Treating Road Rash

Baby Doll and Curly went off-track last Friday for what will likely be the last time. Our school is moving to traditional next school year. I'm actually pretty unhappy about that. I have never done elementary school-aged children on anything other than tracks, and I like the time off every now and then so we can plan fun activities and special projects.

So on Monday, his very first day off, Curly decided it would be fun to ride his dirt bike. We still had scattered snow on the ground and the streets were wet, but he swears he has no idea how he managed to crash his bike. He laid it down right and got some pretty amazing road rash.

I was working in the kitchen when Baby Doll came in and said, "Mom, Curly fell on his bike and he is hurt." I dropped everything and headed for the front door. Baby Doll stopped me. "No, Mom, he thought he should take a shower."

"CURLY!!" I shouted up the stairs when I heard the water running. Nothing. I tried again. "Baby Doll says you are hurt!" Again shouting, "It's going to hurt so bad if you run hot water on a cut." Immediately the water turned off and I heard the bathroom door open and a low moan start up as he came around the corner to the top of the stairs.

"You are bleeding!" That was a dumb thing to say. He was falling apart, trying to hide these rather serious scrapes so that I didn't ground him from his precious bike. I put my arms around him and gave him a careful hug as he sobbed into my shoulder for a moment

Then we were busy washing, disinfecting, and bandaging these two rather large cuts. I carefully removed the rocks and debris. Nothing was said about the bike and I noticed later that he had carefully stowed it in the garage. I am just so grateful that he wasn't seriously hurt. There is a reason we pray for safety every day and I insist that we all wear helmets. What's that saying, Sport? "Don't be insane, cover your brain!"

I wonder how all this will affect our off-track plans? Hopefully he will heal up quickly. Do you think I should take the bike away? Or did I handle it ok?