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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor

 

This May Seem Like an Odd Question

When you were a kid, did you ever close a car door on your hand, or have someone else do it to you accidentally?  And how old are you now?

The thing is, I never shut my hand in a car door (born in 1982), because my father had an extreme paranoia about closing doors on hands (which is a sensible enough paranoia to possess), but it seems that most people who were kids before car seats were a hepped-up multi-year extravaganza have, at one point or another, shut car doors on their hands, and kids who spent those same years being carefully buckled in and out of five-point harnesses are much less likely to have had that delightful experience.

I’m not a helicopter-y sort, but having inherited my father’s car-door-paranoia in spades, I am optimistic that I may get to dodge this particular bullet with my kids.

  1. towitistowoo said: born in 85, shut my little brother’s hands in a house door. he’s fine now. he even played the piano for a while.
  2. allifer said: Born in 1985, closed a car door on my hand and it LOCKED, wouldn’t let anyone else see it because I didn’t want stitches and I knew I would have to get them if anyone knew how deep the cut went.
  3. anechka27 said: i did it multiple times around the 11 y/o mark. But that might just have been my natural grace (not clumsiness).
  4. fullmoonovertampa said: I am 38 and had my finger caught in the door of the Barracuda. This was in the 70s, back before seat belts and car seats.
  5. laurenelizabits said: I shut my friend’s hand in the trunk when we were 12. It was the key kind of trunk, so I had to go to the front seat and hit the button to open it and get her fingers out. Ouch … I’m 29 now.
  6. fordxcore said: I’m 22 and have shut my hand in both the car door, and the back door. Shutting it in the back door was purely from my own impatience and both were probably due to my severe uncoordinaion! I once also accidentally shut my kitty’s tail in the car door :(
  7. moxylane said: I’ve slammed my hand in the door and accidentally shut someone else’s too. I’m 27 now.
  8. lonelyassassin said: Yep, I had my hand closed in the sliding door of our van and broke my finger. But I was over car seat age. So I dunno.
  9. agentamy said: I didn’t get my hand shut in a car door, but my mother shut my hand in our dishwasher once.
  10. aclikeslater said: Yes. I was four or five and it hurt like hell. I had already graduated from a car-seat. My Mom shut my door unexpectedly because we were in a hurry.
  11. heartsyhawk said: I did twice. I was born in 1987 and it happened once when I was ten and helping mum put groceries away and once when I was six my parents were so absorbed with the new baby screaming my dad shut it on me.Also I shattered a pair of glasses in the door
  12. time-for-naps said: 1982. My friend Sara’s mom shut my hand in the sliding door of her van when we were getting out to go see The Rocketeer for Sara’s birthday. Later that year I got carsick and barfed in that van.
  13. notwhouthought said: I’m 31 and someone shut my thumb in a car door when I was 8, and I shut my finger in a car door when I was like, 13 or 14. My thumb was broken, but the other time I just had to have a HOLE DRILLED IN MY NAIL TO DRAIN IT OF THE BLOOD. Super traumatic.
  14. msmidnight said: I am 22, so born 90, and frequently had car doors closed on fingers and hands. as long as the doors werent being slammed it just resulted in minor bruising and toddler tears. im fine now, was just clumsy then i guess
  15. tonksarooney said: I was well in the carseat generation, but still had my hand slammed in a minivan door. I was old enough to not need the carseat (and the close surveillance), like my younger siblings, and my dad slammed the sliding door into my hand.
  16. thisismymonkey said: Slammed a car door shut on my thumb at 7. Someone else shut my hand in one at 16, which was totally my fault for having my hand in that spot in the first place. I’m 34.
  17. utherdoul said: i’m 24.
  18. fatgirlinohio said: I broke my middle finger slamming it in a car door when I was 17. Just the last joint of it, and I was hysterical but it didn’t occur to me that it was broken until I was still in that much pain an hour later when my mom got home. Born ‘83.
  19. theawkwardxenoglossophile said: I did when I was 8, though it was kind of half me/half my mom. I am 17 now.
  20. totaldrivel said: My friend’s little brother slammed the sliding minivan sidedoor on my hand when I was 8 or 9. He refused to apologize. What a little shit.
  21. babydentures said: I am 27 and my brother shut the door on my hand when I was 4
  22. slytherclawgrrl reblogged this from lazybookreviews and added:
    I did. I was 12 and arguing with my mom, and I just slammed my finger in there. The worst parts were having to wait...
  23. missbananafish said: Weirdly enough, I had my hand shut in a car door in 1982. True story.
  24. thefingersofgod said: Nope. (b. 1979) But I will take this moment to point out that if there had been the same car seat weight laws in place in the 80s, I’d have been in a car-seat until I was 8 or 9 years old, because I was really small and skinny as a kid. Weird.
  25. minou said: I never shut a car door on my hand (b. 1975), nor has my brother (b. 1970) as far as either of us can remember. But! We were never required to wear seatbelts but my dad wouldn’t even back out of the driveway until all doors were locked. ???
  26. itsgoingintheshow said: Interval House, 1990. I’m already spending my P.A. Day at a shelter for battered women, waiting for my mom (who was not battered) in the passenger seat of a Toyota Hatchback. Why does the universe curse me further?
  27. austentranslation said: Yep, but when I was way past safety seats. I was 9ish and my older sister shut the car door behind her even though I was climbing out behind her. It sprained my middle finger and I had to wear a splint for a while.
  28. mardallie said: Born in ‘73. Door slam on all 4 fingers in 2nd or 3rd grade. Flat fingers for a week or so, but no lasting damage.
  29. jessicabrokaw said: Born 1980. An elderly family member slammed a car door on my hand when I was 5. It was awful. For him too. I still remember the horrified look on his face.
  30. wildiriss said: When I was 10, I closed the tip of my index finger in a car door. Now I’m 20 and the tip of my finger is still numb. Also it stopped growing, so it’s about a quarter inch shorter than the other. Nerve damage is a bitch.
  31. denoftheladybear said: I was about seven and I slammed the door on my own finger while on a camping trip with my dad. I screamed and opened the door again real quick. My dad bought me an orange soda and we never told my mom. No lasting damage.
  32. elizmayerle said: Not that I remember. Born in ‘82 as well. Though I did get one shut in an elevator door once, somehow.
  33. cool90sspyro said: I don’t think I have ever, either.
  34. peachtreekeen said: Born in ‘81, thumb in the trunk somehow, never sucked it again. I don’t think that counts, though!
  35. heywhat said: i did! i was in third grade and i shut my hand (by accident!) in one of those pull-it-closed-sideways van doors. we were parked on an incline and i needed the soon to be smashed hand for extra closing power, so that’s my excuse. not stupid, just weak
  36. standingeightcount said: Yes I have. Born in 1992
  37. csidecircus said: Not only did I break my wrist when I shammed it in a car door once, I had a finger nearly severed in a seat belt when I was about four.
  38. geekgirlsmash said: I was born in 1984, and no, I never shut my hand in a car door, though this is only because I had my hand accidentally shut in a closet door (hinge side) and was paranoid about doors.