READYMAN (and WO-man)

 

Good thing Matt and I went to scouts this week.  Good thing I’m the Den Leader, so I HAVE to learn in order to teach.  Good thing we are working on the Readyman Activity Badge.  Our scouting skills were put to good use today.

Matt felt down the stairs (backwards) with a chair (did a few flips on the way).  His head hit the wall.  We have a huge hole in the drywall where his head hit.  He has a nice goose egg to prove it.  His head hit between the baseboard and the window ledge.  On this window, it’s a small space.  It really quite a miracle that his head didn’t hit the window ledge.

So, how does one fall down the stairs with a chair?  Let’s just say his" “fade away jumper” on the nerf hoop (on the outside of his bedroom door) led to a disappearance down the stairs.  The chair was an innocent bystander that was brought along by accident.

We heard the thumps and the screams.  Tompa saw the legs flailing in the air.  I was quickly going into panic mode.  It’s what I do best in these situations (just ask Chad), especially when I saw a heap of my son at the bottom of the stairs.  Matt had hit the panic button before I could.  The wind had been knocked out of him and he was struggling to breathe.  Then, the READYMAN kicked in.  (If you don’t know what Readyman is, then you haven’t been/known a Webelos Scout.)  We had just learned in scouts what to do in an “emergency:”  Be Strong.  Be Calm.  Be Clear.  Be Careful.

I swallowed my panic and engaged my “calm mother voice.”  I reminded Matt of his Readyman skills and he instantly started to calm.  We started to review the steps and he knew what to do…  (Thank you scouting!!).  He calmed, gained his breath back, and we were able to assess the situation.

In the end, I think that kid is one watched over kid.  Two inches in either direction could have ended in a much different result.  The  chair fell beside him instead of under him.   His head hit the drywall instead of the wood ledge.  No blood.  Nothing broken.  His muscles and ligaments will definitely feel it tomorrow.  Tonight, we feel blessed.