Archive: safety

Keeping Kids Safe this Holiday Season

From hot ovens to broken glass ornaments, there are plenty of safety hazards around the holidays. MomTrusted came up with some simple tips to help keep children safe this season.

Invest in an artificial tree.

Avoid the real deal this year and invest in a fake tree. Real ones pose as a serious fire hazard, but buying a fire resistant artificial one will help keep the flames away. Miss the process of picking one out and cutting it down? Take the kids on a winter hike instead. You can still go stomp around in the snow and smell fresh pine, but you won’t get stuck with the process of lugging a tree home. Collect pinecones, on your hike, to decorate with instead of a gigantic tree.

Bundle up.

Little ones love to play in the snow. Encourage them to make snow angels and build snowmen, but make sure they’re bundled from head to toe first. Frostbite is not something you want to mess. Also invest in gloves with sleeves attached. Not only will these keep snow from creeping up your children’s sleeves, but they’ll be much more difficult for the little ones to pull off when they’re playing outdoors.

Avoid tunneling through the snow.

Snow tunnels and igloos may seem fun, but if the snow caves in, little tunnelers could end up trapped or worse. Tightly packed snow can result in suffocation.

Keep ornaments high.

Shiny ornaments can catch the eyes of little ones quickly and before you know it, you can have tiny hands grabbing for them. Keep them far out of reach to avoid tipped trees and broken class. You may even want to place even non-breakable ones high too. Little piece can be choking hazards and pointy hooks should be kept completely out of reach.

Buy new garland.

Did you know that old garland often contains lead, a main reason for many of today’s toy recalls?

Use lights, not candles.

Enough said.

Sources:

-“Holiday decoration safety smarts.” Baby Zone.

-Photo courtesy of Tom Clare/freedigitalphotos.net

Mommy Math: Playground Safety

Each year, emergency rooms in the U.S. treat more than 200,000 children for playground-related injuries. While some involve bumps and bruises, many are much more serious, resulting in severe fractures, amputations and even death. Although girls are slightly more prone to injuries on playgrounds, the gender at risk is nearly ½ and ½. Playgrounds at low-income locations are more likely to have maintenance-related injuries, but all children who play on both public and private grounds are at risk. MomTrusted has put together a few playground safety tips to help keep your child out of these statistics.

Be present and aware. The best way to practice playground safety is to simply keep an eye on your child. It’s OK to bring a book or magazine, but don’t get so engrossed that you lose watch. If you see your child climbing, hanging or crawling where they shouldn’t, be sure to show them the proper way to use the equipment.

Let your child go down slides on his or her own. Many parents try to protect their toddlers by having them sit on their lab as they go down a slide, but this is a mistake. Hospitals see an alarming number of slide-related injuries due to children sliding down on a parent’s lap. The added height, weight and speed leave room for shoelaces and feet to get caught and dislocated or pulled in unnatural ways. The best solution? Just let your little one slide alone.

Supervised swinging only. Most injuries on back-yard playground sets occur on swings. If you have a toddler, make sure they use a swing with a back for extra support and protection. Watch out for swings’ metal chains, which can pinch little fingers and misuse of them, like standing or jumping off.

Check out the condition of the equipment. Another way to practice playground safety is to keep an eye the equipment as well. Wet, rained-on slides, swings and monkey bars can get super slippery. Sometimes the grounds heat up too much under the summer sun, making them dangerously hot. Keep on the lookout for any broken equipment. Always investigate the condition of a playground before your child plays.

Sources: -“Playground Injuries: Fact Sheet.” CDC -“A Surprising Risk for Toddlers on Playground Slides.” The New York Times -“Playground Safety.” Kids Health