Earlier this week, we brought the story to you of a toddler burning his feet at the park. The point of the article was to share a warning with other parents to be careful allowing their children to take their shoes off in the park if the surface was exposed to the sun.

When the article was shared on our social media page, there was a flurry of comments directed at the mum which were insensitive.

Unfortunately our article had incorrect facts in relation to the accident and we apologise to the mum, Jessica Mead and her family for causing any distress.

We asked Jessica’s sister if Jessica would share her story with us, and she was gracious enough to leave a powerful message on our social media page on what happened. Her post is one all of us mums can learn from.

Here is Jessie’s response in full:

Hi everyone. It’s nice to see the support – well from a few of you…

My story is purely a warning and a reminder, for those who may not have considered it from this angle and are making an educated decision to let their kids play without shoes. Or perhaps it is an article that they can show their older children what can happen at a park if they ask not to wear shoes and why parents nag them too. Also a warning about how hot that playground surface can actually get for those who may not have known!

It’s all well and good to judge from the sideline but let me add a few details that might make you reconsider the “keyboard warrioring”…

We had just sat down on the cool grass in the shade NEXT to a playground. The kids had already had a play earlier in the morning at another shady playground and they all had shoes on at that stage. We were having some snacks on the grass and only then did the kids have their shoes off, as kids do they quickly had a running race on the grass because playing is so much fun! We then told them it’s time to go home because it’s too hot to be out playing. We had been out at 8:30 to play in the cool. Before I could even put my son in the pram or his shoes back on (yep that is how quick it happened), he ran onto the surface and burnt his foot. It literally happened so fast! .This was NO lack of common sense, this was NOT an educated decision, “sure, play without your shoes on even though I know the surface might be hot or you might step on something”. This was PURELY an accident. It could have happened to anyone. In fact I’ve since had several parents contact me saying either their kids or they have been in a similar situation. And kids that have fallen over and burnt themselves or been crawling.

Mum guilt sucks! And hindsight is a wonderful thing. I LOVE my child more than anything and it’s my job to parent and I try my absolute hardest to be the best mum I can be. But accidents can happen. I spent days telling myself (and everyone) how it was my fault, it was stupid and of course the ground is hot and why didn’t I think ahead about what he might have done. NOT ONCE have I blamed anyone but myself. I take full responsibility. My child wasn’t being defiant, I knew he didn’t have his shoes on, we’d taken them off when sitting on the grass to eat. Being a parent is hard enough, we can’t get it right 100% of the time and accidents are going to happen. There were a few kids who did exactly what my kid did that day but it was only my kid who got hurt. Anyway, lesson learnt and hopefully prevents more injuries and mummy guilt. And just to note, I am totally PRO shoes. And one final note, I was contacted and asked for this story to be shared by The Courier Mail originally, I didn’t seek it out. I agreed to share to save other parents some heartache and to remind new parents that it’s not just a saying, accidents really can happen in the blink of an eye.

#lessjudgementmoresupport

We thank Jessica for taking the time to share this with us.

I’m sure we can all agree there is no perfect mum and when something does go wrong, the guilt absolutely sucks. We all want the best for our kids and would never intentionally put our kids in harm’s way. That’s why we love to share mums’ experiences and warnings on the Go Ask Mum page to help our community be aware of issues they may be unaware of.

Jessica could have been anyone of us. Totally unaware of a potential hazard and her warning was simply to prevent another child experiencing the pain her Jackson felt after walking on the hot surface.

It is so easy to judge on the sidelines, but supporting each other as mums is one of the best things we can do for each other and our children.