This morning at 7:30, on my way back after dropping my daughter off at school, I suddenly received a call from my mom saying that my son had fallen off an electric bike and that an ambulance had been called to take him to the hospital. Since it was rush hour, I rushed home as fast as I could. Before I even got there, I saw an ambulance parked at the entrance of our neighborhood from a distance, so I quickly ran over and boarded it.

Once inside, I saw my son covered in blood. The bleeding seemed to be coming from his nostrils, and there was also a scrape on the side of his forehead that was oozing blood. However, his mental state seemed fine, and he was able to answer my questions normally. While on the ambulance, I held a gauze pad to stop the bleeding and asked my mom what had happened. It turned out that she had been taking him to school this morning, and shortly after leaving the neighborhood, on a quiet road with no pedestrians, he had fallen off the bike. It might have been due to a sudden acceleration causing him to lose balance, or perhaps he had been fidgeting on the seat. My mom’s electric bike is a small, low three-wheeler, with a seat height of about 40 centimeters. When my son was sitting on it, his head was less than a meter from the ground. Under normal circumstances, such a fall shouldn’t have been too severe.

But the incident really scared me. My mom has had a neurological injury in the past, which affects her ability to communicate clearly. It’s not that she can’t speak, but her explanations often lack coherence, and you have to ask her repeatedly to get the full story. She also has a poor memory and often forgets things. This morning, the best course of action would have been to call 120 (the emergency number in China) right away and wait for the ambulance, but she happened to forget her phone at home and had to rush back with my son. With the help of the neighborhood security and property management, she was able to call 120 and then contact me.

This morning was particularly unusual. My wife is away for training these days, so I’ve been taking care of our two kids alone. Since my daughter has to leave early for school and the commute is long, I have to leave before 7 a.m. to drop her off. My son usually wakes up at 7:30 and leaves for school at 8, so there’s a gap in between. Last night, I reminded my mom to set an alarm and come over to my place by 7 a.m. to make sure the kids weren’t left alone when they woke up (we live in the same building but on different floors). Perhaps because she arrived earlier than usual, she decided to take my son to school earlier, which led to him falling off the bike while still half-asleep.

Another important factor was that my mom forgot to put a helmet on my son this morning. She remembered her own helmet but left his at home. If he had been wearing one, the injury might not have been as bad.

I’ve always been reluctant to let my mom handle the school drop-offs. When she used to walk my daughter to school, it was fine, but after she suffered a serious illness, long walks became difficult for her. However, she insisted on doing it herself, feeling that if she didn’t, it would seem like there was no point in her staying with us, and she would want to return to her hometown in the countryside.

To minimize the risks of my mom taking the kids to school, I designed a specific route for her. Although it’s about 200 meters longer, it only requires crossing the street twice, and both crossings have rare pedestrian-friendly features with cameras to penalize drivers who don’t yield. During rush hours, there are usually police officers and volunteers guiding pedestrians. I never expected that, despite all these precautions, my son would fall off the bike on the most unlikely stretch of road—a quiet, flat path.

In the end, after a thorough examination and cleaning at the hospital, the diagnosis was mainly a forehead scrape and a nosebleed. The total cost was around 800 yuan out of pocket, and we were prescribed a 5-yuan ointment.