Head injuries are deceptive. I’ve read about many related to toddlers. They fall and hit their head on something. They cry and then stop after some consoling. They go to sleep shortly afterwards and don’t wake up.
It’s scary. It’s one of those injuries that’s hard to detect. They appear fine.
I think the recommendation from doctors is to first check the injury, and then see if they’re playing around afterwards. If they appear lethargic and tired, then you better take them to the doctor and have the injury checked out immediately.
Well, a similar tragedy happened this week, but with a 10 year-old girl in Long Beach, California. Joanna Ramos, a fifth-grader, got into a fight with another girl after school. She returned home with a headache and complained about vomiting. She passed out at home on her couch. Her parents rushed her to the hospital. She died shortly afterwards. The cause: blunt force trauma to the head.
From preliminary accounts of the fight from other elementary school students who witnessed it, it didn’t appear the injuries were severe. Both girls, after the fight during which they did punched each other’s head for I don’t know how many times, walked off on their own and appeared to be fine.
As a parent, I’m not sure how much more you can do to avoid a tragedy like this from happening. I’ve been involved in after-school fights when I was little. Sometimes, you just gotta stick up for yourself.
Of course, the incident is now a homicide and being investigated. Once the investigators pieced together how the fight came about and what occurred during and after the fight, more can be done to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
Until then, the only thing a parent can do is teach their kids the “art of fighting without fighting.” Teaching students how to prevent and avoid fights is the only way. Parents, educators and other students need to intervene before things get out of hand. Students need to learn to resolve their issues with each other through other means.
This is easier said than done, but everyone has to at least try.
UPDATE: The article said that a bunch in the right area of the head is enough to cause death, even from a 10 year-old girl. If the punch connects with a vain and damages it, it could lead to a blood clot in the brain, which is probably what happened here.
Another interesting thing from the article is how kids nowadays don't have time to cool off after arguments from school because of how wired they are. They text each other when they get home and during weekends. There's no escape.
I guess another part of the solution is to make sure your kids take it easy on texting. Make sure they're not on their phones all the time. Again, easier said than done. Adults are on their phones all the time nowadays, so they set a bad example to begin with.
