The first week of September marks National Childhood Injury Prevention week. Injury is the leading cause of death in children, but the good news is that the majority of childhood injuries are preventable. Here are some of the biggest injury categories, and tips to keep your kids safe:
PEDESTRIAN & BICYCLE SAFETY:
Start early, teaching children the basics of pedestrian and bicycle safety. Make sure they know to look both ways before crossing a road, to cross busy streets only at designated crosswalks, and to never assume a driver sees them. Also, make sure they always wear a helmet when on their bicycles.
POISON PREVENTION:
Accidental poisoning is one of the leading causes of preventable injury and death in children. We have an entire blog post dedicated to this topic.
BURN PREVENTION:
Burns are one of the most common childhood injuries, most often from cooking and overheated water. Make sure you never leave cooking food unattended, or children unattended in the kitchen.
When teaching children to cook, give them age-appropriate tasks, and always assist younger children with the stove, oven, toaster oven, and microwave. Finally, make sure that the water heater in your home is set to 120 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. Always test the temperature of the water as it comes out of the tap before placing your young children in a bath or putting their hands under running water.
DROWNING PREVENTION:
Again, a topic important enough we have dedicated an entire post to it. You can find more information on drowning prevention here.
CHILD PASSENGER SAFETY:
Injury or death from vehicle accidents are significantly reduced when passengers are properly restrained. Make sure that your child is in a size-appropriate car seat or booster seat, and that the seat is properly installed in your vehicle.
Verify the seat that your child needs based on their height and weight, and not on their age. Texas Children’s Hospital has a resource for finding a location that can inspect the installation of your car seat.
Let’s work together to keep the kids in our community safe. Of course, in the event of an emergency, Neighbors Emergency Center is open 24/7 and handles all pediatric emergencies.