Our children are the most precious things in the world to us. Ironically, we put their wellbeing at risk on our roadways with an epidemic of inattentive drivers. And when the roulette wheel falls on 鈥渃rash,鈥� few parents take the steps necessary to protect their legal rights.

At a rate of approximately 115 crashes per day in the Southern Interior, I don鈥檛 like my odds when I leave pull out of my driveway.

I鈥檝e been lucky so far, not yet having been the victim of a crash. When is the other shoe going to drop?

The feeling of vulnerability jumps when my kids are in the car. They鈥檝e long gotten used to my incessant insistence that they pull up head rests and sit properly in their seats.

Many of my clients have described that frantic moment, immediately after impact, of looking back to make sure their child is OK.

But of course they are. Or at least they appear to be.

You want to believe, with every ounce of your being, that your child is going to be perfectly fine.

Their doctor does an examination and reassures you of that outcome.

Children are incredibly resilient. has showed that 鈥淐hildren are resilient and rebound quickly from injuries, even serious ones鈥�.

And you鈥檝e learned from countless bumps and bruises, cuts and bee stings: The less attention you pay to the owie, the better.

An ICBC adjuster tells you that you have nothing to worry about with your child鈥檚 claim because the two year 鈥渓imitation period鈥� clock doesn鈥檛 start ticking until their 19th birthday.

That gives lots and lots of time for any long term problems, if any, to be identified and dealt with.

You can shift your focus to recovering from your own crash injuries and relax about your child鈥檚 wellbeing.

Right?

Absolutely. If your child鈥檚 symptoms 100 per cent completely resolve.

And never return.

Statistically, that鈥檚 a likely outcome. Most people enjoy a 100 per cent complete recovery from car crash injuries.

But your child might be one of the unlucky minority who never fully recover. If so, they won鈥檛 have a hope of achieving fair compensation for their injuries unless proactive and ongoing steps are taken to preserve evidence of those injuries.

With nobody taking an interest in their complaints, they stop mentioning their symptoms.

You know the classic response to 鈥淗ow are you doing?鈥�: 鈥淐an鈥檛 complain. I鈥檝e tried, but no one listens.鈥�

And symptoms of stiffness and soreness quickly become 鈥渂ackground noise鈥� for children. It becomes their new reality.

It won鈥檛 be for another number of years before they face the real world of work, which often requires hours of sustained postures sitting at a computer, or holding awkward positions.

That鈥檚 when the background noise might come to the foreground and have a serious impact on your child鈥檚 future.

But by then it鈥檚 too late to draw a connection between those now chronic symptoms and the car crash that occurred years before.

ICBC will point to the fall from a bicycle or horse, trampoline incident, sports injury and all the various other times your child took a tumble over those years. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when your child hurt their neck.鈥�

Your child, asked when their neck symptoms first started, will say 鈥渁s long ago as I can remember.鈥� A young adult won鈥檛 be able to credibly articulate their symptom history extending back five, 10 or 15 years.

Don鈥檛 listen to the ICBC adjuster. You cannot relax. Work needs to be done right away, and on an ongoing basis, to 鈥減reserve the evidence.鈥�

Have your child carefully examined as soon as possible after a crash by a hands on treater who has experience with children such as a pediatric physiotherapist and/or a chiropractor with a particular child focus.

Be vigilant, and keep a journal of your own observations of any changes at all in your child鈥檚 behaviour, mood and activity levels.

Carefully listen to your child when symptoms are mentioned. Include those mentions in your journal.

Our medical system is a reactive, not proactive one. Give a full recovery the very best opportunity by proactively pursuing care for your child if unhealthy tissue is identified in the physical examination, or if symptoms linger.

Any ongoing symptoms, however minor or infrequently surfacing, must be monitored, journaled and of course treated.

As falls from bicycles or horses, trampoline incidents and sports injuries occur, details of the incident and any symptoms arising must be journaled as well.

It鈥檚 a lot of work!

Great care must be taken, though, not to cause your child to become focused on their symptoms. We do, very much, want those symptoms to become background noise and have as little conscious impact on their lives as possible.

I can include only so much advice in a column. Please take the time to have a free, initial consultation with a personal injury lawyer who can advise you about these and other important matters about your child鈥檚 legal rights, including a limitation period deadline that the ICBC will never tell you about.