[Sundae]

At my school there was a games afternoon, put together in lieu of Sports Day, which was cancelled halfway through due to monsoon-level rain - I actually thought someone had thrown a cup of water at the back of my head when the rain started, it was that hard and that sudden.

So there was a bouncy castle, various giant sized board-games, bat and ball games, Beat the Goalie etc.

One of the children slipped off the timber trail - a fixed part of the playground accessible to children every day - and grazed her cheek. The timber trail was not dangerous on a warm summer afternoon (the weather on the games afternoon.) At least no more dangerous than a pavement, which grazes and skins knees and elbows, or lamp-posts which can frequently be walked into or a stinging nettle in a hedgerow etc etc. She fell off a wooden walkway in the same way you can fall off a kerb.

Her mother freaked.

Now, the child was assessed by a qualifed first aider who happened to be an ex-nurse.
Skin wound. Horrible to have on the face but nowhere near a scarring issue. Had anyone walked into A&E with that child they would have been laughed out of the place. It was cleaned, and as it was shallow it was decided better not to dress it because removing the dressing would be more painful. And no, it was not bleeding. She was on the bouncy castle within 15 minutes.

When Mum arrived she demanded to see the teacher, the head of year, the first aider involved and the Head. Why was she not called? Why had her daughter been left to suffer FOR HALF AN HOUR before the end of schoool? Why had they not sought medical attention? She was going to sue this and that and she was going to demand the timber trail (bought by the PTA) was removed etc etc. The girl, who had completely calmed down after the shock of her "accident" was wailing by this point.

Saner minds prevailed.
I heard afterwards (school-gate gossip) that she did in fact contact a lawyer? solicitor? whatever with photos and claims, but was advised she had no case. The accident was documented, appropriate-level medical assistance was sought and all reasonable action was taken.

It did make the staff more wary though. Paperwork was always assiduously kept but when I was covering lunchtimes I spent a silly amount of my time filling in First Aid slips for children with small grazes, in case they got home and it was queried by their parent. I was known for having tissues and wet-wipes and spare gloves and all that. They were far more useful to the children than a piece of paper for a scratch on the leg.