I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this post (if not, could someone point me in the right direction?)
My family recently survived a horrifying experience, and I am trying to get the word out in hopes of preventing this kind of accident for others. Earlier this month, we almost lost one of our 3 y.o. sons due to a spontaneous sand hole cave-in. He fell in a hole that some other children had dug and it collapsed on him - burying him completely. Though it happened only 5-6 feet away from me, neither dh nor I realized what had occurred. I was setting up beach chairs while dh watched the boys - I asked dh a question and in the time it took for him to turn his head to me and answer, our son disappeared. For 5 horrifying minutes we searched the water and the beach for my son, thinking the worst. Then a woman (our personal angel, for whom I will be saying prayers of gratitude for the rest of my life) thought to look in the sand, where she noticed an indentation. There he was, buried, sand 8-10 inches over his head. And he ended up totally okay. [You can read the whole saga here on my blog.]
I later learned that this was not the freak accident I thought, but something that has happened to other children, the majority of whom have died from the accident. (the link above includes a link to an article about a doctor who has started compiling a database of this kind of thing) CBS is doing a story on sand hole collapses tomorrow on the Early Show, July 24th, 7:30a.m. [sorry I didn't get over here sooner to let y'all know - things have been a bit nuts], and they interviewed us for it.
I am trying to get the word out as widely as possible that this can happen. It is totally preventable, and I think the more parents know about the potential danger the less likely it is to happen to others.
It is so easy to prevent:
1 - Don't dig holes deeper than waist-height of the shortest person around. The hole my son fell into was not terribly deep. But it was deep enough to swallow him up when it caved in.
2 - If you (or your children) do dig holes, fill them up when you're done. That alone would've prevented our near-tragedy.
3 - When you arrive at the beach, scout out the area you will be setting up in, checking for holes. Teach your children to come tell you if they find holes other have dug, and to not play in or near them.
4 - Keep as sharp an eye on your children on the sand as you would in the water.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I know that what we went through was a rare experience, but because it was needless and totally preventable, I feel like raising awareness of this possibility would make it possible to eliminate this kind of threat entirely.
My family recently survived a horrifying experience, and I am trying to get the word out in hopes of preventing this kind of accident for others. Earlier this month, we almost lost one of our 3 y.o. sons due to a spontaneous sand hole cave-in. He fell in a hole that some other children had dug and it collapsed on him - burying him completely. Though it happened only 5-6 feet away from me, neither dh nor I realized what had occurred. I was setting up beach chairs while dh watched the boys - I asked dh a question and in the time it took for him to turn his head to me and answer, our son disappeared. For 5 horrifying minutes we searched the water and the beach for my son, thinking the worst. Then a woman (our personal angel, for whom I will be saying prayers of gratitude for the rest of my life) thought to look in the sand, where she noticed an indentation. There he was, buried, sand 8-10 inches over his head. And he ended up totally okay. [You can read the whole saga here on my blog.]
I later learned that this was not the freak accident I thought, but something that has happened to other children, the majority of whom have died from the accident. (the link above includes a link to an article about a doctor who has started compiling a database of this kind of thing) CBS is doing a story on sand hole collapses tomorrow on the Early Show, July 24th, 7:30a.m. [sorry I didn't get over here sooner to let y'all know - things have been a bit nuts], and they interviewed us for it.
I am trying to get the word out as widely as possible that this can happen. It is totally preventable, and I think the more parents know about the potential danger the less likely it is to happen to others.
It is so easy to prevent:
1 - Don't dig holes deeper than waist-height of the shortest person around. The hole my son fell into was not terribly deep. But it was deep enough to swallow him up when it caved in.
2 - If you (or your children) do dig holes, fill them up when you're done. That alone would've prevented our near-tragedy.
3 - When you arrive at the beach, scout out the area you will be setting up in, checking for holes. Teach your children to come tell you if they find holes other have dug, and to not play in or near them.
4 - Keep as sharp an eye on your children on the sand as you would in the water.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I know that what we went through was a rare experience, but because it was needless and totally preventable, I feel like raising awareness of this possibility would make it possible to eliminate this kind of threat entirely.
to you and all yours and especially to your little guy.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience, I'm so glad your ds is okay. 
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