Blood Gushing from Your Kid’s Leg? A Little Duct Tape Will Do The Trick

Duct Tape: It's Not Just For Tent Poles Anymore

It’s hard being mom.

 It’s even harder being a mom of a Tasmanian Devil, no fear, active 7 year old.

And it’s probably hardest for that extraordinarily active, no fear 7 year old to be cooped up in a house, with a bedtime, and serious family rules about all the fun, adult stuff like scissors, knives and smashing things.

Whatzzz up with that??? that 7 year old must think.

So, on a calm school night last week, just after bedtime, @ 8pm, when my 7 year old came running up the stairs – face white, “Maaaaammmmaaaaaaaa!!!” in a voice and a tone that I had never heard before – we saw the blood. Streaming. The yuk inside. And the 3 inch gash in her leg from the mirror she had bumped into and smashed open while chasing a balloon around her room (after bedtime???) We jumped into Crisis Mode.

Get the keys! Get the kids!

Get the DUCT TAPE!!!

My husband grabbed and closed the wound with his hand. I grabbed the massive, silver spool of Duct Tape that had been clogging the junk drawer in the kitchen for all these years and  1…. 2…. 3…. wound it around and around the giant, bloody gash with a slab of washcloth in between.

Blood flow controlled by the magical tape, we jammed – all 5 of us – full speed allowed to ER General in our big old car, 5 white faces and 5 racing hearts. Holy crap.

And all was good. Ten gorgeously hideous blue stitches later and a scar-to-be like the lucky bride of Frankenstein laying jagged across her shin, my 7 year old was home by 11pm for a “good” night’s sleep.

Whew.

I wonder about that guy canyoneering in Utah who cut his own arm off to save himself from dying. He could have really used some duct tape. Or when my grandma’s finger got lopped off when she was a factory worker in NY – if she’d had some duct tape, maybe she could have taped it back together?

Who knows. But I DO know that from now on, in every single First Aid kit, car camping, back packing, river rafting, rock climbing, carnival going, bedtime putting down kit, I will have a spool of the magical silver tape – the Duct Tape – close by. It’s not just for mending tent poles any more….

Namaste & Three Cheers –a