Simple Summer Safety Tips for Children

by Nicole Dean
Summer is a fun time, but it’s also a time when a lot of accidents happen. Here are some ways to keep your children safe this summer.
Water safety.
If you have a pool or plan to be around the water at all, then make sure you’ve got all security devices in place. All gates must be locked, and alarms installed, especially if you have non-swimming children at home.

Some general simple rules for children around any body of water are:

1. No running or horseplay near the pool.
2. Kids only swim with an adult watching them.
3. Make sure your children are taking swim lessons that teach, not only the basic strokes, but also survival strokes and basic water safety as well. All American Red Cross certified programs incorporate water safety into their swim lessons.
4. Of course, if lightening is possible, leave the pool until the weather risk passes.
5. If your children are swimming in the ocean, follow the flag warnings and be cautious of the tides.

Sun safety.
No matter how old we are or how careful we are, that sun will surprise us and we’ll suffer a burn.

Some simple rules to keep your children safe in the sun are:

1. Always apply sun screen – even if it’s a cloudy day.
2. Have your kids wear a t-shirt and hat if they have fair skin.
3. Make sure you have water proof sunblock on your kids if they’re in the water.
4. Apply sunscreen often, especially if your kids have fair skin or are playing in water.
5. Provide your children with plenty of water, juice, or popsicles. Keep them hydrated to help prevent heat stroke.

Bicycle safety.

Some simple rules to keep your children safe on their bikes are:

1. A helmet is a must. Ask any nurse in any Emergency Room and you’ll find out why.
2. If you’ve got a child who daydreams, wear a whistle around your neck when you go on a bike ride together. If you see him or her being unsafe, you can blow the whistle. This is much more effective than trying to yell.
3. Look for bike paths in the woods. (Many state parks have these.) These paths allow your child to ride freely without the hazards of traffic. Pack a picnic lunch and make a day of it.

Many life-changing accidents are preventable. Make it a safe -- and a fun summer!



Nicole Dean welcomes you to http://www.ShowKidstheFun.com -- a free website filled with activities to make memories with your children and http://www.ShowMomtheMoney.com -- a fun and informative resource for moms who want to make money from home.
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Kids Need To Play Outside, How Do You Do That Safely?

by: Willie Jones

If you are a baby boomer then you'll remember the good old days when you played outside all day and complained vehemently when you were told to go inside for the night.
If you take a look outside these days the streets are fairly empty with few people even walking on the sidewalk or playing in the grass. We've become somewhat paranoid and the game has changed.

It seems like the children have lost their freedom to play safely outside by themselves and with their friends. Instead we now have very controlled environments of driving your child to a friend's house or taking them to various extra curricular activities. While this is still valid I find it a shame that we are victims of fear in this society. We also have more children becoming couch potatoes watching TV or playing video games. You've probably noticed obesity on the rise in America and this is true for our children as well.

But we can have some of the good old days back and here are some things you can do to make it safer to let your kids play outside;

1)If several kids on your street that play together, you can get together as adults and assign on a rotating basis who will keep an eye on all the kids while the others are getting important things done. But do this job with great care. You have precious little future adults that still look to you for safety.

2)Better still, play games with them. Someone who is looking to annoy, tease or do harm, is less likely to do so if active adults are on the scene.

3)Prepare for possible emergency. A family plan firmly in place and understood by all and *drilled*, may be more successful then not having a plan at all. An example of something you can do, is hang a whistle on a string. Every time the kids go out they put the whistle around their necks. They are taught that they blow the whistle hard in an emergency situation only! Tell them the cry wolf story and let them know what the consequences are for blowing the whistle in a non emergency situation. Can you imagine if all parents in your area are grooved in on this and you hear a whistle go off, you may have half a dozen people or more flying out the door instantly to investigate.

4)Last year on the Oprah Winfrey show there was a family that had an emergency plan in place that was quite ingenious. In a prior family meeting they developed a code and I believe it was a number code, but any simple code would suffice. They were told never ever reveal the code to anyone for any reason. It paid off because a man approached their younger daughter and told her, that her parents wanted him to bring her home. She asked him for the code. He could not produce one and instantly she ran and averted a potential disaster. On the show, Oprah tried to get the girl to reveal the code but the little girl remained true and would not reveal it. She was highly praised by Oprah and I thought this was a fantastic plan the parents had come up with. It worked for them and could possibly work for you.

5)Adults are obviously much stronger than children but that doesn't mean that a child cannot hurt an adult. Karate or Tae Kwan Do classes can be of benefit to boys and girls. It can not only build character and strength, but it can also teach them how to get out of certain grips and holds and where to hit in an emergency situation. It may be enough to get away. Also, it's a great way to keep them fit and healthy.

6)I think that the best thing you can do is teach your child to be aware. If children learn early on basic safety precautions, it becomes a life long habit. Do you remember as a kid walking down the street, staring at the sidewalk as you were walking? Teach your children not to do that. Have them scan ahead and all around. This will do two things; a) they can spot potential trouble ahead of time and b) it gets you out of your head and seeing the world around you. This is good for you to do as well.

Kids need to play and be social and it's ok to get dirty sometimes. I see it all the time with my grandchildren that they are the most happy and energetic when they are outside. They actually fight less and work more as a team with each other and their friends when they can safely play outside. Make yourself and your children more aware and for peat sake, have some fun!
About The Author: Willie is a freelance writer and researcher and is dedicated in bringing information on health related issues and other topics. http://www.babysnkids.com

Tips to Successfully Baby Proofing a Home

by Jake Rose

Safety first. That is the key rule when having a baby. Once they start crawling and walking, there are so many hazardous places that the little child can get into. Here are some helpful tips to focus on when baby proofing a house.

Babies are very curious and love to get into any place that they can. It is important to make sure cupboards are locked and unable for the child to get into. Not only are chemical containers with toxic materials a very important thing to be careful of, but there are many other everyday items that can provide serious injury to the child through choking or and suffocation. Such items could include small pieces of plastic, cloth, writing utensils, bags, and practically anything and everything.

Once the child becomes really active and starts climbing things, you will have to make sure higher places are not full of dangerous items too. Such places could be draws or racks with shop objects like in the kitchen, bookshelves and desks with heavy objects, and an assortment of places like this.

Electricity is another important thing to keep an eye on. You want to make sure the child can't get to electric chords and sockets. It is also important to be aware of what buttons on certain devices a child may be able to reach. Some could be harmless like a TV, but a few devices might pose a serious risk to a child once turned on or put on certain settings.

Keep an eye on items that have strings and chords. Make sure they are not in reach of the child and make sure no toys have dangerous strings. They could be swallowed or get stuck in the throat, or even more dangerous of a possibility is getting wrapped around the child's neck and strangling them.

Another key item is safety gates to prevent a child from accessing dangerous areas. These areas might be rooms that have too many hazards to the child and can't be properly child proofed otherwise or stairways. Make sure they are installed correctly, firm, and don't have large holes for the child to get stuck in.

Be careful of furniture placement. This is to prevent your child from getting stuck. Children are very curious. Don't put it past your son or daughter to try to squeeze themselves between two pieces of furniture, or even stick their head into the gap to look for something. It doesn't always have to be between two pieces of furniture. It can be between furniture and the wall, furniture and a radiator, furniture and any other large object.

Above all, it is important to keep an eye on the child. Even the best child proofed room can still hold many hazards that are just temporary. In other words, objects that are left behind by other people that can't be child proofed but still dangerous to the young child. Children should be watched at all times. You can't possibly know or remember every single way they can get hurt in each room. But keeping an eye on them not only assures that you will be there to prevent serious injury, but you will also be able to notice places that were overlooked and need childproofing.

Children are very curious and constantly on the go. They are a great responsibility but a joy to the world. Don't overlook anything when it comes to child proofing a house. When it comes to a child's safety, it is better to be too safe than sorry later on.

This article has been submitted in affiliation with http://www.BabyNameVote.Com/ which is a site for Baby Names.

About the Author: Jake Rose is an artist and an author from Massachusetts.