how he now remembers his birthday is ridiculous, it's only been two weeks, if in two years time that's how he remembers it then I'll agree that it may have been traumatic for him but after only two weeks there is a chance he will eventually forget the incident or at least not remember it as being as bad as OP makes out it was.

Most parents wouldn't get into such a panic they upset themselves, the child it happened to and their other child, the automatic response is to protect your children by staying calm and making the other child think everything will be OK even if it wont be.

I agree that the staff don't sound like they were very good at all in the situation but OP comes across as being a complete drama queen so I would doubt her version of events altogether.

Computersaysno

SidP wrote: »

There's a certain predatory attitude from some members on the MSE forums that makes me a little queasy. Too frequently I've seen responses that seemed designed to do nothing more than call into question the OP's sanity, morality or intelligence, and not in polite terms either.

One of the things in this thread that I think has been misunderstood is the OP's following statement:

The OP is not saying that she remembers it this way. How her 7 year-old son remembers it is very much a factor of his youth. Though others here may not have the advantage of such a reflection, I know quite clearly that there are certain events in my own past that I interpreted, at the time, as being far more serious than they were, due to simply being too young to appreciate them in another way. The events were still unpleasant ones, but less so than my inexperience encouraged me to believe. My misapprehension nevertheless affected me profoundly, as you would expect it to, because it's what I believed to be true.

The misapprehensions associated with youth are one of the many reasons many need the help of mental health care professionals later in life.

Hopefully this one example of how the OP has been misjudged will encourage those of you with a negative attitude towards her (now deleted) post to re-think your attitude to other things she wrote. Personally, I feel a deep sympathy towards her and her husband. Seeing their son like that in the middle of what was supposed to be a fun day out must have been deeply upsetting. Those of you unable to recognise that, and who post in that ignorance, only make her life more painful, not less. Doubtless that's why she removed her post.

Sid

Moral high ground, yadda, yadda, yadda.....

Come on, get real!!!

This is the internet we're talking about. The simple rule is ..post something stupid, expect to get flamed. Don't blub about it; take your oil and learn from it.

earthstorm

i very doubt they would not have safety belts as this would be a serious breach of Health and Safety and would mean they dont carry out an annual inspection (MOT) by an Amusement Devices Inspection Procedures Scheme (ADIPS) inspector.

earthstorm

I clearly see seatbelts

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3547452/Butlins-bumper-car-bump-ban.html

tinkerbell28

Children are not born with phobias, they learn them.

Much like if there is a serious accident and an ambulance is called, with real danger the child is seriously hurt or could die.

The first thing that happens is parents are told to calm down, or are taken away. Hysterics scares the child concerned and the others watching.

So if you were in a state op and convinced yourself you thought he would die, that will be why your child is traumatised. He thinks his brother nearly dies, as he's seen you reaction during and after.