Erin has had a fantastic week. She has had so much fun with all the Easter activities with the daycare. To top the week off, we went to see Grandma (my mother) in Bellingham today. I took the kids to an Easter egg hunt which was just down the street from Grandma’s apartment. No worries…Erin did very well amongst all the kids. She filled her plastic bucket full of candies in no time. My heart broke when I noticed it took her longer to pick up the candies because she had to get on her knees to pick up the goodies. Meanwhile the other kids only had to bend at the waist to quickly pick up their treats.
On our way home back from Bellingham, I made sure we stopped off at a travelling carnival in Marysville. I knew Larkin wouldn’t be too fond of the rides so I prepared myself to spend money on games and cool rides. So…I took Erin on the ferris wheel. She loved it! Then Brennan and Uncle Sean rode a fast, crazy ride which I wouldn’t allow her to go on. While Brennan and Sean was enjoying themselves, Erin was eyeing a mini-roller coaster (the “dragon” ride). She really wanted to go on it and I watched the ride for a bit before I made my decision. Brennan wanted to ride the dragon ride. I decided to allow her to go on just as long as Brennan was with her. Well……she went twice around the track with no problem until the third time around I knew something was wrong. The ride took its third time around and I watched her body jerk around. I was so afraid that she was going to be thrown from the car. Erin started streaming and I ran to the ride conductor and asked him to stop the ride. I jumped up to the platform and went to pull her out of the cart. To my surprise, the seat belt had split into two pieces! My heart nearly sunk to my stomach. I was so upset. She had been holding on with one hand on the safety bar without any restraint. I totally flipped out! I pulled her out of the cart and the ride conductor had pulled on the seat belt and it completely came out. I thought was going to be sick.
Luckily Erin recovered emotionally. She begged to go on another ride and agreed to the merry-go-round. Larkin sat with her in a bench of the ride and I practically ran around the ride in circles watching over her. The merry-go-round was much safer than the “dragon ride,” but I hate myself for allowing her to go on the ride to begin with. Lesson learned…don’t trust anything. I wasn’t allowed to ride the “dragon” ride with her b/c it was a “kid” ride (basically I was too big to ride the ride). Now she won’t be able to go on anything where I can’t accompany her. I am sitting here hours after this happened and I am still upset that I allow her to go on the ride. For my sake, I thank my brother Sean for putting things into perspective for me. I immediately felt guilty where he reminded me that she was completely enjoying herself the first few trips around the track. When we noticed something was wrong, that’s when the seat belt broke. I am thankful the ride conductor stopped the ride when I asked him to.
It will be awhile before I forgive myself for this event. I am so thankful that this was a lesson learned without any sort of injuries.
OH MY GOD DON’T YOU DARE BLAME YOURSELF!!! This is VERY much the fault of the negligent ride operators!! There is no way that ANY kid, whether with FOP or not, should have a broken seat belt on a carnival ride. We as parents rely on these guys to check everything over beforehand and make sure it’s safe… As your brother pointed out, it WAS perfectly safe until the belt broke. As an injury lawyer I’m just steamed reading this! I hope you gave those turkeys the tongue lashing of a lifetime. That was a nearly averted disaster, because of THEIR shoddy maintenance. That SHOULD have been a safe ride for little Erin, and I too would have put Miranda on it.
These roadside traveling carnivals should be outlawed. They operate with no regulatory oversight. I’ve read about horrible “accidents” that occur at these, as well as many of the ride operators being ex-cons. From now on I hope you’ll boycott these dangerous attractions as we do.
Heather, you are absolutely correct! I guess you’ve heard about the accident at the Puyallup Spring Fair. I wouldn’t have put Erin on that type of ride that collapsed but it was a child ride. So scary! We won’t be visiting those types of carnivals. We’ll make it to Disney one day and she’ll be able to ride those rides.
I just cringe at what could have happened to Erin!!! What if she’d been thrown out of the seat! This is absolutely “NEGLECT on the part of the carnival” and the place should be shut down–IMMEDIATELY!!!!