father holding his daughter
Sarah Biren
Sarah Biren
December 11, 2023 Âˇ  3 min read

Dad Gets Call About Daughter’s ‘Accident’ So He Picks Her Up With His Own ‘Accident’

It’s not uncommon for kids to have accidents, but it’s still very embarrassing for them. Sometimes, kids are so engrossed in an activity, they don’t realize they need to go. Or they don’t want to miss out on something exciting so they ignore the feeling of needing the bathroom. Whatever the case, when this dad got a call from his daughter’s school, he went out of his way to make her feel better about having an accident.

Dad Stages an “Accident” in Solidarity With His Daughter

During the incident occurring in 2017, Ben Sowards is remembered as the wholesome dad hero he is. When he got a call from his wife, Connie, explaining what happened, he felt sorry for his daughter, Valerie. The six-year-old was crying and just wanted to go home.

“My heart kind of just broke,” he said, assuming she must’ve felt very embarrassed about the accident. So he added a quick clothing adjustment. 

He splashed water on the front of his pants and drove over to Valerie’s school. When he found her in the office, he made a big deal over using her backpack to cover his “accident“. He explained, “She looked at me with just the biggest incredulity.”

Of course, this theatric helped Valerie feel better. “She was laughing about it,” he said. “It was so funny.”

Laughter Makes Everything Better

Valerie’s older sister captured the wholesome dad and daughter moment and posted it to Twitter where most people applauded the supportive dad. The post got over 217 likes and over 400 comments, saying, “Daddy goals,” “Dad of the year,“ “I love your family,” and “Dads like this make my heart happy.”

Read: Kindergarten Teachers Want Incoming Students To Focus on Life Skills, Not Academic Ones

What’s even better, this isn’t the first time Soward utilized the power of dad humor to ease an unfortunate situation. This time, it was for Lucinda. During a school trip, she fell while ice-skating, resulting in a minor injury.

“I got a massive black eye and he FaceTimed me and had vividly painted a black eye that matched mine on himself,” she said. [1]

By the time of Valerie’s accident, the family was already accustomed to Soward and his responses to these kinds of things. Still, his antic has helped Valerie who is doing fine after the incident. [2]

“She’s doing great,” Lucinda said. “She’s learned to laugh about it and thinks what my dad did was hilarious.”

How Should Parents Respond to a Child’s Accident?

The rare accident doesn’t pose much of an issue, as seen in these wholesome dad and daughter stories. However, if a child is having increased amounts of accidents during the day, here are some ways parents can help them.

  • Don’t scold or shame your child for the accidents. They are often already very embarrassed and creating more shame make the incidents much worse.
  • Set a bathroom schedule where the child is encouraged to use the bathroom every two hours. “Often, children say they don’t need to go, but encourage them to sit on the toilet anyway,” said Janelle Traylor, APRN, FNP, a Urology Nurse Practitioner at Children’s Health. “We see a lot of improvement with this. In many cases, going to the bathroom every two hours fixes daytime wetting issues.”
  • Encourage the child to relax and take their time in the bathroom. This will help them fully empty their bladder.
  • Encourage the child to drink water, enjoy physical activity, and eat plenty of produce.
  • Limit bladder-irritating drinks like tea and soda.
  • Provide the child with a change of clothes in case of an accident. Preferably, these clothes to be dark-colored or printed to help hide accidents.
  • Send a doctor’s note to the teachers to ensure the child is allowed to use the bathroom whenever they need it and for however long.
  • And don’t stress about it. “Stress is contagious. Often, when parents stress about their kids’ potty habits, the kids stress too,” said Traylor. “Know that it will be okay; this can be treated.” [3]

Keep Reading: Poor Boy Pays Bus Fare for Woman with Kid, Then His Mother Receives $1 Million

Sources

  1. “Dad’s great reaction after daughter’s ‘accident’.” News Channel 5. Augusta Statz. April 20, 2017
  2. “People Are So Touched By How This Dad Hilariously Handled His 6-Year-Old Daughter’s Accident.”  Buzzfeed News. Remy Smidt. April 16, 2017
  3. “What to do if your potty-trained child keeps having accidents.” Children’s Health.