That went wrong: ‘My son (6) played birthday and took a sip from each glass’
Sarah (40), living with Lisa (42) and mother of son Jaxx (6).
“My girlfriend’s fortieth birthday, which we celebrated extensively in the pub, apparently inspired our son Jaxx, four at the time, to have his own party.
Jaxx had spent a few hours at the party with my parents and then watched the bartender’s antics in awe. The next day he decided to play ‘birthday’ too, but on his own. While Lisa cleared some paperwork upstairs and thought Jaxx was safe to his favorite series Fireman Sam looked, our son collected all glasses from the kitchen and walked to our drink stash in the dresser. Strangely enough, we had childproof locks on all kitchen cupboards and even the fabric softener was locked up just to be safe, but we never thought a second about our bottles of alcohol. So stupid.
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This allowed Jaxx to go about his business. At first he pretended to be a bartender and poured a bottom of liqueur or a dash of rum into each glass. But because he was also all visitors on his own, he also took a sip from each glass. Lisa didn’t notice: it was very quiet downstairs and she really only heard the noise from the children’s film. She came downstairs after half an hour. There she found to her great horror the glass and bottle scene and our child sleeping on the couch, with big red cheeks on his cheeks. In a panic, she first called me and then the doctor just to be sure. He recommended that Jaxx drink plenty of water and sleep well. The doctor jokingly called it his first booze.
Fortunately everything went well. Jaxx was a bit groggy the next day but otherwise fine. We ourselves were left with a small trauma; we had nightmares about what could have happened and felt guilty about our carelessness. There is now a triple padlock on the liquor cabinet.”
This one that went wrong is in Kek Mama 14-2021.
Curious about more mothering blunders? Every Monday you can read a new ‘That went wrong’ story on Kekmama.nl.
