It’s a perfect Saturday at the creek. The girls are wading in the dappled water. There isn’t another person in sight. Careful! I say, as the older girl wanders off. Stay away from that side. Water’s too deep, too fast. The little one is happy to stay close, hot hand in mine, splashing with each step.

Some potential dangers are easy to spot, and others aren’t. That’s why what happened to Abigail Taylor is so shocking. I’m sure you’ve all read about the six-year-old who was injured this week at a St. Louis park wading pool and is now in serious condition in hospital. Somehow, she sat on the pool drain and the suction was so strong it ruptured her rectum and pulled out her intestines. The freak accident has prompted two members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation to call for a federal pool safety law to prevent another incident in the future.

When I told my husband I was going to blog about this, he asked: “What are you going to say?” I don’t know, I said. And I still don’t. What do you say when something so awful happens. But I wanted to give Cribsheeters a chance to share their thoughts. As Amy Klobuchar put it: “It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 7th, 2007 at 2:28 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.