Heart Stopping Moments - Parenting Plights & Delights

When I first started this series, I put out a call for parenting stories. Thank you to everyone who's responded. Following are the kind of memories that get your adrenaline pumping again every time they come to mind:


C. Lee McKenzie of The Write Game shared a cliffhanger (just like a writer!):
Well, there was that one time when I looked out my window to see my youngest clinging to the end of a rope, his legs windmilling over the edge of our property. Now, so you'll see why my heart stopped, our property slopes to the edge of a canyon with a creek below.

Lee's youngest is on the left. The other two are her nephews.

My son and his friends had rigged a rope swing from an old oak and while my son was doing his death-defying high flying act, the limb cracked, leaving him over the creek with no momentum for his return flight!
Have you ever seen a mother fly? The story was that I did that day. And I somehow had the presence of mind to grab the long handled ceiling brush that extended to twenty feet. With that I pulled him back to the bank. You can imagine the rest: lots of hugging, then scolding, then grounding for weeks and weeks, then more hugging. I have flashbacks to that day, and when I do I call that little bugger and tell him he's still grounded for that stunt. In fact, after reading your post, I'm going to call him about it again. I'll tell him it's your fault for reminding me!
Good thing you had the sense to grab that long-handled brush, Lee! How about if you ground him an extra week for me, okay? LOL!


Helen Ginger also answered my call:
My kids are grown now, but when my son was a teen he thought it would be fun to get on his skateboard, hang onto the back of a friend's car and skateboard down the hill to our house. His escapade did not have a happy ending.
Yikers, I'm afraid to find out what his injuries were!

Here's one of  ‪Laura Pauling's heart-stopping moments:

When the back door flew open on the highway and I couldn't slow down and my 2 year old was back there. Thank God for car seats!
I have a feeling lots of you can relate to Laura's experience. Car seats have saved many young lives.

‪Bish Denham shared a scary memory from her own childhood:

OMG! My sister and I were in Puerto Rico visiting our cousins. One day there was something going on up at their school that we went to. That same day a man escaped from the prison that wasn't all that far away.

My cousin and I got tired of being up at the school so we decided to walk home (not far.) It was a very hot and very still day. As we walked by a big stand of bamboo it began to squeak and groan the way bamboo does. But there was no wind! How could it possibly be making all that noise! It terrified us. We just KNEW the escapee was in there. We ran home and locked ourselves in the house. We actually had to be convinced when the rest of the crew came home that it was them. 

The really spooky part is this...they caught the escapee in the bamboo.

Here's Bish at age 11 or 12

That's a pretty scary memory, Bish, and I bet it was the escapee you heard, since that's where they found him! Crazy!
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Stephanie, PQW's memory was a freak accident. This one really blows my mind:
Talk about a scary moment. I was riding in my friend Chris' station wagon on the freeway in Los Angeles. My daughter Claire was seated in the very back with my friend's daughter, Micah. The car in front of us stopped short and Chris slammed on her brakes. For whatever reason, the tailgate of the car flew open and Micah fell out. The car behind us started honking like crazy. We had no idea what had happened until we looked back to see why the guy was laying on his horn.

I'm sure glad that other driver was paying attention. Just think what might have happened if they had cell phones back then and he was busy texting. *Cringe*

So, do you have a parenting or grandparenting incident? 

If you're not a parent, memories from your own childhood count, too! 

Warning: I might feature your story in a future post. 

(Names can be changed to protect the guilty!)

I'd like to thank those who shared a parenting story with me last week. 

I'm saving them and will publish some in future posts.

If you don't want to leave a comment but would rather contact me by email, 

here's my address: lynkelwoohoo at yahoo dot com.