Safety Guide: Ensuring Summer and Home Safety Part 1

Where there's fun for kids, there are safety concerns for parents. Careful supervision is the most important thing you can do. I understand that watching your child like a hawk 24/7 is not an option, so I’ve put together a comprehensive safety guide to help make your life easier and your summer more enjoyable. This is part of a three (maybe four)-part series (there’s lots of information) so check back over the next few days to get the complete article. Did you know that approximately half of all non-fatal unintentional injuries to children occur in the home? According to the National SAFE KIDS Campaign, every year, nearly 4.5 million kids ages 14 and under are hurt in their homes. Almost all of these injuries are preventable therefore; parents need make home safety a priority and be vigilant about enforcing safety rules. Fire and burns, drowning, suffocation, choking, unintentional firearm injuries, falls, and poisonings account for the most common causes of fatal injuries to children in their homes. Children ages 4 and under represent 70 percent of these deaths. First I’ll deal with few issues that pose greater threat during the summer: Car Accidents The hours just before and after sunset pose the greatest danger for children playing outside. Visibility is limited during twilight, and a driver's depth perception is reduced by low light levels. 1. Be sure that all evening play clothes have reflective cloth strips. Including bikes, helmets, and backpacks (especially jackets, coats, and wind breakers). 2. If you’re going on an evening stroll, take a flashlight — especially if all or most of the walking is alongside roads and streets without sidewalks. 3. It is not safe to ride bikes at night unless the bike has reflectors, head lamps, and other night-riding safety features. Playing in the Street City streets and country roads aren't playgrounds and should not be used for a place for kids to play. If however, you allow your kids to play in the street or on lightly traveled roads, here are some safety tips. 1. Stop all play when a vehicle is spotted and have the children move to the side of the road. The can resume play after the vehicle has passed. 2. Buy inexpensive traffic cones marked "Play Area Ahead" to alert drivers that kids are playing in the area. Cones should be placed on the centerline, not to block traffic and located a few hundred feet away from the play area. Remove cones when kids are finished playing or bike riding. Water Kids who may not know the rules of being around water are most threatened by playing in ponds, swamps, streams, and rivers, exercise caution and be sure to have an adult with children playing in water areas. Wooded Areas 1. Tellwhat to do if they get lost in the woods after dark. Let them know that their best survival bet, if lost, is to stay in one place and wait to be found. 2. Provide your children with a small penlight and a whistle; both attached to a key chain or clipped to the inside of a jacket. Tell them they are not toys not a toy and should only be used for emergencies. Tomorrow learn about safety recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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Nicholas Gilbert  - Ivar Shelf Design Backpacks - Ergonomics & Organiz |Registered |2010-10-30 03:05:15 I wanted to share some info on a backpack I recently purchased called the Ivar Revel G2 (in Black / Grey). Ivar is a new backpack brand that more and more people are talking about these days because of their patented shelf designs. So, in a typical backpack, load your stuff in and everything falls to the bottom. All the weight sits on your lower back - and it's uncomfortable and there's no organization. Please note Ivar's website helped me with the wording on how to explain this!!! Ivar backpacks are built with an internal Shelf Design architecture that provides weight distribution and organization of your stuff. Whereas a basic backpack (like JanSport) is just an open sack (basically), Ivar's are definitely the more intelligent, ergonomic, and organizing alternative. The Sharper Image Catalog is carrying Ivar's "Pilot" model, and on the Ivar website, there are several other models to choose from. They're all quite sporty yet very mature and sleek in design. I'd say ...