This Weeks Safety Tip

Burns   250,000 children from age 17 and under are burned each year. Burns are the second leading cause of accidental death in the United States. 50% all of burns could have been prevented. Children playing with fire account for more than one-third of preschool child deaths by fire. The kitchen is the most frequent area in the home where burn injuries occur for children newborn to four years of age. The next most frequent area is in the bathroom. Burns and fires are the leading cause of accidental death in the home for children age 14 and under. 15,000 children are hospitalized each year for serious burns of which 1,100 kids will die from the burn injuries they sustain. Scalding is the leading cause of burns for children. Safety Tip: When cooking on the stove always use your back burners first and be aware of your child in the kitchen when the stove is on and you’re cooking. Most kitchen burns occur when a small child pulls a boiling pot of the stove. Check your hot water heater and make sure the gauge is set at a reasonably safe temperature, which is hot enough for use but will not burn.
When my first daughter was 2 years old she grabbed a hot iron off the ironing board and burned her hand severely. I packed her hand in ice and instead of taking off for the hospital we drove to the nearest Kmart where I purchased an Aloe Vera plant. I rushed out to the car where my wife and little girl was waiting, her little hand still packed in the melting ice but not giving her very much comfort any more. I broke open the Aloe Vera plant and begin to run the gel like juice on the burn. Immediately the pain was gone and we were able to take away the ice completely. Almost in an instant the burn stopped hurting and my daughter was relieved and stopped crying. It was a dramatic morning but remembering from my childhood that my mother always kept an Aloe Vera plant just for that purpose I knew what to do and it worked. My advice to you if you have small children who could suffer a burn, go out and buy an Aloe Vera plant. It’s am easy plant to take care of and you can keep it any where in a little pot all year round, accessible for when you need it.

Bathtub   Each year over 350 small children drown in the bathtub. To prevent your child from becoming a bathtub drowning statistic follow these simple safety rules. Never fill the bath to the top of the tub with water; even half full may still be too much water. Depending on the child’s age and size, never fill the tub to where the child's head could be submerged. NEVER leave a small child left alone in the bathtub. Sometimes a child if left alone will attempt to get out of the bathtub by itself and because the bathtub may be slippery, they can slip and fall bumping their head on the hard tub surface becoming unconscious with the possibility of drowning. When the bath is finished and it's time to get out of the tub, before you take your child out of the bathtub be sure to pull the stopper to drain the water.
If you leave the tub full of water and you have more then one child in the house, while you're attending to the child who just got out of the tub another child can come along behind you, accidentally fall into the tub and drown. Remember this simple rule. Pull the stopper; pull the baby.

Car Safety. Children under the age of 12 should never ride in the front seat, especially if your car is equipped with an air bag. All children regardless of age should always wear a seat belt when riding in the car. If you have a small child that requires a car seat, be sure to secure the car seat down tightly so that it does not move around. Some parents for convenience will place the car seat on one side or the other in the back seat in order to make it easier to put the baby in the seat or to take the baby out. The safest place in the car for a child to be is in the back seat riding in the middle. Never place a car seat in the front seat; this is very dangerous to do so. Keep your child safe when riding in the car by following these simple safety rules.

Internet Safety: 75% of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services.
The same 75% will not tell their parents about any offers they may have received for personal information. Talk to your kids about Internet safety. Be sure they understand the need for privacy and security, which helps to protect your family from people who would do your family harm. Do not just assume your child knows something. How can your child know anything unless you teach them? Make your child aware that sharing personal information puts them at risk of being stalked by a predator. Just like in the park when a stranger offers a child candy or money to go for a walk, predators on the Internet make the same offers but sometimes by way of Free Videos or Free Music CD’s and so on. Checkout any website that you are not familiar with to make sure it is a legitimate company with a legitimate offer before you give out any information over the Internet. Sit down with your child and determine which websites are ok to order from if you have given your child permission to participate in any give away offers on the Internet. Names you already know and trust like Disney, Nickelodeon or Sesame Street are ok but teach your kids if anyone asks them for personal information they should always come tell you as if it were a stranger in the park who had just offered them candy.
Make your child aware of the dangers that exist on the Internet that they should always come tell you if a website looks suspicious. Let your child know by coming to tell you about a website that just asked them for personal information may helped to catch a bad person and save some child’s life. For more information click on these links,   Protect Kids