Silly Bands are DANGEROUS!

I see kids every where wearing these Silly Bands. I've noticed some kids with a few bands on each wrist but some other kids who go way overboard with bands going up both arms almost up to their elbows.

When I first saw them, I thought that they were cute with all the different colors and shapes.

I got Na'u a Tinkerbell set and she loved them. The hot pink ones were her favorite. Most of the time, she would wear one or two for a few hours, loose interest and take them off.

When my parents were here in Dec, my dad bought Na'u a pack (I'm pretty sure that she kept on bugging for for them). Next thing I knew, she had the entire pack divided onto both her wrists. She actually went a few days with them on and there was no problem.

The morning we were going to take our Christmas family pictures, Na'u woke up and started crying and complaining that her hand was sore. When we looked closer, her right hand was SWOLLEN. The silly bands were all tangled up and pulled very tight on some areas cutting off her circulation. We quickly took them off and Na'u screamed in pain. Just looking at it made me want to cry. It looked like it was about to pop if we touched it too hard. When I though about what could have caused it, I remembered that the day before Na'u kept on taking bands off one at a time to see what shape it was. I'm pretty sure that is what did it. Just all that tugging and pulling made it tangled and tight. Cameron did notice that all the silly bands looked a little tight the night before so he took them all off of her left wrist. He didn't know that she had it on both. I'm sure that we would have had TWO swollen wrists instead of just one if he didn't take them off.

We were REALLY worried because it looked BAD. We didn't know if we should take her to the ER because it was so sensitive. Na'u was in total tears. She would cry even more if we touched it lightly. Cameron quickly jumped on the internet to see what we should do. It said to pinch her finger tips to make sure they turned white and then pink again. Finger tips white then pink....check. Then it said to gentle massage it so that the fluids could circulate. We tried the best we could but like I said earlier, she cried whenever we touched it. It took about 3 days for the entire swelling to go down. Even til today, she still has marks from those stinkin silly bands.

I think it looked worse in person.




In this picture, you can compare both hands.



The marks you see on the right wrist (left side in the picture) are the ones still there today.

Now whenever I see them around the house, I just throw them away. I do not want her to go through anything like that ever again! Na'u remembers what happened and how sore it was. Now when she has one on, she'll show us and say, "it's ok...I'm only wearing one. It's not sore." But she won't dare wear them for a long time.

If you do buy these things for your kids, PLEASE be careful and make sure to check them often. They don't need to wear a whole bunch of bands at a time. Better safe than sorry.