There’s never a good time to be involved in an accident. One of the worst times you can be involved in an accident is during a time of your life when you’ve got a lot of people depending on you. For example, if you’re a parent to young children, they’ll need you to do everything from feeding them and bathing them to of course keep them safe throughout the day. Even when your children are older, they’ll still need you to help them prepare meals, drive the to events and a whole long list of other tasks throughout the week. If an accident causes an injury that makes any of these tasks a struggle, it’s important that you do everything you can to reduce the impact on your children. Here’s a look at some of the steps you can take to make sure you can deal with all the challenges thrown your way as a parent when you’ve been in an accident.
Protect your finances
One of your most immediate concerns when you’ve been involved in an accident is what impact will this have on your and your family’s finances. If you have to take time off work to recover, or pay for medical bills or other treatment caused by the accident, you could be left seriously out of pocket through no fault of your own. To make sure you can afford all of those things your children need, it’s important to try and recover any lost money after an accident. The most effective way to do this is to take legal advice to see whether you’re able to claim compensation. To avoid spending even more money on legal fees, find a team who will offer you a free, no-obligation consultation before deciding whether you want to take the claim further. For example, Ferguson Personal Injury Law Group Phoenix will meet with you and discuss how likely you are to win any claim without taking a single penny from you. Make sure you choose a firm like this so you’re not further out of pocket just for seeking advice.
Explain what happened
As a parent, you might be tempted to try and protect your children from exactly what happened during an accident. Whilst it’s a good idea to protect them from the more serious facts surrounding the incident, it’s also important to explain what happened. For example, if you just told them you got injured in a car accident, they may be scared or even reluctant to travel in a car. Explain to them how rare car accidents are and how things like seat belts and air bags are there to protect them if the worst was to happen.
Try and keep their routine
Whilst your routine may be seriously affected by an injury caused in an accident, try and reduce the impact to your children’s schedule.
If you’re unable to drive them to and from school and other activities, see if another family member can take on those responsibilities. If nobody in your family is able to do so, ask a parent of another child in the class or activity your child goes to see if they’ll temporarily be able to give them a lift to and from these places.