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A 4-year-old boy remained in a critical condition Monday after he fell from the balcony of his family's 4th-floor apartment in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, on Sunday.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 5:30 p.m. NTV reported that police received a call saying that a boy was lying on the grounds of an apartment block, bleeding from the head. The boy was taken to hospital with severe head injuries.
Police said the boy apparently climbed over a 1.5-meter-high railing on the balcony of the apartment and fell about 10 meters, NTV reported. The boy lived with his parents and younger sister who were all home at the time of the incident.
© Japan Today
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ambrosia
Oh, dear. The parents were home and still this happened. Somebody was negligent. Yes, kids are active and unpredictable and you can't watch them 24/7, which is exactly why truly secure child locks are necessary on all apartments above the ground level, or just all apartments in general. I hate reading about this kind of thing. It's terrible and generally preventable.
combinibento
Perhaps they were negligent, but then again these are families who, because of the population density, live in extremely cramped quarters and several floors high. It's not an environment made for kids but alas, that's what a lot of families in Japan must deal with nowadays. You can't expect a parent to dedicate her entire day to keeping her eyes on a little kid. There are things to cook and clothes to fold.
DaDude
A lot of boys do wild stuff like jumping off of tables and beating on their mother here. A parent has to be strict from the get-go or boys walk all over them.
ambrosia
Which should make it easier to keep your eye on your kids since they're never far from your sight.
Which would seem to be the very reason for advocating for more attentiveness and child safety latches.
There's no reason why you can't do both while keeping your eye on your kids and why just "her"? It says both parents were home. And if the kid in question is in your house, then you most certainly better dedicate yourself to keeping your eye on him or her as much as is humanly possible.
Disillusioned
So, let me guess, there was a table and chair set on the balcony and the boy was put on the balcony for punishment. I never let my kids play on the balcony. Kids will be kids and they will climb anything. Regardless of the circumstances, only stupid parent let their kids play on balconies.
Maitake
hope he lives
taiko666
Any parent can take their eye off the ball for a second and lose their child. I hope it never happens to me.
That said, I feel that many Japanese seem to be totally oblivious to obvious and lethal risks.
My wife would routinely leave the upstairs window open while our toddler played, disregarding the obvious risk and my requests for her not to do so. In the end I had to alter the window to make it toddler safe.
We once lived in an apartment with a rooftop garden, 10 floors up. The roof had no railings. Are Japanese architects trying to kill people?
Scnadal.Lova
oh no! thats my worst nightmare. i always new it would happen sooner or later to someone, and this is what i was afraid of.