Kids Safety Tips – Summer Safety For Kids

 

Bicycle Safety for Kids, Pool Safety, Park Safety, Rock Climbing Safety, and Other Summer Safety Tips

 

Today we cover a most important topic – Summer safety for kids.   In today’s post we cover bicycle safety for kids, swim pool safety and swimming pool safety equipment, as well as rock climbing safety and park safety (playgrounds) .

 

Pool Safety/Kids Safety Tips: Kids Love the Pool But Must Have Limits

As the parent, you need to be abreast of summer safety tips.   Your kids will undoubtedly spend a  lot of time at the pool, so be ready!   When your baby or toddler learns to swim, you should be present.  Take an active role.   For one thing, infants who are taught how to swim may not be taught how to use the wall to  climb out of the water!   Your baby needs to know this, in addition to learning how to swim and get to the wall for safety.

You likely know never to leave children alone in or near water, yet do you realize you should even empty rain containers in your yard? This is a Wake-up call — so you can become aware of  how much about safety you may not know.

 

pool safety

 

Pool Safety:  Swimming Pool in The Back Yard

If your family has a backyard pool, you need to take certain precautions:

1) First off, for optimum pool safety, be sure you have installed the proper gates, fence enclosures or barriers.   Excellent advice and kids safety tips here
2) It is essential you have a fence enclosure which isolates your swimming pool and spa from the rest of the outdoor play areas, as well as the neighbor’s yard.
3) If your having a family gathering or party, assign an adult supervisor to keep your child safe.
4) Provide a whistle to whoever is supervising your kids. Be Sure this person knows the home address in case Emergency personnel need to be called.
5) Inflatables, or floatation devices, are not enough and should not be substituted for direct adult supervision.
6) Ensure a DIRECT VIEW from the home to the pool and spa
7) All pool gates should be self-closing and self-latching.

8) There should be multiple layers of barriers between your kids and the pool area, if at all possible.  And Approved spa alarms & pool alarms would be a good idea

>> SEE  DROWNING  INFOGRAPHIC  <<

Rock Climbing Safety Tips: Encourage Your Kids But Be Safety Conscious

Groping

If your children are interested in rock climbing, this is a good thing.   Indoor rock climbing provides a physical workout, yet also gives the child confidence and helps him or her to become well coordinated and balanced.   Here are a few helpful guidelines/rock climbing safety tips:

• 1. Put your equipment on!  Necessary things like helmet, knee pads, elbow pads and harnesses
• 2. Do a proper warm up first
• 3. Next do some stretches.  These stretches ought to be done after a 5-10 minute warm up period 4. Develop a routine where you stretch out the arms, legs, neck, back and FINGERS
• 5. Don’t ever try to fall off dramatically simply to look “cool” in front of your friends, or family
• 6. Enter the sport gradually. The demands in this sport are great, and use muscles that may not ordinarily get a workout
• 7. Consider having lessons from a pro before doing any outdoor climbing
• 8. Don’t mess around, or play games when climbing.
• 9. If any of your equipment falls off stop climbing and consider calling for help

Lastly, be sure to see the video on  Rock Climbing Safety at the end of this article.

Bicycle Safety for Kids

Here is sound advice on bicycle safety for kids

Park Safety:  Know The Hazards

At local parks,

park safety

must take precedence.   Inspect the playground equipment.  You want to look for loose screws or rusty areas.   Every year, more than 200,000 children head to the emergency room because of playground  accidents. The jungle gym or the slide may be painted with lead paint too.   Kids under the age of 6 are at greatest risk for lead poisoning.  In Wisconsin, sadly, there are cases of lead poisoning in young children annually.   Here is a PDF document on playground safety, lead poisoning,  pool safety, outdoor games & safety, first aid and bicycle safety for kids

 

What To Do in Event of Emergency – Drowning

Children age four and under have a drowning death rate 2-3 times higher than other age groups.  To prevent this, have a plan –

First aid for a near-drowning victim  – From Webmd.com:

• The focus of the first aid for a near-drowning victim in the water is to get oxygen into the lungs without aggravating any suspected neck injury.
• If the victim’s breathing has stopped, begin mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing as soon as you safely can. This could mean starting the breathing process in the water.
• Continue to breathe for the person every five seconds while moving the victim to the shore.
• If the airway is obstructed making breathing impossible, perform the Heimlich maneuver to clear it by hugging the victim from behind with your arms around the victim’s stomach and using the thumb side of a closed fist with your other hand on top of the fist to pull in and up. Continue these thrusts until the airway is cleared.
• Chest compressions in the water are difficult to do without a flat surface that does not give way and are reserved until such a surface is available.
• Once on shore, reassess the victim’s breathing and circulation (heartbeat andpulse). If there is breathing and circulation without suspected spine injury, place the person in recovery position (lying on the stomach, arms extended at the shoulder level and bent, head on the side with the leg on the same side drawn up at a right angle to the torso) to keep the airway clear and to allow the swallowed water to drain. If there is no breathing, begin CPR. Continue CPR (chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth breathing) until help arrives or the person revives.
• Keep the person warm by removing wet clothing and covering with warm blankets to prevent hypothermia.
• Remain with the recovering person until emergency medical personnel have arrived.

“Copyright ©2009, WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved”    WebMD Medical Reference

Hope that you received some starting points from these resources on Kids Safety Tips.   Seems to make sense to spend a little money devoted to self-latching, self-closing pool gates and a bit less on holiday gifts in December.  Don’t you agree?

Resources:

1) Bicycle Safety For Kids

2) Pool Safety – Lakes, Ponds, Beaches & Water Parks

3) Rock Climbing Safety Rules: Video #1, Video #2 and Video #3 (Advanced)

4) Summer Dehydration Issues

5) Kids Safety Tips:  Young Kids in The Water

6) How To Be Safe Out in the Sun

References:  Webmd.com (Drowning Safety)

 

Copyright  Healthy Kids