All it took was a few moments. I was ironing in the family room while three-year-old Jeremy played on the floor with his toys.

When I noticed some threads dangling on one of the shirts I was pressing, I went to fetch some scissors. In the time it took me to walk to the room next door, open the drawer and return with the scissors, Jeremy had climbed up on a chair and reached for the iron. He ended up with a painful burn on the side of his hand.

When I saw Jeremy’s burned hand, I panicked. How could I have let this happen? And what do I do now? Apply ointment, ice or, my mother’s favourite, butter? Cover it with a bandage or leave it open to the air?

“Burns are the second most common cause of injury in preschoolers,” says Claude Cyr, a paediatrician who teaches at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec. “And that’s based on children who are brought to the doctor, so it’s really just the tip of the iceberg, since most burns are treated at home.” So I’m far from the only parent whose preschooler grabbed something hot during the few minutes they weren’t paying attention.