Big Kid

I try to be the kind of mom who lets her kids jump in mud puddles once in awhile. Clothes can be washed, and it's all kinds of harmless fun ... or so I thought. Then I read about 8-year-old Kenny Markiewicz who jumped in an innocuous-looking puddle only to be whisked away for a mile-long ride in the city's sewer system.

There he was outside just playing around with his cousin in Proctor, Minn. One minute he was there, and the next he wasn't. What happened is beyond some of the worst parenting nightmares.

According to the Star Tribune, though the street wasn't flooded and it wasn't raining, the puddle was actually part of a creek that had been taken over by nearby flooding. It whisked him into a storm drain where rushing waters then carried him away as his mother and neighbors helplessly tried to find him. His mother, Amber Markiewicz, told ABC:

I never ever let my child leave my sight. This was a split second. He just was going across by the puddle and, apparently, there was a culvert or a pipe there and he fell in. We heard my niece scream that and we opened the door, ran down the hill and dialed 911.

Kenny traveled for approximately a mile through the city's sewer system before it spit him out in a wooded area. I simply can't imagine his terror during such a harrowing journey. Some people in a nearby trailer park found him, and called police. Miraculously, he survived with just cuts and scrapes.

When he disappeared, Amber feared she would never see him again. She said all she could do was pray, and fortunately her prayers and those of Kenny were answered. When asked what he did during the horrific journey, he told her, "I plugged my nose, took a breath and I prayed.'"

Talk about freak accidents, but thankfully one with a happy ending this time. It once again goes to show that for all of the overprotective planning we do and precautions we can take as parents, we simply can't save our children from every danger out there. Here's Kenny's mother talking more about this event which she could have never anticipated.

What's the most unexpected accident your child has had?

Image via ABC News