My parents live 5,000 miles away from their only granddaughter. Despite the miles that separate them, my mom and dad are a huge part of my daughter’s life thanks to multiple daily phone calls and video chats.
When my dad doesn’t hear from us each evening he gets nervous. He’s always been protective of his “girls,” but I didn’t realize the extent of his concern until late last week when we missed calling him due to my daughter’s final field trip of the school year.
The entire school scored a trip to a medium-sized amusement park located about 40 miles north of our hometown. The park features a large roller coaster, Ferris wheel, bumper cars, Tilt-a-Whirl, Scrambler and a handful of kiddie rides. It’s not Disneyland or Six Flags, but there are more than enough attractions to keep 350 kids entertained for six hours.
While my daughter and her classmates were having a ball sprinting from ride to ride, my poor dad was desperately trying to reach my cellphone (which I left in my car) to warn me not to put his precious granddaughter on the Ferris wheel.
His somewhat unreasonable request was due to seeing a breaking news crawl on TV describing the horrific death of an 11-year-old girl who plummeted to death from a Ferris wheel at a New Jersey theme park. According to reports, Abiah Jones was riding the Giant Wheel at Mariner’s Landing in Wildwood last Friday during a school field trip when she reportedly fainted and fell over the ride’s railing.
For the record, the Giant Wheel soars 156 feet in the air and is one of the largest Ferris wheels on the East Coast. Meanwhile, the Ferris wheel my daughter rode at our local amusement park is less 65 feet tall. Still, I’m sure my dad focused on the headline: “Young girl falls to her death from Ferris wheel during school field trip,” and wanted to make sure his field-tripping granddaughter was safe and sound.
News reports didn’t say if Jones’ parents were chaperones on the field trip. I get the feeling they weren’t, which makes the incident even more devastating. I can’t imagine sending my child on what should have been a fun-filled day with friends and teachers, only to be contacted a few hours later with news that she was no longer alive.
How do you deal with that? It’s hard to process as a parent, regardless of whether or not it’s your child.
My heart goes out to the Jones family.
According to reports, Abiah was riding the Ferris wheel alone when she passed out and fell 100 feet to the ground. Park officials say there is no indication that mechanical failure was to blame for her death, though they would not say if having someone else on the ride with Abiah would have prevented her from falling.
Do you go out of your way to chaperone school field trips so you can keep an eye on your child?