By Renee Martinez
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 a 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. They 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 center line, 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 near ponds, swamps, streams, and rivers. Exercise caution and be sure there is an adult with children playing in water areas.
Wooded Areas
1. Tell kids what 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 and should only be used for emergencies.
Tomorrow, learn about safety recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
About the Author: Renee Martinez consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire.
Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
