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I preach to my husband regularly about the need to foreshadow
any and all incidents that could result in harming our children (he’s very bad
at this and no matter how many times I tell him, he still does not think ahead).
It comes almost natural to me now. For example, just this morning alone, I left
my girls in Emma’s room to play while I got ready for work. I surveyed the room
before I walked out to assess the risk; it takes me only about 30 seconds.
There was an almost broken baby doll stroller that could take out Alice’s eye
if she landed on it just right (minimal risk), there was a game on the top of
the dresser that if Emma got down, Alice could choke on the pieces (minimal
risk), there was a chair that Alice could climb on and maybe fall and hit her
head on any of the furniture around (high risk, move chair), there was a play
cd player that had a strap Alice could wrap around her neck (moderate risk, ask
Emma to monitor)… in the end, I got ready, and everything was just fine.
Poor Ikea has taken the majority of the blame for their
dressers falling and injuring (killing 3) children, when the dressers were not
secure, and the children climbed on the drawers or provoked the furniture to
fall. Children will climb, I can attest to that! It is unfortunate. And it is
unfortunately not Ikea’s fault but presumably the parents’ (or guardian’s)
fault; if you HAD to place blame (I don’t encourage blaming, everything is in
God’s plan). If I put myself in their shoes, my life would be over. The world
would be crumbling around me and I would fall to pieces knowing that there is
no way to bring my baby back. I don’t know that I would ever recover.
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| photo courtesy of msn.com |
One of the steps of grieving is blame, and I get that. That
parent, going through the situation themselves, has every right to blame the
world, and even to blame Ikea. But, in the end, it’s really nobody’s fault. It
happened. There’s no going back.
But, the part that really gets me upset, is the fact that
all of these… STRANGERS, with no relation to those families at all, are blaming
IKEA. If they were to mount their TV incorrectly and the TV fell from the wall
and injured someone, who would they blame then? The TV company? The
manufacturer of the mounting bracket? How about whoever made those little
plastic anchors that hold the screws in the drywall? Whose fault is it really?
I can tell you right now that anything I hang up has a 50/50 shot of staying
up. I’m not skilled with anchors and all that jazz. I can hammer a nail in the
wall for a half pound picture frame, but I would gladly pay someone to come out
and do all the fancy footwork of mounting my TV on the wall. And if that TV
fell, regardless of how well it was mounted or who hung it up, would I blame
the TV company or the maker of the mount? Maybe at first, but then no. It’s not
their fault. They made the product. Once you purchase it, it’s up to you to make
it safe. And if you paid someone to make it secure and safe, then you should
test it out to make sure it is up to your standards. It’s YOUR home, YOUR
product, YOUR loved ones to protect.
But that’s not what’s happening with Ikea. Somehow it’s
their fault that their stylish and functional furniture is unbalanced when the
heavy top drawer is pulled out. It’s physics! Maybe I should start blaming
Michelin when my car slides on wet pavement. It has to be the tires, right? My
speed and the fact that the roads are slick has nothing to do with it. Why
should I have to be safe and drive decent?
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| photo courtesy of nola.com |
I’m off on a tangent now.
I may not have explained my frustration and the scenario to
the best of my abilities, but when the world gets all
I’m-going-to-point-my-finger-at-someone-else-because-it-can’t-possibly-be-my-fault,
I tend to get a little heated. If everyone would just take a step back and
think of the whole picture before pointing the blame, maybe companies wouldn’t
have to baby their customers, or walk on eggshells to avoid lawsuits.
The moral of the story? Do what you’re supposed to do and
secure your furniture! It all wasn’t meant to just sit there and look pretty;
it needs to be safe and sound. And stop blaming everyone but yourself when you
take the easy route and it backfires. And pray for the families who have lost
their children. And think out every single scary scenario possible ahead of
time – it could be what saves your child’s life.
And I might be the only frugal, yet stylish Momma out there
that feels this way, but I will still purchase Ikea’s cute items and yummy
meatballs.
Long live Ikea, and long live our children!
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