seen this earlier on TV

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-38495647

The all the news talked about was how strong and brave the brother was and not an ounce of where the **** was the parent(s) when this was happening.

I’m guessing they were just out in another room. That’s a pretty normal thing to do.

Or maybe they were round at a local bistro drinking and eating with their mates. That seems to be acceptable.

I liked the bit when he started climbing on it, with his bro underneath.

Yes I do recall leaving my two year old twins alone in their room more than once for more than one second too.

LOL thats hilarious 🙂
Is you’ve been framed still a thing? they should send it to that, get £200 or whatever it is.

The headline could have included the word ‘eventually’, I’d say.

I’ve gone in the garden and left a 2 year old in the house while I hung the washing out. It’s not a dereliction of your duty to leave them alone for 2 minutes in a ‘safe’ space.

It was literally two minutes. The mum or dad could have been on their own with the kids and in the toilet/on the phone/dealing with a neighbour at the front door/cooking something for the kids. Any number of things that don’t involve a crack pipe or selling the kids to the child catcher.

poah – Member
seen this earlier on TV

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-38495647

The all the news talked about was how strong and brave the brother was and not an ounce of where the **** was the parent(s) when this was happening.

bloody hell, the STW overreaction/hand wringer of the year competition is off to a flying start!

And to be fair – it was only a low drawer unit – in the past I have fixed wardrobes and bookshelves to the wall but I would never think to fasten a set of drawers (I bet they don’t even come with straps like high furniture does anyway).

/hand wringer of the year

I don’t think this is going as the OP expected.

all the news talked about was how strong and brave the brother was and not an ounce of where the **** was the parent(s) when this was happening. what a **** he was for climbing on it for a bit to really make it smart

FTFY

I can only add that yes, in the real world you do occasionally have to leave small children to their own devices for short periods of time if they want to eat, have clean clothes to wear or indeed their parent wants to use the toilet without an audience.

My youngest usually either takes a wee on the carpet (we’re potty training) or helps herself to a Weetabix when my back is turned – it’s silence you want to listen out for, silence is NEVER good when it comes to small children.

He’s like…. “Dude get out of there, we’ve got to fix this shit before mum sees”

My son always used to treat an open drawer as an opportunity to grab the top with both hands and push with all his strength.

The number of times he had to be rescued, wheyfaced, having trapped all his fingers in a now closed drawer that he couldn’t open because he was leaning on it with all his weight was incredible.

I wish he’d climbed in them tbh.

I would never think to fasten a set of drawers (I bet they don’t even come with straps like high furniture does anyway).

IKEA are paying three US families $50million after 3 2 year olds have been killed because the families didn’t fasten the drawers to the walls and the kids were crushed when they fell on them.

All IKEA furniture ive bought always tells you to fasten it to the wall.

EDIT: report title said 3 toddlers died. Other reports suggest upto 7 (in the US)

All IKEA furniture ive bought always tells you to fasten it to the wall.

Even low drawer units like that? I know the high stuff does (like the Kallax) but I have never seen (or perhaps noticed) straps being shipped with lower stuff.

When my kids were younger I avoided the likelihood of such things occurring by keeping them locked in cages in the cellar. Now they’re a bit older I’ve dispensed with the cages, but they’re still down the cellar. The world is a dangerous and scary place

The chest of drawers was empty and light, judging by how easily it fell over.

Even low drawer units like that? I know the high stuff does (like the Kallax) but I have never seen (or perhaps noticed) straps being shipped with lower stuff.

They don’t ship them, but do state you need them. Which seems a bit off….but hey ho.

For example:

WARNING

Serious or fatal crushing injuries
can occur from furniture tip-over.
To prevent this furniture from tipping
over it must be permanently
fixed to the wall.
Fixing devices for the wall are not included
since different wall materials require different
types of fixing devices. Use fixing devices
suitable for the walls in your home.
For advice on suitable fixing systems,
contact your local specialized dealer.

– http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/doc/assembly_instructions/malm__aa-505153-7_pub.pdf

We’ve got an Ikea Malm 4 drawer chest in the nursery. It stands 100 cm tall and came with wall anchors (which we use). Malm are the range Ikea recalled in the US because several children were killed as a result of them tipping forward.

That link to the instructions for assembly of the Malm 6 drawer unit contradicts the product information on the website. There it states the wall fixings are included:

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/storage-furniture/chest-of-drawers/malm-chest-of-6-drawers-oak-veneer-art-20062600/

poah – Member
seen this earlier on TV

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-38495647

The all the news talked about was how strong and brave the brother was and not an ounce of where the **** was the parent(s) when this was happening.

What do we want? MORE PUBLIC SHAMING!

When do we want it? NOW!

Predictably the YouTube comments are also full of perfect parents who have never left their precious babies alone for a second, even when taking a dump. 🙄

and not an ounce of where the **** was the parent(s) when this was happening

Says the man with no children.
I obviously spent every waking hour with my children in sight at all time – it is a little embarrassing for the 10 yr old to have his father in the class room with him at school but you can’t be too paranoid

When I was 3 I was mucking about on a rickety old stool. I fell off and split my head open on a fireguard. Shame there were no mobile phone cameras (or home based CCTV) back then or my parents could’ve raised awareness and saved a lot of children from trips to A&E over the past 50 years.

GrahamS – Member
Predictably the YouTube comments are also full of perfect parents who have never left their precious babies alone for a second, even when taking a dump.

My daughter is five and it’s still a 50:50 chance whether I get to have a dump in peace!

She, on the other hand, took the laptop in with her the other day!

I have attached a bookcase lower than that to the wall and the TV on top is fixed with a chain to a separate fixing, mostly cos the bookcase isn’t very deep. The telly in the other room is on a lower cabinet and has been on the floor twice already! Good job LG are fairly sturdy.

Matt

My daughter is five and it’s still a 50:50 chance whether I get to have a dump in peace!

True that – but I don’t make them come in and watch, just so I can keep an eye on them. 😆

Shockingly I sometimes let my kids play alone in their rooms while I am in a different room. If I’m feeling really irresponsible I may even be on a different floor.

The telly in the other room is on a lower cabinet and has been on the floor twice already! Good job LG are fairly sturdy.

Our LG has a mounting point in the base that meant I could screw it down onto the cabinet. That works pretty well.

Great story. The twins learn not to climb on unsecured bookcases again, and the parents learn to secure unsecured furniture. Everyone’s a winner.

Meanwhile, thousands of parents on STW blush at the many more dangerous situations they’ve left their kids in, deliberately or not.

when I was two my then 7yr old sister dropped me and left a 2″ scar on my forehead and a lot of blood. she only admitted this to my mother 30yrs later…I think she was probably quite glad for no CCTV.

Ah, but youtube footage of my injury could’ve saved you jam bo!

Remember these?

I pulled one over by pulling down on the drinks flap. I suspect that’s what saved me from being crushed…

when I was two my then 7yr old sister dropped me and left a 2″ scar on my forehead and a lot of blood. she only admitted this to my mother 30yrs later…I think she was probably quite glad for no CCTV.

When I was six months old, my then eight and seven year old sisters were taking me for a walk in my pram and had the grand idea of one of them running to the bottom of the (sizeable) hill whilst the other waited at the top with the pram, and then letting the pram run down the hill on it’s own.

Cue one somersaulting pram, one dazed baby, two scared little girls and one mother not told for 25 years…

When I was 3 I was mucking about on a rickety old stool. I fell off and split my head open on a fireguard. Shame there were no mobile phone cameras (or home based CCTV) back then or my parents could’ve raised awareness and saved a lot of children from trips to A&E over the past 50 years.

When I was 3, I emptied my pot into my brother’s cot (shared bedroom). Shame there were no mobile phone cameras or CCTV back then, as I reckon it would be very funny to see.

Tallpaul – Member
That link to the instructions for assembly of the Malm 6 drawer unit contradicts the product information on the website. There it states the wall fixings are included:

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/storage-furniture/chest-of-drawers/malm-chest-of-6-drawers-oak-veneer-art-20062600/

I think all the stuff we’ve had from ikea included the straps just not the fixings to secure strap to wall.

Given the state of the walls in my house, securing furniture to them would just mean the ceiling came down with the chest of drawers 😀

That looks EXACTLY like the sort of thing my twin brother and I would have got up to at that age.
I drove dad’s company car* into the garage door when I was three. No one died.
But yeah. Those parents. Fancy installing cctv and then not watching it live 24/7!
*ok it was a tractor, probably an old fordson with no sort of key etc, and I needed my brother’ help, one of us did the gears while the other did the steering.
Things got really dangerous when we moved to actually live on a farm a year later. Mum put us in bright orange cagoules so she could see us across the fields when she was washing up.

OP – best you not drive anywhere with your kids…

This does reflect some stats I read from Banardo’s about harm to children – where 5-8pm at home is the most dangerous place for 0-8 year olds was.

surely the bad parenting is calling them Bowdy and Brock 😯

You’d have to be a bit of an idiot not to anchor furniture like that with small kids.

You’d have to be a bit of an idiot not to anchor furniture like that with small kids.

Well I’d be willing to bet that makes the vast majority of world’s parents “a bit of an idiot”.

(and I’d also bet that a pretty large number of the non-idiots would find that their anchors pulled clean out the wall when a couple of two year olds applied a nicely cantilevered load to it).