Some Good Advice During National Child Safety Awareness Month
Make Summer Safe for Kids
Summer is a great time for kids to enjoy different indoor and outdoor activities. But it can also be dangerous, especially if they — and you — are careless. With that in mind, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers up host of tips to help ensure not only a fun-filled summer, but a safe one.
Drownings are the leading cause of injury death for young children ages 1 to 4, and three children die every day as a result of drowning. To prevent such tragedies:
• Always supervise children when in or around water. A responsible adult should constantly watch young children.
• Teach kids to swim. Formal swimming lessons can protect young children from drowning.
• Learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). It’s a skill that could save someone’s life.
• Install a four-sided fence around home pools.
• Recreational boating can be a wonderful way to spend time with family and friends. But wear a properly fitted life jacket every time you and your loved ones are on the water.
Heat-related illness happens when the body’s temperature control system is overloaded. Infants and children up to age 4 are at greatest risk. Even young and healthy people can get sick from the heat if they participate in strenuous physical activities during hot weather. For heat-related illness, the best defense is prevention.
• Never leave infants, children, or pets in a parked car, even if the windows are cracked open.
• Dress infants and children in loose, lightweight, light-colored clothing.
• Schedule outdoor activities carefully, for morning and evening hours.
• Stay cool with cool showers or baths.
• Seek medical care immediate if your child has symptoms of heat-related illness.
Just a few serious sunburns can increase you and your child’s risk of skin cancer later in life. Their skin needs protection from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays whenever they’re outdoors.
• Cover up. Clothing that covers your and your child’s skin helps protect against UV rays.
• Use sunscreen with at least SPF (sun protection factor) 15 and UVA and UVB protection every time you and your child go outside.
Each year in the U.S., emergency departments treat more than 200,000 children age 14 and younger for playground-related injuries. Falls at home and on the playground are a common cause of injury.
• Check to make sure that the surfaces under playground equipment are safe, soft, and well-maintained.
• Supervise young children at all times around fall hazards, such as stairs and playground equipment.
• Use stair gates, which can help keep a busy, active child from taking a dangerous tumble.
• A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head that can change the way your brain normally works. Concussions can occur in any sport or recreation activity. Learn the signs and symptoms and what to do if a concussion occurs, and make sure kids and teens wear the right protective equipment for their sport or recreation activity.
Finally, protect yourself and your family by preventing bites and diseases, like Zika, West Nile virus, and Lyme disease, which can be transmitted by insects. Use an effective insect repellent while playing outdoors, and check yourself and your children for ticks.
