Yesterday morning on my way to work I saw something that saddened my heart and compelled me to share what I learned. Sitting at the stoplight on my way to drop Addie off I saw a minivan that had decals covering their back window reading..."In loving memory of Madison Funk" "September 2005 - October 2007" - which of course brought tears to my eyes, barely two I figured as I did the quick math. And then the answer as to "what happened," below her name and dates read- "Strap your furniture down." My heart sunk...clearly this family had suffered a tragedy...so, last night after work I "googled" what I'd seen on the van and was led to a website established by Madison's mommy to alert parents around the world to the dangers of furniture tipping over in your house. Madison's story can be found here....and while I am deeply saddened by this precious angel's passing...it brought to light something I had hardly considered. If you read Madison's story its so easy to see how it could happen...which makes it SO real. On Madison's website they recommend the furniture straps they used after losing their daughter in this horrible tragedy...you'd never notice them if you weren't looking for them and for $4.99 for 8 brackets - how can you afford not to?? We will certainly be investing in these for our home....I'll be strapping down everything we own!!! So...while I hate to pass along sad news - I felt strongly this was a message worth spreading.
Friday, July 29, 2011
PSA - Strap your furniture down
Yesterday morning on my way to work I saw something that saddened my heart and compelled me to share what I learned. Sitting at the stoplight on my way to drop Addie off I saw a minivan that had decals covering their back window reading..."In loving memory of Madison Funk" "September 2005 - October 2007" - which of course brought tears to my eyes, barely two I figured as I did the quick math. And then the answer as to "what happened," below her name and dates read- "Strap your furniture down." My heart sunk...clearly this family had suffered a tragedy...so, last night after work I "googled" what I'd seen on the van and was led to a website established by Madison's mommy to alert parents around the world to the dangers of furniture tipping over in your house. Madison's story can be found here....and while I am deeply saddened by this precious angel's passing...it brought to light something I had hardly considered. If you read Madison's story its so easy to see how it could happen...which makes it SO real. On Madison's website they recommend the furniture straps they used after losing their daughter in this horrible tragedy...you'd never notice them if you weren't looking for them and for $4.99 for 8 brackets - how can you afford not to?? We will certainly be investing in these for our home....I'll be strapping down everything we own!!! So...while I hate to pass along sad news - I felt strongly this was a message worth spreading.
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15 comments:
Such an important thing to do!!
A lot of our bigger furniture (bookshelves, dressers, etc.) are from Ikea & they do come with wall brackets. Well, maybe not the dressers (they're low, not the tall kind). But still. They came with brackets. To this day (my kids are 8 & 10), everything is still tied down. I know they also sell brackets for other things like TVs & even clips for your toilet seats so little curious kiddies can't get into trouble.
There's just so much more to baby proofing than covering electrical sockets. So sad about Madison's short life, but I think it's awesome that her mother has created a site not just to share Madison's story, but to also spread the word about her tragic death, how to prevent it & to advocate for better regulations as far as furniture safety is concerned.
This is so sad! But, you are so right, how can we afford not to. Especially with Gwen on the move now, we will be bolting down everything. Very informative post, thank you!
Oh this is so sad. I'm glad you posted this b/c I really need to get some of these now that Nolan is mobile. How awful would it be for this to happen just b/c I didn't have things strapped down? I can't even think of it...
That is such a sad story. I never would have thought about that. It is stories like this that make me think I am going to be one of those overbearing Mothers that follows her kids around everywhere. My heart goes out to this family. They lost their little girl way too young!
Thanks for the information. I honestly never thought about it until now. Scary! Definitely looking into this for sure.
Oh wow that's so very sad. We have strapped down things like the coffee table but I never thought the dressers were necessary because I simply never thought about the drawer being pulled out and her stepping on it. I'm so glad you posted that picture. I'll be giving the hubby a project now :) Hope you are having a great week!
Such a terrible lesson to learn. we are in the process of baby proofing everything right now. I sometimes think that large furniture gets overlooked because you just dont think a 2 year old can figure out how to pull over a large entertainment center or dresser, while we are more concerned with cabinets and drawers. This is a good reminder to not overlook these things. Thanks for this post. Hope you have a great weekend!
I also have heard of this happening before. So sad :( I just may invest in some of those straps after reading this. Thanks for spreading the word!!
I believe this is the grand-daughter of one of our NICU nurses. She did discharge work with us like CPR training and this furniture safety stuff and story of her granddaughter was part of the talk. Really scary and people just aren't aware that it could be a problem.
thanks for sharing this info we are going to have to do this as well
Oh man, I hate sad stories like that. I can't imagine my babies passing away because of ME. Ugh. Now I have to get those straps!
Such a sad story! Thanks for sharing the information! We have been fortunate that our daughter only uses chairs, ladders, and stepstools to climb instead of climbing the furniture, but I do worry about this.
this is so sad. thanks for spreading the word, I think we'll go out and invest in some as well.
That is so sad, we definitely need to do that ASAP, thanks for the reminder!
Absolutely tragic. Excellent PSA, thank you!!!!
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