Safety for Children

If you are looking for an interesting parenting site with not only good child safety tips, but overall tips on kids, be sure and check out ParentHacks.com. They have all sorts of fun information submitted by parents on a vast array of topics from how to distract your children while combing their hair to common household items that can be used as child safety devices. Check out this great tip from a parent about administering medicine in the middle of the night:

This hack was obvious to me and my husband, but when my friend just sent me an email and said her four year-old had to go on breathing treatments every 4 hours and that waking up a preschooler at 4am was not easy, it dawned on me that maybe it wasn’t so obvious. When my son was under 1 year old and had to do breathing treatments we let him sleep.  I mean, all he has to do is breathe to get the treatment, so why wake him up?

If you are looking for little parenting tidbits, be sure and visit ParentHacks.com for all kinds of fantastic information and ideas.

As we turn the corner from summer to fall, September not only brings with it the start of school, but Baby Safety month as well. Is your house as safe as it could be for your baby or toddler? Here are some great pieces of advice from the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association:

This September marks the 25th anniversary of Baby Safety Month, sponsored annually by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA). This month-long campaign exists to educate consumers and raise awareness of safety issues surrounding the proper use and selection of juvenile products.

“Keeping a child physically safe is the most basic of all parental responsibilities,” says Mike Bost, vice president of Palmetto Childproofing Inc, a professional babyproofing company that services Charlotte, NC and surrounding areas.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, one million children seek medical attention each year because of unintentional injury, and approximately 50,000 suffer permanent damage.

With over seven years in the child safety industry and extensive experience in childproofing nearly two thousand homes, Bost says that the best defense against injuries to babies and toddlers in the home is for parents to provide a safe environment in which their baby can live, learn, explore, and play.

He recommends that all first-time parents get a child’s eye view of the world. “Get down on your hands and knees,” says Bost, “look around inside your home, and see what your child sees through his or her eyes. You may be surprised at what you see. The obvious hazards and dangers will stare right back at you.”

With the wide variety of child safety products on the market, the prospect of babyproofing a home can seem overwhelming for many parents. Bost says selecting the right safety products the first time is important to avoid the hassle and inconvenience of returning items that do not work or fit properly.

He suggests that parents experiencing difficulty or frustration babyproofing their home consider using the services of a professional childproofer. “Professional childproofers are intimately familiar with child safety products,” Bost says, “and they have considerable experience installing baby gates, cabinet and drawer latches, and many other childproofing products that parents sometimes find difficult to install on their own.”

As Baby Safety Month gets underway, Bost says he welcomes the opportunity to promote child safety and focus parents’ attention and efforts in making their home a safe haven for their little one.

Should schools get state rankings on allergies and asthma? There are rankings for other forms of child safety, and some special interest groups think asthma and allergies should be no exception. From ABC.com:

After years of taking calls from concerned parents or school administrators, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America or AAFA noticed that "some states are just better than others when it comes to protecting their child’s safety," said Mike Tringale, director of external affairs at the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

By safety, Tringale means the care for allergies and asthma. Other things like gun safety may seem more important to adults than irritating conditions like allergies or asthma. But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that childhood asthma rates doubled since 1980 and that asthma is the third-ranking reason for a kid to go to the hospital.

"Asthma is the number-one chronic reason why children miss school in the U.S.," said Tringale.

With that in mind, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America set out to recognize the best states for asthma and allergy policies. Some did fantastic, others did not.

Check out the story for the best states for allergies and asthma.

Hazing has become a serious issue for kids in college who are pledging into certain fraternities or sororities. University of Texas freshman Phanta Phoummarath was required by older members of the fraternity he was pledging to drink to excess and then was left alone, succumbing later in the evening to alcohol poisoning. Since his death, his family have set up a website to promote anti hazing behavior, and have even produced a video on the subject to distribute to universities as well as across the internet. If you have a child who is on their way to college, you can download the video here to show to them if you feel like they should be warned about the dangers of hazing in college.

Many hospitals around the country are now offering what is called the WHALE program, or We Have A Little Emergency. The program consists of using a series of stickers to alert emergency personnel that there is a small child within the car should there be an accident. Utilizing 4 stickers in total, one for each the back and side car windows and two more to be attached to the child’s car seat alerting the emergency worker to the identification of the child, the system is being used in 35 different states.

"The information is important because, obviously, a pediatric patient wouldn’t have the same ability as an adult to communicate with the first responder to tell them what their injury or their illness is, where they hurt, or just for that matter, even just their basic information about who they are and their parents,” said UConn Health Center Fire Department Capt. Greg Priest.

For more information on the WHALE program, be sure and visit their site.

Child exploitation on the internet is a very real problem, so the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has set up a tool to help. According to CyberTIpline.com:

The Congressionally mandated CyberTipline is a reporting mechanism for cases of child sexual exploitation including child pornography, online enticement of children for sex acts, molestation of children outside the family, sex tourism of children, child victims of prostitution, and unsolicited obscene material sent to a child. Reports may be made 24-hours per day, 7 days per week online at www.cybertipline.com or by calling 1-800-843-5678.

The site goes on to break down the categories of exploitation they deal with:

Possession, Manufacture, and Distribution of Child Pornography, Online Enticement of Children for Sexual Acts, Prostitution of Children, Sex Tourism Involving Children, Child Sexual Molestation (not in the family), Unsolicited Obscene Material Sent to a Child, and Misleading Domain Name

If you or your child comes across any of this material online, you can contact the Cyber TIpline and they will forward the report to proper law enforcement authorities.

Worried about keeping your children as safe as possilbe? An organization by the name of the Children’s Safety Network serves as a great starting point for all of your research needs when it comes to your child and their safety. Included is links to resources, state and regional information, national organizations and federal agencies, and injury prevention information and news.

CSN is a resource center for maternal and child health and injury prevention professionals in State and Territorial health departments who are committed to reducing injuries and violence among children and adolescents. CSN staff provides expertise, resources, and contacts on any injury topic and can help you develop, implement, and evaluate injury and violence prevention activities.

Also included is a calendar with various regional and national events that relate to child safety issues.