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JULY 29, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Parenting Pearls
Summer Safety By Sara Rayvych, MSEd
T
he summer season is a time for more outdoor play and fun. Most of us, particularly the children, enjoy being in the fresh air and warmer weather. We wait out those long, cold winter months until we can do those special activities that can only take place during the summer. Along with the extra fun comes the extra need for precautions as we set out further from our homes and enjoy more excitement. Kids thrive on being outdoors. Once the warm weather hits, the kids are practically begging to be let outside. The extra space to run and freedom to enjoy themselves are intoxicating for youngsters. By setting up a few safety measures and a little proper planning, we can give them the freedom and fun along with the safety to enjoy it. As none of us are experts on everything, in this article, I’m simply pointing out a few areas of concern. Parents should take advantage of their pediatrician’s knowledge and all the safety organizations that publish in-depth safety information on their various areas of expertise.
Helmets and Safety Gear Helmets and other safety gear exist for important reasons – they keep you and your child safe. But they don’t work if they’re not used properly. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked down the street and have seen children wearing helmets in a way that renders them useless; do they think they’re a head ornament? When helmets are worn loosely or too far back on the head, they don’t protect your child where they need it. Even worse, I’ve seen helmets with the strap completely unstrapped. If, chas v’shalom, there’s an accident, does a child really think the helmet will still remain on their head?
Parents should take the time to look online or use the enclosed instructions to ensure their child is wearing helmets and all safety gear correctly – each time. Teach by example and wear your safety gear, too. It takes only a few minutes before an activity to ensure you have the appropriate gear and are using them correctly. A note on bicycle and scooter behavior. We all need to be menschlech in all of our actions. It’s sad to see how often that can be forgotten when riding, especially on the sidewalk. It’s worth taking a few minutes to point out to children the correct way to pass people after slowing down on the sidewalk and alerting someone to their presence. I’ve seen many children nearly knock people over, scream “move” (or something similar) just before passing, or simply ring their bell incessantly hoping the pedestrian will hear them. Just as we teach bicycle safety before they ride in the street, we also want them to learn safety on the sidewalk and that includes being safe with others using the same path.
Fire Safety I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention fire safety. Grills and fire pits are among the few ways we incorporate fire into our summer celebrations. Children need continuous supervision whenever there is a fire present. Families should have more than one responsible adult to help supervise if there will be more than one little person around. Never assume one person can sufficiently watch multiple children; little people are quick and they have no sense of danger. It can be beneficial to have toddlers and the younger kids in a stroller or buckled in in some other way. Baby carriers that are worn by an adult are one way to keep the youngest celebrants close to an adult and secured. Never wear a baby or toddler if you’re the one tending to the fire or food on the BBQ. Discuss fire safety in advance with children old enough to understand. They should know to not play with fire and not come close to fire. Even if they have been taught fire safety, you shouldn’t rely on that but still keep a good watch over them. If someone they see is playing
with fire, children need to inform an adult. Fire danger isn’t the time to be makpid on lashon hara (nor is that really lashon hara but children can’t always tell the difference). If they see fire, they need to inform an adult immediately. Children should know to never try to deal with the situation themselves. Fire can quickly escalate, chas v’shalom, and children should run rather than take matters into their own hands. October is Fire Safety Month. The local fire departments have traditionally held special events and it’s worth finding out what’s available when October nears. They can give you far better information than I can. Additionally, they can show children how firefighters look in full gear. It’s important for children to see how firefighters will appear during an emergency. It’s frightening to think about, but I’ve been told by firefighters that little children have become scared of them wearing their full protective equipment during fires and have hid from them rather than allowing a firefighter to bring them to safety. This was especially true if the child felt they were responsible for the fire and was afraid of getting in trouble. Children need to know that reporting a fire and getting to safety is more important than avoiding guilt. Children also should know how a firefighter looks and that they’re the one they should go to in an emergency and not someone to not run from.
Beyond Stranger Danger We often focus on the dangers of strangers but it needs to be pointed out that children are statistically more at-risk from someone they know and trust than from a stranger, lo aleinu. A full discussion on this is beyond the scope of this article, but I will mention a few points.
