This post will be the start of an occasional category called "Heroics in Parenting" where we get to tell daring stories of adventure common among those who live with the young and foolish.
As I sat unsuspectingly at my desk at work yesterday, my wife called with the all too common watchphrase "I need help!" She explained that Isaiah had been trapped in his seatbelt in the van for the last half hour and could not get out. I mounted my trusty bike and pedal power had me home in under 3 minutes and the process of freeing a 5-year old from a trapped carseat began.
You may wonder how one gets trapped in a seatbelt? To know this could come in handy if ever you need to tie down a terrorist in your mini-van. Here is how it is done: Buckle the seatbelt behind your body. Now with one hand pull the shoulder portion of the seatbelt in front of you. With the other hand release the catch of the seatbelt. Let the seatbelt recoil until it is taut. The person in this seat has now basically lassoed themselves. Anyone over 4 feet tall will not be able to escape this noose unless the belt is cut in two.
Luckily for Isaiah he is still under 4 feet tall. After being stuck in his seat for 45 minutes he was quite hysterical and weary from repeated struggles to free himself. In the end we had to remove most of his clothing and the sweat on his body helped lubricate this situation enough that we could extract him inch by inch from his seat.
What adventure will today hold for us mild-mannered parents? Stay tuned for the next Heroics in Parenting!
2 comments:
Oh no! That sounds so uncomfortable. Poor Isaiah. I'm glad he has a dad who could come to the rescue.
While neither Dan nor I ever trapped ourselves in the car, Dan did once break his arm by falling out of his family's car. Not while it was moving or anything, just a simple miscalculation while he was exiting the vehicle in the garage. For such a simple fall, it was a really nasty break, and he had to have surgery on it. He has a four-inch scar on his left elbow to this day. These are the kind of stories that make me hope that God really does give parents special grace. If He doesn't, I'm going to be a wreck.
This is the second time I've heard about such a thing happening recently. In the other case, the parents ended up having to cut the seat belt to free the child. Glad your son is okay!
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