A mother from Wirral, Merseyside, is warning other parents after her four-year-old son suffered severe burns when a mug of hot chocolate fell on him. Charis Evans, 27, says her son Bobby Mower is now fully recovered, but she wants to urge caution with hot drinks this winter.
Accident in the kitchen
Charis was sleeping after a night shift while her ex-partner made hot chocolate for her and Bobby to "get into the festive spirit." While he turned his back for a "split second" to put milk in the fridge, Bobby climbed onto the washing machine and pulled the mug from the kitchen counter over himself.
Charis heard a scream and "jumped up" from bed. She rushed Bobby to the shower and rinsed him with cool water for 20 minutes before taking him to hospital as his skin "melted" off. Bobby had severe burns on his scalp, face, shoulders, and chest, and doctors shaved his head to bandage it and gave him morphine for the pain.
Sharing the warning
Charis shared Bobby's accident on TikTok, where a video captioned "this is my son Bobby. He was badly burnt off a hot chocolate" has gone viral with more than 245,000 views. She says she was "devastated" and felt guilty, thinking, "If I woke up a bit earlier, there would've been four eyes rather than two," but she was working 12-hour shifts at the time.
She explained that Bobby used to have hot chocolate in a baby's bottle, so his dad made his cooler. Bobby was sitting on the kitchen floor with a toy when he climbed up using the washing machine drum and pulled the mug down.
Recovery and advice
Charis says she is "grateful" she rinsed her son in cool water so quickly because it "saved" Bobby's skin. The NHS advises holding a burn or scald under cool running water for about 20 minutes and removing clothing near the affected area. Bobby was kept in the burns unit for a couple of weeks but made it home in time for Christmas.
Charis now urges parents to "be cautious with hot drinks" and push mugs back from the edge of surfaces. She said: "It's this time of year where hot drinks are out. It's something as simple as just pushing the mug right to the back of the worktop."
