A friend gave our married daughter who has 2 small children this tip. Always have a red cloth hanky clean and ready in case of a bloody injury. When our grandson was hit on the forehead and started to bleed profusely, she got the red cloth hanky and held it on his injury.
After taking him inside the house to clean the wound and check to see if it warranted a doctor call and/or visit (which did require 4 stitches), she proceeded to use the same red cloth to clean his injured area. She turned him away from any mirrors, so he couldn't see the injury, ran warm faucet water on the cloth so she could check on the blood flow. Then she got him relaxed with his favorite beverage while she called in. Because of the red cloth hanky, he didn't realize he was bleeding and never got scared, because he never saw blood.
Later as they drove to the doctor, he held his own red cloth on the injury. Everyone at the doctor's marveled at how brave he was so he naturally didn't seem to mind the stitches too much. Amazing how not seeing blood (as you might on a white cloth), helped calm him as well as his young mom.
By Mary Feldhahn from Twin Cities, MN
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What a great idea for small children! Anything that helps to keep a child from a panic is great.
I had a red wash cloth when our kids were small. It worked well for skinned toes, knees and arms too.
GG Vi
What a cool idea! I'll stock one now.
What a great piece of advice! I have three kids and so far have not had need of one, but am putting a red washcloth in the car with the first aid goodies! It makes complete sense. We panic when we see the blood, how do we think our kids will react. Thanks for the good idea!
And what a great way to save from ruining "good" cloths in the closet, too! I'm putting one in the kitchen, one in the first aid basket, and one in the glove box! Thanx!
I think this is a great idea, but the simple fact that you are calm, cool and collected is what really counts. You know what to do.
This reminds me of the mother who successfully had running, tag and dodge ball removed from the Wisconsin PE curriculum because her child returned home with a bruise. She said it was caused by a head on collision with another child and wanted to avoid such injuries in the future. The use of a head on collision was rather an overstatement.
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