As good parents, we do all that we can in keeping our children safe. But kids will be kids, and when unfortunate injuries occur, parents will lose focus of their legal rights and/or they will think the best way they can be there for their child is to sit by their bedside and resolve the legal matter as quickly as possible for his/her benefit. However, this could be devastating when it comes to providing your little one with the care and protection they deserve.
Lawyer James Cupero provides a textbook example of this happening in which a child was injured at a neighbor’s home. The neighbor’s insurance company told the injured child’s parents that there was no need to call a lawyer, and gave them a check for around 10 percent of what they could have been awarded.
Securing a good payout isn’t just justified by the law; it can save you and your child from the financial horrors of injury. All too many times family’s don’t utilize the law correctly and wind up paying thousands in medical bills. Furthermore, a warranted handsome payout can enable parents to stay at home with their injured child, thus helping the little one recover emotionally from the disaster.
What to do during the process
While your lawyer is aggressively fighting your case, your time is freed up to spend with your child. Getting severely injured can be extremely traumatic for a child, and each case has its own set of unique circumstances. For example, some injuries can result from a neglectful homeowner not paying attention to the kids when they decide to try a knife-throwing routine they saw on TV.
Other cases can involve a homeowner dressing up like a clown for a kid’s party and roughhousing to the point that the child has a bad fall and seriously injures himself. In a handbook published by Children’s National Medical Centerin helping your child overcome the emotional haunting of sustaining trauma, parents are advised to employ puppets. The handbook states that puppets allow children to express themselves in a non-threatening manner. When children are asked to remember details needed for the legal case, or to simply remember elements of the trauma to help them move forward, puppets are a great method to bring to the surface that which can’t be immediately remembered or spoken about. The author explains that puppets provide distance that permits the child to feel safer when trying to talk about unpleasant details. The handbook continues to support the notion that by playing with puppets, children can often resolve their inner conflicts.
When your lawyer needs answers to questions such as “what did the bottle look like that the clown was drinking from” or “where did you and Tommy find the knives”, utilizing puppets and having the child make up special voices for them is a great way to channel much needed details from hazy upsetting events.
Bonding time
Since your child’s physical activities will be limited, involve him or her in making the puppets. This can provide a great bonding activity, and engage your child’s creative side. Puppets can be made from socks, paper mâché, paper bags, construction paper and sticks, fabrics and any other materials you can collect.
Don’t back down
Remember, if anyone tries to tell you what your legal rights are, make sure you first speak with an attorney. Knowing your rights and acting upon them is a sure way of protecting your child in the unfortunate event of an injury.
As a working mom with three children all under the age of eight, I thought car shopping would be a nightmare—as I refused to buy an SUV. I have nothing against the behemoth road monsters but they simply aren’t my style. I thought finding a sedan that could offer luxury, a sporty appeal, and safety and comfort for the kids would be a hard-pressed mission…until I test-drove my neighbor’s LS. When my husband got home from the office I told him it was a great family car that offered everything on my wish list. At first he criticized it as being a car void of safety features for “well-to-do” suburbanites, but once he got behind the wheel, we soon found ourselves sitting at the purchasing table with the sales manager.
