Small children and whistles

Evey · Post by **Evey** » Tue Jan 01, 2002 6:45 pm

Hi, This is my first post, I've been lurking for a few weeks and learning an awful lot, and enjoying the site very much. I've been playing the whistle for a few years but with 4 children under 8 have very little time to practice and so still consider myself very much the beginner. I've always let my kids play with my inexpensive whistles,they love to play along with me, or put together their own little band, but on New Years Eve while playing Christmas carols with me,my 4 year old fell with a Bb generation in his mouth causing a severe gash in his soft palate. After seeing his pediatrician and several doctors in the ER it was decided the wound should heal on it's own. As it turns out this area is only stitched in extreme cases, which my pediatrician originally thought this fell into,but fortunately it did not. He has to go back to the hospital tomorrow to be checked,but in a few weeks he should be back to normal. But I've spent New Years Eve and Day seeing my son crying in pain on and off almost constantly. Im sorry if this got a little long winded , I just wanted to let other parents know, by all means share your love of music and whistles with your kids just make sure when a young child is playing one they are seated. A happy and healthy New Year to you all

CraigMc · Post by **CraigMc** » Tue Jan 01, 2002 7:35 pm

Wow Evey,

Hope your son recovers. That's got to be heartbreaking.

Wandering_Whistler · Post by **Wandering_Whistler** » Tue Jan 01, 2002 11:54 pm

I am so sorry to hear this! I hope your little one recovers quickly! My one year old son likes to blow into my whistles, and I always worried about this exact thing. He likes to do things on his own, but I don't let him play the whistle without me holding it, yet. Now I'll probably worry about it until he's 20!

Greg

aderyn_du · Post by **aderyn_du** » Wed Jan 02, 2002 9:21 am

Evey, thank you for posting your story. I hope your son recovers quickly... it's the most heartbreaking thing, as a parent, to see your child in pain and fear. Sending cyber-hugs to both of you!!

Bendithion,
Andrea ~*~

JessieK · Post by **JessieK** » Wed Jan 02, 2002 9:23 am

My goodness...that's terrible. Good luck with his recovery!

Jessie

Goddess · Post by **Goddess** » Wed Jan 02, 2002 9:48 am

I'm sorry to hear about your son. When I was younger I did the same thing only with a straw. I recovered just fine, I'm sure your son will also. Good Luck!
Goddess

Byll · Post by **Byll** » Wed Jan 02, 2002 10:07 am

My little lady is 6 years old. When she was 4, she became interested in my whistles, so I bought her a Clare D. Between lack of breath control and tiny hands, she did not have a lot of success. She is now playing most of the notes in the scale, and loves to play 'Twinkle, Twinkle'..........Normally, she plays the whistle while sitting propped up on the bed. For unknown reasons, she doesn't seem to want to walk around with the instrument. As I read your post, I realized how lucky we have been...Best wishes for a speedy recovery for your Munchkin...

There is a message for all of us here. Those one piece Overtons, et. al., that hang out of our pockets on occasion, are weapons...

Let us be careful, out there.
Cheers.
Bill

cj · Post by cj » Wed Jan 02, 2002 11:27 am

I too wish your little one a speedy recovery. I have a 5-year-old, and I'm glad you made everyone aware of this potential danger. I'll definitely be more careful from now on.

Feadan · Post by **Feadan** » Wed Jan 02, 2002 12:15 pm

It tears my heart out to hear of children getting injured. My wife witnessed such an accident decades ago when she was working in a preschool setting. Thus, our children were brought up with the rule that they could not play with their dad's whistles unless they were sitting down.

mark02 · Post by **mark02** » Wed Jan 02, 2002 1:18 pm

Hi Evey:
Just wanted to pass along kind thoughts for you and your child. Will keep both of you in my prayers, and hope for a speedy and full recovery.
Kindly,
Mark Sackett

(edited for spelling 1/2/02)

[ This Message was edited by: mark02 on 2002-01-02 14:19 ]

Evey · Post by **Evey** » Thu Jan 03, 2002 3:28 pm

Thanks for the words of comfort. My son is slowly improving. He's finally starting to eat again, not sleeping well but within a few days the worst should be over. Thanks again for the kind words.

LeeMarsh · Post by **LeeMarsh** » Thu Jan 03, 2002 4:13 pm

Evey,
I hope for comfort and a quicke recovery for you and your son for now. For later, (in a couple of weeks). Congratulations to your son; he now has another cool story tell at the playground next year as to why walking with things in your mouth isn't a good idea. Of course he'll probably imbellish it to the point where it may not be recognizable. But it'll still be a cool story to tell.

I grew up the oldest of 4 boys, from birth though our teens a year didn't go by the we didn't each get a Tetnus booster for some misshap or other. We had a mother who fainted at the sight of blood when I was a toddler. By the time I hit middle school she was teasingly threatening to stitch a wound up on her sewing machine if I broke the stitches open again (this was after having them replaced a second time).

The hardest part, she said, was that initially everything was unknown and the fear that it engendered always made everything harder and hurt more. After the 10th trip to the doctors or emergency room, injuries weren't an unknown any more. With the fear gone, she was able to stay calm; and, as a result, most of the time, so did we. Funny thing if Mom wasn't worried, it never seemed to hurt as much. I guess I'm trying to say take heart, with 4 kids I'm sure you've allready gone through most of this. And remember, for most kids, scars are cool, or at least they were for this klutz and his brothers.

Here's to hoping that in a couple weeks both you and your son can (sitting down)...

_________________

Enjoy Your Music, Lee Marsh 

[ This Message was edited by: LeeMarsh on 2002-01-03 17:15 ]

Coleman · Post by **Coleman** » Thu Jan 03, 2002 4:32 pm

Just like to say that your post really made me sit up seeing that my one year old was walking around this evening with my whistle in his mouth, and I hasten to add for the last time for quite a while.
All the best
C

garycrosby · Post by **garycrosby** » Thu Jan 03, 2002 5:23 pm

Evey, I am glad to hear your lad is beginning to heal. I do hope his conditions continues to improve!

I have six children (ranging in age from 12 months to 12 years) and it always breaks my heart when one of them is hurt or ill.

Safety for children is something that parents (and others who are responsible for children) have to be constantly on guard for. We don't need to be paranoid but we do need to be vigilant in keeping our children from doing things that might harm them.

Thanks for reminding us

jbarter · Post by **jbarter** » Fri Jan 04, 2002 7:00 am

I posted a warning about this a couple of years ago, the reminders can't come too often.
My youngest did the self same thing when he was just a toddler so I know the helpless agony you will have been feeling at the hospital.
He's now 13, nearly 14, and the good news is it did nothing to dampen his love of music even though his chosen instrument these days is the accordion (talk about long term trauma). The bad news is that when he occasionally picks up one of my whistles and starts to play I still have to remind him not to walk with it.
If experience is anything to go by, the child forgets the injury quite quickly and the parent never does.
Start saving for that accordion now.