It’s been over 9 weeks since our two-year old fell out of a two-story window from a house that we rented down at the Jersey Shore. The police said that her fall was about 18 feet high, and she landed on concrete. The miracle of all miracles happened, though. Little S came away with only a broken femur. No internal bleeding, no head trauma, no major injuries to her internal organs. Truly a miracle, the ER doctor says as he comes out of the MRI room.

How it all happened was a blur. The bottom line is that although we were in a house that we didn’t own, the owners clearly rent it out to families. It is a family shore community, the house has 4 bedrooms – one bedroom had bunk beds right by the window, and the other had twin beds right by the window. All windows had screens but were held up by only two plastic screws.  Single family homes in NJ are not required by law to have window guards.  Clearly, just because there is no law, that doesn’t mean that adults, children, and even animals fall out of windows.  Living in a NYC apartment we are protected by the law that states that if you live in a building that has three or more apartments and a child 10 and under lives in your apartment, window guards must, by law, be installed on your windows.

So, just a word of advice, if you are renting a house, make sure that the beds are away from the windows and that there are window guards.  Next time, we’re going to follow the wise words of our six-year-old:  We’ll rent a 1-story house next time.

xo

Triple Threat Mommy

{I was not compensated for this post. All opinions and recommendations expressed herein are my own.}