tots [18 months–3 years]

accidental injuries, including choking and drowning, are the leading cause of death in children and send over 16 million kiddos to the emergency room each year

Your tot is eating grown up food and his number one way to investigate something new is to take a quick taste. It’s important you do your best to eliminate the opportunity for him to choke on something.

Be Prepared

A choking child is very scary. So, make sure you are CPR certified and know the Heimlich Maneuver. Educate yourself so you can react correctly and quickly when your tot needs you. Now, once you know what to do if your tot is choking, do your best to prevent ever having to use those skills:

• watch what you eat Food is a common cause of choking. Things that are hard and smooth such as raw vegetables or hard candies need to be chewed with a grinding motion and that typically isn’t mastered until the age of four. Soft foods such as grapes can also be choked on easily. Here’s a couple pointers to keep chow time safer: cut it Cut food into pieces especially soft foods like hot dogs, cheese cubes or grapes. Be aware of the choking hazard foods such as popcorn, cherries with pits, sunflower seeds, gum and all nuts pose and keep them away from your tot. watch it Keep an eye on your tot when he is eating. Make sure he is sitting and not playing, running, talking or just plain messing around when he is eating. Also, do NOT eat in the car. You don’t want to risk your child choking and you needing to worry about pulling over safely before you can help him.

• other lurking hazards The average home can be a minefield of choking hazards for your tot. Obviously you need to do your best to keep small objects out of your tot’s reach, but here are a few items to pay particular attention to: balloons Don’t let your tot blow-up or chew on a balloon. They can break or he can inhale them.

· coins Did you know that pennies made after 1983 contain highly corrosive zinc, which can create a hole in the stomach wall and allow intestinal bacteria to enter the stomach. See the doc if one of those buggers is eaten.

· crayons, jewelry, bottle caps…oh my It is impossible to completely baby proof your home, but you can take care of the obvious and use your judgment when buying new toys or leaving items within your tot’s reach.

Everyone has seen the TV story of the brave little boy that calmly called 911 for help when it was warranted. Well, someone had to teach him to do it. Our preschoolers are at the perfect age to teach this emergency response how to.

9-1-1 101

One of our biggest responsibilities is teaching our children how to react correctly to certain situations. Teaching them how and when to call 911 is a simple and critical lesson. Start with these three steps:

• who, what & where Now is time to teach your preschool his basic personal information so he can answer the following questions, which are important if he is ever separated from you or if he is making a call to 911:

∙ what is your full name? where do you live?

∙ what is your mommy’s/daddy’s name? what is your phone number?

• emergency or not Explaining to your preschooler what is and isn’t an emergency can start with examples such as “What do you do if there is a fire in our house?” or “What should you do if mommy gets hurt?” You can also talk about emergency response people and what they do to help people that are in trouble. Make sure you also discuss situations when you do not call 911.

• dialing how to In the day of cell phones and land lines, it’s important to teach your preschooler exactly how to dial 911 on each. Don’t forget the send or talk button. Go over exactly how you call 911 and have him practice [with the phone unplugged of course].

There are lots of websites and books you can purchase to help teach your preschooler about calling 911. Also check out our local libraries. They will have books and music you can bring home so the learning is so fun your preschooler won’t even know it’s happening!