Today Show anchor Savannah Guthrie is headed into the operating room again today, this time for cataract surgery; the complication of a retinal detachment suffered when Guthrie was hit in the face.

By her three-year-old.

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The accident happened back in November, when Guthrie's toddler, Charley, threw a toy train that hit her in the eye.

And that's just one example of how we may be underestimating the physical perils of parenting.

Savannah Guthrie's story made me recall the times I looked like I went a round with Mike Tyson instead of trying to wrangle a hangry 26-month-old into a car seat.

I was no angel as a child either. I vividly remember going to a roller-skating party with my mom in the 80s, and trailing her from behind -- using the back pockets of her Jordache jeans like a trailer hitch. Obviously there was a collision, and that's how my mom wound up with a broken wrist.

Twisted or broken ankles, broken noses, split earlobes (this is why you don't wear earrings around babies and small children) and for men, “injury to genitalia," according to a recent article in the New York Times. 

However, no one really knows what the numbers are when it comes to injuries parents suffer at the tiny, sticky hands of their children, according to the Inquirer.

ER doctors are full of stories, including Al Sacchetti, chief of emergency medicine at Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden NJ.

"Sacchetti has witnessed limping battalions of wounded parents who’ve trudged into the hospital suffering from corn and peas shoved up their noses; corneas scratched by fast-growing baby nails; broken toes from wildly navigated kiddie scooters; America’s Funniest Home Videos-quality groin kicks; major broken bones caused by falls on staircases booby-trapped with Legos." -The Inquirer

One thing doctors can agree on, is trying to manage your reaction to your child if they accidentally injure you, and stay calm; in almost all situations, intent is absent -- meaning, it's truly an accident, as many children lack the mental maturity to process frustration and anger.

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