AKL Child Falls Off Balcony

[smidgy]

Sorry , your kid falls of a balcony its the parent fault. Kids are to be watched all the time lest things like this happen.
Lock the balcony if your not going to watch your kid.

No Oopsie for this kind of thing.....

a 6 year old can be out of your sight so fast. unlock a door, move a plastic table. and Im sorry but NO parent has their eyes o a 6 ear old every single moment. not possible.

 

[MolonLabe]

I really dislike that everytime there is an accident involving a child at Disney there are tons of posts blaming the parents.

a 6 year old can be out of your sight so fast. unlock a door, move a plastic table. and Im sorry but NO parent has their eyes o a 6 ear old every single moment. not possible.

I think you seem to be confusing watching your child every second with the only thing the parents are to blame for.

It's a six year old. Chances are this wasn't the first time the kid climbed up onto a table.

At 6 all 3 of my children knew better than to climb on a table. ANYWHERE.

The fact the kid was climbing on a table proves bad parenting by itself.

Then the parents leave a kid who climbs up on tables alone... on a third story balcony??!?!?

Yeah, I can see why previous posters are suggesting bad parenting.

I have a friend who lets their kid run wild like that. I wouldn't be surprised if he takes a swan dive off a balcony one day. If he does, it'll be 100% the parents fault.... not because simply because they let him out of their sight but because they failed him for years prior to that by not discipline him and teaching him not behave like a wild monkey.

 

[bumbershoot]

I really dislike that everytime there is an accident involving a child at Disney there are tons of posts blaming the parents.

If a child falls, when the EMTs get there the FIRST question they have is about what the child was doing. My experience in this is my son falling at Target, while standing firmly on the ground, while trying on mittens. Because the mittens were locked together, and because he was jerking away from DH at the moment (DH had put a hat on DS that was bugging DS, who was only 3 at the time, and taking the hat off was tickling him), he fell backwards with force but couldn't stop himself at all. He slammed backwards to the ground and hit his head on the metal base of a clothing rack.

The FIRST question from the Target employee, firefighters, EMTs (there were two batches of uniformed men that showed up after the 911 call and I'm not sure who was who), triage nurse, main nurse, and ER doctor was "was he standing in the cart?"

Parents do ridiculous, brain-free, things ALL the time. It's only natural to wonder what on earth was happening in that room.


My son stopped climbing on tables by the time he was 3 and we got rid of the table (b/c he wouldn't stop climbing and because we're casual people who don't need a dining table). He never climbed on a table again. But on a balcony, yikes. We have a balcony at home and even now he's only allowed out there if one of us is on the balcony OR is in view of him every moment. He's 9 now, but that actually makes things worse because he's so tall and his center of gravity is changing.

If he fell from our balcony, I would EXPECT people to wonder where I was when it happened. And that's despite knowing that being an at-home/homeschool-parent and getting everything at home done is just about the most impossible thing EVER, in terms of watching the kiddo and doing anything around the house. But still I would expect those questions.

 

[Viva Las Disney]

I really dislike that everytime there is an accident involving a child at Disney there are tons of posts blaming the parents.

I agree with this, in hindsight 99% of accidents "could" be avoided but even the best parents can't prevent accidents 100% of the time. Kids do dumb things sometimes and no amount of hovering can prevent that. Most people are just fortunate that their kids accidents involve scribbling on the walls or getting a boo boo jumping off the swings, they've been told a thousand times not to do it but because they're kids they do it anyway and it only takes a minute.

Thank God the kid ended up okay.

 

[sonofanarchy]

This is a key reason we won't stay at the Contemporary. For some reason, the balconies there freak me out.

That being said, I would never let my 6 year old on a Disney balcony without me or his mother. We set up strict ground rules about that upon arrival. Other than that, door is locked (most have two locks on them) and closed.

 

[sndral]

You never know. Mom could have been momentarily distracted. Kids can be so fast. Maybe this was unusual for the child involved, Mom could have been tending to another child and in a moment, the light plastic table waa dragged, kid was up and over. You really can't know without being there.

Which is why I referenced the surveillance video - hopefully the authorities will have evidence of what happened and be able to take appropriate steps.

I think it's easy to take a "that would never happen to ME!" attitude but it only takes a second of inattention for something to go seriously wrong. You may believe that you are immune to it be because you have done everything right ... So far. But you are wrong. It can really happen to anyone....!

How kind of you to tell me what I believe - you are quite wrong in your assumptions about my beliefs, btw.
Please don't engage in faulty ad Hominum arguments by falsely attributing beliefs to me that I do not hold.
I agree bad things can happen in a moment - and it's clear you see this incident as an accident that could happen to any parent, whereas I am not so sure based on my life experience and knowledge of the balconies @ AKL.
I trust we can agree that it's great news that the little girl is already out of the hospital and that it's fortunate that she didn't fall from the 5th floor or the rooms in the front of AKL that overlook the pavement.

 

[maxiesmom]

a 6 year old can be out of your sight so fast. unlock a door, move a plastic table. and Im sorry but NO parent has their eyes o a 6 ear old every single moment. not possible.

As another poster pointed out the locks on those doors are set high up, probably to prevent kids from wandering out onto the balcony without a parent's knowledge. So either the parent unlocked the door or failed to make sure it was locked. Either way they were responsible for what happened. You can't just absolve a parent from fault because you feel horrible for what they are going through.

Thank goodness the child is going to be ok.

 

[Srbright]

The FIRST question from the Target employee, firefighters, EMTs (there were two batches of uniformed men that showed up after the 911 call and I'm not sure who was who), triage nurse, main nurse, and ER doctor was "was he standing in the cart?"

We were in Walmart (this was 10 years ago, before we had children) and the most redneck looking set of people are in the sporting goods aisle. I'm talking the woman didn't have enough clothes on to cover her self, uncombed haired, tattoos from her neck to her wrists and no teeth. Grandma wasn't much better.

They have an 18 month old baby that they are letting stand in the back of the cart. Mom goes one way, granny goes the other way and the kid takes a header out of the cart. I can still remember to this day the awful sound it made when that baby's head hit the floor. Mom and granny rush back and the first thing out of the mom's mouth was "I thought you were with him!". Granny says "hey, its your kid!".

The kid had a severe concussion. I absolutely blame the mom on that. The fact that her child was hurt does not give her ANY slack in that regard.

ETA: that taught me even before I had kids to never let my child stand in the bucket!

Stacy

 

[ArwenMarie]

I noticed that our balcony door did not have a high lock this past trip, which was worrying. They should all have that extra lock at the top that most children can't reach (although I guess a child could always pull something over to unlock it).

I always pull the furniture in off the balconies when we stay at hotels.

Accidents can still happen though. I don't blame the parents although I guess you technically could.

Just glad to hear the little girl is ok!

 

[kappyfamily]

What, NOBODY else thought it was a little kismet that we have a thread about throwing stuff off the balcony into animal kingdom and a story about a kid "falling" off the balcony into animal kingdom within a week of each other?

I'm the bad guy for noticing that? I'm not trying (hard or otherwise) to be funny, I just find this confluence of events (considering the reletively good condition of the kid/victim) interesting and ponderous and maybe just a bit suspicious.

Nobody else thinks this situation smells a bit funny?

It's not so much what you said, just the "timing" of when you said it. It's like when you hear someone make a joke about an airplane crashing right after it happens.... Timing is everything!

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Anyone remember the recent thread about throwing things off the balcony? Anyone else checking the dates that OP mentioned? They wouldn't kick you out of the resort for throwing a kid out of your balcony would they? I mean if you had already paid?

Are you trying to be funny? If so, it's really not needed here.

AKK

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

what, nobody else thought it was a little kismet that we have a thread about throwing stuff off the balcony into animal kingdom and a story about a kid "falling" off the balcony into animal kingdom within a week of each other?

I'm the bad guy for noticing that? I'm not trying (hard or otherwise) to be funny, i just find this confluence of events (considering the reletively good condition of the kid/victim) interesting and ponderous and maybe just a bit suspicious.

Nobody else thinks this situation smells a bit funny?

no!

 

[lylone]

So, if it is not the parents' fault for not watching the child...who's fault is it?
Should Disney put plexiglass over all the balconies like they do on their cruise ships?

If you have a child that is a climber and/or has other tendencies to get in harms way...then remove them from the situation. Maybe stay at a Moderate/Value until they get older.

I have never been able to understand how it is a grocery store's fault if child falls out of a shopping cart. And god forbid you ask the parent to have the child sit down in the cart. You get a dirty look and a mind your own business.
Yes, I have been in that situation.

Instead of allowing them to sit in the cart, make them walk or use a different cart or don't take them to the store!

 

[pigletto]

I hope she is ok. I was always terrified of this type of thing when my son was small. We'd go on cruises and wouldn't get balcony rooms and would hold his hand on any outside decks. My stomach would drop just looking at them because it would be so easy for something to happen in a split second. I did watch him like a hawk but all I am going to say in this situation is I am just extremely thankful it never happened to us. I don't think it's necessary to assign blame anywhere. It was an unfortunate accident.

 

[Nixie]

I do hate how on these boards how everyone jumps to find fault at terrible accidents. Why does it have to be someone fault?? Does that really make it any better??

 

[Crystal Brewer]

I checked this thread as we are at ASSports since Saturday and DH caught this on the news last night yet couldn't remember resort so I was quizzical. Now I know that yet the thread has once again turned to a debate because "O' I'm a perfect parent! This HAD to be irresponsible parenting!" BULL BOLOGNA!!! It takes 2 seconds !! There was a child here 12-13 y.o. whom broke his arm while playing kickball on the football turf...Yes,there were others playing whom knocked him down causing the bone to almost come out of skin tho the parents didnt blame the other kids nor Disney...it was an ACCIDENT!!! My heart goes out to the parents as I'm sure this was terrifying so glad she will be ok. Lets hope karma doesn't come back to those pointing fingers here!!!

 

[maxiesmom]

I do hate how on these boards how everyone jumps to find fault at terrible accidents. Why does it have to be someone fault?? Does that really make it any better??

It doesn't make it better, but neither does saying the parents have no fault at all. Saying there is not fault is saying it can't be prevented. Which is not true.

Hopefully some good can come out of something like this happening--maybe a few parents will check the lock on the balcony door when they enter their room, maybe they will be more vigilant in watching their little ones. Maybe some will even decide to forgo a balcony until their kids are older.

 

[luvmy3]

I do hate how on these boards how everyone jumps to find fault at terrible accidents. Why does it have to be someone fault?? Does that really make it any better??

Someone is always at fault, a child falling off a balcony doesn't just happen.

 

[robinb]

How kind of you to tell me what I believe - you are quite wrong in your assumptions about my beliefs, btw.

No? Then what do you mean by this?

I had a fearless climbing child and I cannot imagine leaving him on a balcony unless I was out there sitting w/ him when he was age 6. I also cannot imagine not reacting to seeing said child pull a table up to the railing and stopping him right there - there's only one reason a child would pull a table to a balcony railing and that's to climb on top of it, and I would have been grabbing him long before he had a chance to climb up on said table.

It seems to me that you are saying that something like this could never happen to you because you did everything right when your "fearless climbing child" was young.

 

[kellylfitz]

Someone is always at fault, a child falling off a balcony doesn't just happen.

Yeah, but nobody on this board was there. No question the parents could have been negligent, but it doesn't mean that they were. Short of handcuffing your kids to your wrist, you can't control every move they make all the time. Turn your back for 10 seconds and a tragic accident can happen. 99.999999% of the time it doesn't, but I personally don't feel right passing blame on the parents without knowing the whole story. There is a chance that they simply lost track of the kid for 5 or 10 seconds (even if they were on the balcony with them) and a tragic accident happened. It could happen to anyone. Not saying that is what happened here, but since I wasn't there, I won't take it upon myself to judge them.