Mother's warning goes viral after three-year-old locks herself in washing machine
A mother’s Facebook warning is going viral after her three-year-old daughter got locked inside a front-loading washing machine.
Despite the risk of being mom-shamed, Lindsey McIver took to social media to warn parents about the dangers lurking inside of their own homes.
After their top-loading washing machine broke down, McIver and her husband decided to splurge on the “new and cool” front-load washer.
Despite warning their three children several times not to touch the machine, the parents were awoken early last Tuesday morning to their four-year-old’s frantic sobs.
ALSO SEE: Officials say this baby died hours after being breastfed
“As I was trying to understand what he was saying, my husband flew out of bed and down the stairs,” McIver wrote. “It was then that the realization hit. He had said: ‘Kloe. Inside. Washer.'”
By the time the parents reached the laundry room, their three-year-old daughter Kloe had locked herself inside the airtight washing machine that was quickly filling up with water.
“She was screaming but you couldn’t hear her,” she continued. “We were able to quickly stop it and unlock the door and get her out. Aside fro a couple of small bumps on her head and wet clothes, she was fine.”
The parents were able to find the child safety feature that will prevent the washer from starting, but does not lock the door.
“We hadn’t even used the machine yet so we hadn’t looked at any of the settings,” McIver said. “Also, it obviously took two curious kids to pull this off.”
At the time of publishing, McIver’s post has been shared more than 260,000 times.
“Thank you for taking the time to write this,” one fellow mother commented. “It can happen to anyone.”
ALSO SEE: This model breastfed her baby while walking down the catwalk
“So glad your son came running for help and that your little girl is OK,” another shared. “Thank you for sharing your story, it could save other families heartache. Kids do the craziest stuff that we as adults would never think of. So happy it turned out OK!”
The family’s close call with their washing machine prompted a terrified McIver to share her story, in hopes that other parents won’t make the same mistakes they did.
“I want to encourage anybody who has this type of front loading washing machine and small children, or even grandkids who visit, to lock the door with a child safety lock and always keep the child lock setting on!” she wrote. “I realize that there are ways we could’ve prevented this from happening. This is the season for swimming pool accidents and kids being left in hot cars and all sorts of other horrible accidents. And that’s what most of them are. Accidents. Shaming the mom doesn’t do anyone any good. We need to be open and honest about our mistakes to help one another keep our kids safe. And trust me, that mom is already beating herself up enough.”
Let us know what you think by commenting below and tweeting @YahooStyleCA!
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Check out our brand new podcast, Make It Reign — our hot takes on all things royals in a non-stuffy way — on iTunes and Google Play.
