Today, Jonah was playing in his room with a new tablet, minding his own business.

Jonny doesn’t want Jonah to get into his room, and rightly so. Lego creations would get destroyed. Disney infinity characters get dumped down the stairs… clothes get thrown everywhere.

So I put a childproof door handle on Jonny’s room so Jonah can’t get in. Normally, Jonah stays out, and Jonny enforces it well.

But today, Jonny left his door open. I didn’t notice.

I assumed Jonah was still playing in his room, I didn’t realize he had gone into Jonny’s room. He was quiet. Too quiet. I should have known.

He used Jonny’s bed to get himself up on top of Jonny’s 4ft dresser. Then he opened the top drawer and climbed inside it.

Then, the dresser fell on him.

I ran into Jonny’s room where Jonny’s dresser was laying on top of him. Jonah was screaming.

I picked up the dresser off him.

I picked Jonah up. I didn’t see any obvious signs of trauma. No blood. That was a good sign.

Jonah was hyperventilating while he was crying.

I asked him if he was ‘okay.’

He had the presence of mind to ask it back to me between sobs… “Are… sniff, sniff you okaaayy?” (His way of acknowledging that he got a ‘bonk’ but he’s okay)

There were clothes strewn about, the humidifier and lamp were on the floor. Luckily no broken glass.

I asked him if he has an “owie” and he repeated “owie” to me and put my hand on his knee.

He had a little scrape there. Didn’t even need a band-aid.

Within about 5 minutes of me holding him, he seemed to calm down. Then we spent a half-hour sitting on the couch. He just wanted me to hold him.

Then he wanted to play with my phone and “that was that.” He was his normal “happy” self.

It was pretty scary for a little guy. It was pretty scary for Daddy. So many bad things have happened to little ones by falling dressers or furniture.

We were fortunate this time. Many families have not been.

And yes. I am aware. I am NOW aware.

I should have known the danger. Yes. There are literally hundreds of ways Jonah can hurt himself at home and it is my responsibility to make sure that it doesn’t happen. And today, I failed.

I only share to spread awareness. If this story can help any one of you, I am grateful.

And if you take anything away from this post it is this. As a parent, as a caretaker, as ANYONE who is in charge of children, be HYPER-VIGILANT.

Always secure your dressers or any heavy things kids can potentially climb on.
Original Facebook Post.