Keep Your Family Safe this Summer with These Prevention Tips

Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit organization working to help families and communities keep kids safe from injuries, offers the following safety tips to prevent accidents and injuries during the summer months and beyond. For more tips like this, go to safekids.org.

Water

Among preventable injuries, drowning is the leading cause of death for children 1-4 years old. Always practice active supervision when kids are in or around water. Keep young children and weak swimmers within arm’s reach of an adult. Make sure older children swim with a partner every time.

• Choose a Water Watcher. When there are several adults present, choose one to be responsible for watching children in or near the water for a certain period of time, such as 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, select another Water Watcher.
• Teach children how to swim. Every child is different, so enroll children in swim lessons when they are ready – consider their age, development and how often they are around water.
• Make sure kids learn water survival skills. Children should be able to: 1. Step or jump into water over their head and return to the surface; 2. Turn around in the water and orient to safety; 3. Float or tread water; 4. Combine breathing with forward movement in the water; 5. Exit the water.
• Use appropriately fitting life jackets on boats or when participating in water sports. Never rely on “floaties” to keep kids safe.

Car Safety and Heatstroke

On average, every 10 days a child dies from heatstroke in a vehicle. In more than half of these deaths, the caregiver forgot the child was in the car. A car can heat up 19 degrees in just 10 minutes. Cracking a window doesn’t help. Young children’s bodies heat up three to five times faster than an adult’s.

• Avoid heatstroke-related injury and death by never leaving a child alone in a car, not even for a minute. And make sure to keep your car locked when you’re not inside so kids don’t get in on their own.
• Create reminders. Keep a stuffed animal or other memento in your child’s car seat when it’s empty and move it to the front seat as a visual reminder when your child is in the back seat. Or place and secure your phone, briefcase or purse in the backseat when traveling with your child.
• Take action. If you see a child alone in a car, call 911. Emergency personnel want you to call. They are trained to respond to these situations.
• Always use a properly fitted car seat, booster seat or seat belt. Oklahoma law says children ages birth-2 must be in a rear-facing car seat; 2-4 years, forward-facing car seat; and booster seats are required for children who are at least 4 years old and not yet 8 years old, or who are less than 4’9” tall.

Sun Safety

• Keep babies younger than 6 months out of the sun. If they must be in the sun, keep them in the shade and covered with sun-protective clothing, including a hat and sunglasses. Remind babysitters and day-care providers to follow sun safety.
• Apply sunscreen at 6 months and older. Physical sunscreens with zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are least likely to cause a reaction in sensitive skin. Use clothing, hats and sunglasses. Seek shade, especially between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
• There is no such thing as a “healthy tan.” Reapply sunscreen often, especially if kids are sweating or in the water.

Bikes

• Wear a properly fitted helmet to prevent head injuries and death.
• Ride on the sidewalk when you can. If not, ride in the same direction as traffic as far on the right-hand side as possible.
• Use hand signals and follow the rules of the road.
• Wear bright colors and use lights, especially when riding at night and in the morning. Reflectors on your clothes and bike will help you be seen.
• Ride with your children. Stick together until you are comfortable that your kids are ready to ride on their own.

Source: Safe Kids Worldwide and Oklahoma.gov

For more safety tips and further information, visit safekids.org.