When my daughter was 3 years old, she escaped may house and walked a block down the street. We had 4 or 5 adults in the house and none of us knew she was gone for at least 5 minutes. Fortunately, my neighbor found her and walked her back. However, anything could have happened and gone wrong. It wasn’t an accident, it was negligence on my part because I was not properly monitoring my child in a busy household. Had anything gone wrong, I would be to blame. I am the parent and I cannot delegate that responsibility.

I should note that I have 5 kids.

Your car crash example was a totally preventable incident. There was negligence on the driver and the parents. Even in the way you describe it, I find fault. I work in law enforcement and investigate dozens of crashes each year. We don’t call them accidents, because more than 90% of all crashes are preventable, including the one you described. That crash was human error.

Perhaps it is an age or experience perspective, but as I’ve gotten and been deep in the trenches raising my children, I find that “accidents” aren’t really that. They are preventable with care, caution and most importantly accountability. Being accountable and knowing where your children are, what they are doing and the environment they are doing it in can be done without calling out to them every 5 minutes and being a helicopter parent. Mostly, it means being alert, watchful and managing your distractions.

No, I strongly disagree, accidents are not as common as you think they are. Distracted negligence is a far bigger problem, with far higher risks.