Protecting your child from accidents
Accidents are the leading cause of death among children. We can’t keep our children in a bubble, but we can be on the lookout for hidden dangers:
- A parade float can run over a child along a parade route
- Recalled toys, broken toys or toys that aren’t age-appropriate can harm a child.
- Home exercise equipment, such as treadmills, injure about 25,000 children every year.
- Window blind cords can form loops that strangle young children.
- A paper shredder can cause finger lacerations and amputations.
- Balloons cause more choking deaths than balls, marbles or small toy parts.
- Escalators injured about 11,000 people in 2007, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
- Children can drown in high water, storm drains and ditches when flash flooding occurs.
- Shopping carts continue to be unsafe. The CPSC reports that falls from shopping carts are among the leading causes of head injuries to young children.
- Inflatable slides, bounce houses and climbing walls send thousands to the emergency room each year. About one person dies in such a device every year.
- Large appliances and pieces of furniture can tip over on top of a climbing child. Additionally, large items on the furniture, such as a television set, can fall onto a child.
- The upper bunk of a bunk bed is not suitable for children under the age of six.
- A car can be a death trap for a curious toddler or preschooler who finds a way in — but not a way out — of the trunk.
- Kids should wear a helmet when they use Heelys — shoes with wheels, like rollerskates — just as they would when riding a bike, scooter or skateboard.
- A public fireworks display is safer than letting your child play with sparklers, which can reach over 1,000 degrees and cause half of the fireworks-related injuries to kids under five.
Hazards surround our children every day. While bumps and bruises are normal and expected, it’s a parent’s job to protect their child from serious injury. Be on the lookout — at home and away from home — for potential danger zones.
