Falling With Children

[Cryozombie]

Supposing you were to lose your footing and fall, and need to use ukemi to land safley, BUT you were carrying an infant...

How do you fall, to protect the child #1, and yourself #2 from harm?

 

[mantis]

Supposing you were to lose your footing and fall, and need to use ukemi to land safley, BUT you were carrying an infant...

How do you fall, to protect the child #1, and yourself #2 from harm?

always use a helmet for the child
wrap him/her with a pillow
also, i think it's about time ur child walks man! u better get on their case
im just fooling, so excuse me
but good question man!

 

[shesulsa]

I've actually done this. If the child is an infant you can hold the baby to your body hopefully in such a manner as to protect the head. Of course, you may have to alter the fall. If you can fall with one arm, you should be able to accomplish this - say, in a side fall. A forward face fall would be a little tougher and I'd want to try and roll instead, wrapping the adult body around the baby.

I had to roll while holding a toddler and have done a back fall and side fall with the same darn one.the back fall wasn't too bad - I used both hands, but made sure I was underneath him and he fell on me - much softer than the ground. On the side fall, his ankle hit the floor, but then ... he's alive and nothing broke.

So, I think the key is to make sure the child/infant is in close contact with your body such that your body shields the child from the ground.

 

[Eternal Beginner]

I fell down a flight of stairs while holding my newborn. Basically I just cradled him to my body and tucked my chin...had a sore back but he was fine. I slid down the stairs mostly on my butt and fortunately did not hit my head after the initial fall.

 

[arnisador]

I've actually done this. If the child is an infant you can hold the baby to your body hopefully in such a manner as to protect the head.

Yup, been there and done that.

 

[shesulsa]

I'd rather take the injury as an adult and fall incorrectly to keep the child safe.

 

[bignick]

I fell while playing my brand new guitar once...(hey...it's my baby)...I took the corner of a metal filing cabinet to the shoulder to save that thing...and it was totally worth it...

This was before my understanding of ukemi...I started to fall and I just turned my body and held my guitar up with my left hand and took the impact on my right shoulder...

 

[Makalakumu]

The headfirst falls are the most dangerous when holding children. I tend to think if there is anyway to turn the body so that the child is away from the direction of impact then I've done all I could. If I can tuck my chin and stay relaxed, I've probably done all I could to protect myself...but that is secondary in my opinion.

We have a lot of ice up here, so I've fallen while holding my kids probably half a dozen times to a dozen times. In all cases, I've been lucky enough to walk away still carrying my child uninjured. I've never fallen face first with a child though. That really scares me.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Something I do pretty regularly is practice breakfalls and rolling
techniques with stuffed grocery bags in your hands. Definatley
this is a good training exercise and pretty realistic in that you
probably have a good chance of falling with something in your
hands. You might want to try rolling with a lifesize simulation
of your kids to get an idea on how you will perform. You are
right on that the most important thing is to place your child
in the safest possible position and relax your body during
the fall.

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com

 

[Bigshadow]

Supposing you were to lose your footing and fall, and need to use ukemi to land safley, BUT you were carrying an infant...

How do you fall, to protect the child #1, and yourself #2 from harm?

When they teach us to roll, it doesn't require the use of the hands, although I have never rolled with an infant in my arms, I think it is just a matter of keeing the infant cradled close to the chest as you roll. You understand about keeping the arms tucked in. When I think of that scenario I get a feel of being like a shield moving around the child throughout the roll. Much like rolling around a sharp weapon.

That is my thoughts on the question. Also a very good question.

 

[Kreth]

Several years ago, when my daughter was about 3, we went sledding. The hill was a bit icier than I thought, and we really built up some speed, when we hit a bump and went flying off the sled. I basically just curled my body around my daughter and did several forward rolls. When we finally came to a stop, I was covered in snow, she was laughing and wanting to do it again.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

That Jeff, is good rolling and protection of your child!

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com

 

[Touch Of Death]

I missed the last step, on my back porch, with my infant in my arms. I took it right on the knees. I got back up and was fine. My knees weren't even sore later. I guess that could have been much worse for me, but there was a grace thing happening that day.
Sean

 

[Tengu6]

I remember this subject coming up while training with Shiraishi Sensei, the basic jist of it is that if you are rolling correctly (i.e. protecting your head, shoulder, etc...) it is not an issue. Same Same.

I think the point of this exercise (rolling while holding a kicking shield) was not to show us how to adjust the roll when you have a child in your arms, but to expose flaws in our ukemi.

If you roll correctly, the child will not be hurt.

That being said, the point is to keep the child close to you as to make them part of YOUR body.

Markk Bush
www.bujinmag.com

 

[rutherford]

My thoughts were similar to Bigshadow and those expressed by Markk, and Shiraishi Sensei through him.

I've been fortunate enough to never fall while carrying one of my kids. (Although, you can be sure I started them on breakfalls early.) But if you're carrying the child and falling correctly, there shouldn't be a problem.

However, I really liked the folks who chimed in and said they'd sacrifice their own bodies rather than hurt the baby. This is definitely true, something I've been close enought to feel, and something I think would happen quite naturally.

By example, if you're carrying the baby high on your shoulder to burp them and you fall so that it would be best to use that shoulder to take some of the impact, well you can expect that you'll tuck tigher and kick off a bit so that you come down with the stairs right in the middle of your back - or worse.

Don't worry. If you love the baby, you'll do whatever you can for it.

 

[Bigshadow]

When we finally came to a stop, I was covered in snow, she was laughing and wanting to do it again.

Isn't it funny at that age they have no real sense of danger? Fortunately, I haven't fallen with a child in my arms. However, on a couple of occasions, I could have been hurt if it were not for my ukemi. Although, my ukemi isn't nearly as graceful and smooth as I would like it to be. At this point, I aspire to be as good as my instructor, which will take a great deal of effort.

 

[Kreth]

Just a random thought... Am I the only one who saw the title of this thread and wondered what Michael Jackson was up to now?

 

[Bigshadow]

Just a random thought... Am I the only one who saw the title of this thread and wondered what Michael Jackson was up to now?

Kreth, thanks for the reminder! :barf:

 

[Ceicei]

I've fallen with my children. The worse fall was down the stairs with an infant. It didn't allow for a very graceful fall, but my daughter was fine as I had brought her very close to my body and made sure I cushioned her fully when I went down head first, side ways, into a modified back roll. She didn't even cry, just looked at me wide-eyed.

The other falls I had were with toddlers. Stairs and ice on sidewalks were common places where the falls happened. Basically, the concept is similar, keep my kids' bodies close to mine, use myself as a shield, and try to do a decent breakfall.

- Ceicei

 

[shesulsa]

Just a random thought... Am I the only one who saw the title of this thread and wondered what Michael Jackson was up to now?

No no no ... not falling FOR children .... :ultracool