What Should You Do When Your Child Sustains an Injury?

Sometimes parenting can be joyful and rewarding. When you see your child smile, grow up and learn new things, you get this feeling of achievement and satisfaction. However being a parent is a full time job, with no holidays (You have to work extra hard to keep the children in check during the holidays).
They have to be constantly monitored to ensure they do not get injured, and when they have gone to school or you leave them in the care of another person, you get this uneasy feeling that something terrible might occur. This cannot be dismissed as mere paranoia, for the reason that children, by and large, are a little clumsy, reckless and highly energetic. When kids gather together in one location, you get this sense that someone might get injured. These days, the majority of parents are concerned regarding what they should do when a kid gets seriously injured, while under the care of teachers. Should they take legal action, and under what circumstances can the school be held liable? Read along

1. How severe is the injury?
In most cases only a couple of bruises and scrapes will result, also in several instances just feelings get hurt. Fear, anger and hurt should be taken seriously because these can result in psychological distress . However, in nearly all cases having a pleasant long discussion and giving the child their toys to play with (or chocolate milk depending on the age, preferences or sex of the kid) will help him or her recover quickly; also this is an excellent opportunity for you to teach your child a valuable life lesson. Children, especially the very young ones have an extremely weak psyche. They do not know the difference between physical pain and emotional distress. 

This is why it is very important that you try to obtain all the details when your child comes to you crying. First, you should examine the child for actual injuries. You should be aware that even a minor cut on any part of the body can result in severe bleeding; but you might start to panic when you see blood stained clothes.

2. Try Not to Panic
Not panicking will help calm the child and it will show that child that you are ready to take care of the situation. Also, it will reassure the child that you can help him or her. It is very important that you control your emotions while your kid explains what had taken place. This is not the best time to point an accusing finger at somebody, blame the parents of some other child, or vow to take revenge on the child's school. What you have to do is obtain all the details, as that will help you determine whether the school is actually liable and if there is need to take legal action. 

3. Find out What the Law Says

In Australia at least, the important thing is where the accident took place (you can take legal action if it occurred outside school or inside the school, however while under the care of the school officials such as teachers). One other thing is the sort of activity the kid was participating in (the child's school cannot be held liable if the kid was engaging in an activity the school strictly forbids). You should also see to whether the children were being properly supervised or not at the time the injury occurred. (more info on this at personal Smith's Lawyers website)


Thus, if for instance the child was participating in a risky or dangerous activity, such as balancing on chairs, jumping over fences or running on desks, you may argue that the school failed to supervise the activity, however the kid was engaging in an activity that he or she knows is risky, and you may not achieve little or no success if you institute a legal action against the school. The school cannot be held responsible for injuries a child sustains during sporting activities. If the child was involved in a school yard fight, you have to establish that your child was actually bullied and thus an assault, instead of a fight wherein both children participated equally, irrespective of who came out victorious eventually. Additionally, you should check the laws of your locality, and speak with an attorney because the rules will vary for different areas. 

Thus, if your child sustains an injury at school, you should first check to find out how severe the injury is as well as whether there is need to take him or her to the hospital. After that, have a pleasant long discussion to enable you get all the details (what sort of activity was the child engaging in, was there adequate supervision, where did the child sustain the injury?). And try to remain calm while discussing with the child. If need be, take a couple of minutes to calm yourself down, clean and place a bandage on the injury and then carry out the little discussion. You should get some advice from an attorney, if you are still in doubt whether you should or could take legal action against the school.

Melissa Davis is chief in editor at http://facetwister.com, young but fearsome lady with painfully good sense of fashion and fashion streams. Melissa previously worked for number of print magazines as leading stylist and fashion adviser. Her idea is to introduce her audience to the latest fashion trends and to offer advice that will help every woman to fell as beautiful and glamorous as she possibly can.Also loves to write about beauty and health topics.

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