Monkey Bar Business

Our Jack has been full of himself of late. The climbing equipment at the pre-school always offers a new challenge to him, he has to do everything himself without any help. The monkey bars is one of those things!

The time was coming to the end of his Thursday class and as always the children are playing in the grounds of the school. Jack's on the monkey bars and he will not give up until he can master them and swing himself from one bar to the next over a ten foot span. Well he is not the only child who has this in mind, instead of taking turns which the teachers always enforce, they are horsing around grabbing each other to get the next go. Jack is on the beginning of the bars hanging when he is grabbed by the legs and as a three and a half year old his hands are not quite large enough to completely circle the bar. This sudden movement makes his hands slip and down he crashes with the back of his head hitting the step-up to the bars.


All I can say is, it was fortunate that his mother was there early to collect him as she witnessed the tail end of the incident. She was able to scoop him up and take him to the nearest medical center where he had eight staples inserted to seal up the wound. Fortunately he is none the worst for wear but it could have been a lot worse.

Always make sure that you have all the necessary information in case of a sudden emergency and be sure to point out the short comings of this type of horse play. I know it's difficult with children of this age, they do have a mind of their own and trying to keep their attention when explaining these type of pitfalls can be exasperating.

A week has past and the staples have now been removed, there is only minor weaping from the wound and of course Jack's back to his old ways once again.