Happy Halloween
Your guide to a safe and spooky Halloween
Keep your children safe on Halloween H
From Staff Reports
alloween is one of the most exciting holidays for children because they can dress up in elaborate costumes and act out of character. However, as the sun goes down and trick-or-treaters start roaming the streets of your neighborhood, there are several things to worry about as a parent or guardian. Potentially hazardous costumes or accessories, tainted candy and crossing the street at night without supervision are only a few concerns that should be addressed prior to a child leaving the house. Children ages 5-14 are four times more likely to be killed while walking on Halloween evening, compared with other evenings of the year, according to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, which operates three hospitals with more than half a million patient visits annually. Falls are the leading cause of injuries among children on Halloween. Halloween is a fun time for children, but it also is an important time to be extra vigilant for possible safety hazards—so
that your children have a fun and safe evening. Beverly Losman of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Safe Kids Georgia offered these tips to parents who want to make this a safe Halloween: 4Avoid costumes with excessive flowing fabric, such as capes or sleeves. Loose clothing can easily brush up against a jack-o-lantern or other open flame, causing your child’s cos-
tume to catch on fire. 4Make sure your child’s costume fits properly. Oversized costumes and footwear, such as clown or adult shoes, can cause your child to trip and fall, bringing them home with more scrapes and bruises than candy. Avoid wearing hats that will slide over their eyes. 4Accessorize with flexible props, such as rubber swords or knives. Inflexible props can cause serious injury in case of a fall. 4Apply face paint or cosmetics directly to the face, and make sure it is non-toxic and hypoallergenic. A loose-fitting mask can obstruct a child’s vision. If a mask is worn, be certain it fits securely. Cut the eyeholes large enough for full vision. 4If possible, choose a brightly colored costume that drivers can spot easily. If not, decorate the costume with reflective tape and stickers. 4Always supervise children under the age of 13. Older children should trick-or-treat in a group, and a curfew should be established for them. Attach the name, address and phone number (including area code) of children under age 13 to their clothes in case they get separated from adults. Have each child carry a cell phone or some loose change in case they need to call home. 4Children should only go to welllit houses and remain on the porch within street view. 4Teach your child to cross the street only at crosswalks or intersections. Make sure he understands never to cross between parked cars and to always look both ways before crossing. Remind your child to stay on the sidewalk, if possible, and to walk facing traffic. Children should walk, not run, and avoid using shortcuts across backyards or alleys. Use flashlights when trick-or-treating in the dark. 4Remind your child not to eat any treats before you have a chance to examine them thoroughly for holes and punctures. Throw away all treats that are homemade or unwrapped. To help prevent your children from munching, give them a snack or light meal before they go trick-or-treating. 4Parents of food-allergic children must read every candy label in their child’s Halloween bag to avoid a potentially life-threatening situation for the child.
Halloween saf ‘Allowing your child to consume three cups of sugar is like standing by and watching them eat 200 packets of sugar.’ Dr. Stephanie Walsh
medical director of child wellness at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
fety includes good food choices From Staff Reports
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any of us spend hours decorating the house and creating the perfect costume for a spooky Halloween, but the spookiest part of Halloween might not be the scary costumes or the spider web on your front porch. The scariest part of Halloween might be the amount of fat, sugar and calories consumed by trick-or-treaters. By visiting 15 houses, the average trick-or-treater can collect up to 60 pieces of “funsize” candy on Halloween night, health officials estimate. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta looked at the calories, fat and sugar content of a bag of typical Halloween treats and found it to be equivalent to 4,800 calories, one-and-a-half cups of fat and three cups of sugar. “Allowing your child to consume three cups of sugar is like standing by and watching them eat 200 packets of sugar,” said Dr. Stephanie Walsh, medical director of child wellness at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. “Halloween and candy are synonymous, but it’s important to provide sweets in moderation and focus on the fun and family time of the event — not the candy.” According to Walsh, candies
with rich ingredients, such as chocolate and peanut butter, have the highest sugar and fat content. And many specialty Halloween candies, such as candy corn, contain unhealthy amounts of sugar if not consumed in moderation. Childhood obesity has become a threatening epidemic in the United States, and health officials are working to spread the message that it’s a problem that is usually avoidable. To combat this chronic illness, Dr. Walsh offers several tips to help families have a fun and healthy Halloween: 4The key word is moderation. Collect the Halloween candy from your kids after trick-ortreating and allow them to have one or two pieces per day. 4Offer to “buy back” the candy from your kids in exchange for a small toy. 4Provide plenty of water with the sweets, and set aside time to be active to help burn the extra calories consumed. 4Provide a nutritious meal that includes fruits and vegetables before going to gather candy. This will lower your child’s appetite for the sweets they are about to collect in the hours to come. 4Distribute candy with lower sugar and fat content, such as Sweet Tarts, to trick-or-treaters in your neighborhood.
Keep your pets safe, too H
From Staff Reports
alloween can be a fun time for the entire family, including the four-legged members. But there are special considerations when it comes to keeping your canine participants safe through the festivities. Candy is everywhere on Halloween, of course. It’s on bowls, on tables by the door, and in trick-or-treat bags carried at dog-level by children who usually aren’t paying close attention. Not to mention all the candy that gets dropped on the floor throughout the night. For a number of reasons, according to DogChannel.com, the website for dog lovers, it’s important to make sure that your dog doesn’t have free access to all of that candy. 4Over-eating of sugary and fatty candy by dogs can lead to pancreatitis, even when the candy is not specifically poisonous to them. 4Some candy, though, especially dark chocolate, is highly poisonous to dogs and can lead to sickness and even death. Chocolate of any kind should never be fed to dogs or left where they can get to it. 4Candy wrappers pose a special danger to dogs, as the cellophane and foil
ones cannot be digested and can wind up causing life-threatening bowel obstructions that can only be cleared through surgery. 4Raisins can be deadly to you dog. They are highly toxic and can cause kidney failure, leading potentially to death. Keep snacks with raisins in them far away from your canine friends. 4Dogs should not eat the shell or seeds of squash or pumpkins. 4Costumes can include pieces that are enticing, yet dangerous, for dogs to chew on. Do not allow your dog to chew on glow sticks, which can cause mouth pain, irritation and drooling, along with intestinal blockages. 4Keep kids’ costumes out of reach of your dog to remove any temptation to chew on the shiny and unusual parts that can resemble chew toys. 4If you’re dressing your dog in a costume, make sure the costume is neither too tight nor too loose, as injuries could result from one that doesn’t fit well. Also, put the costume on early to give the dog time to get used to it.
Take steps to protect teeth Children can enjoy some Halloween candy and still avoid sugar-related tooth decay, according to Dr. Margaret Mitchell, a Chicago dentist. Mitchell told HealthDay News that the key to preventing tooth decay lies in limiting not only the amount of candy children eat, but also how long the sugar remains in the mouth. Brushing teeth as soon as possible after eating candy may keep harmful bacteria from developing, she said, and eating the candy quickly in one sitting decreases the amount of time it is contact with the teeth. Children and parents can take several additional steps to protect their teeth, said Mitchell, owner of the
Mitchell Dental Spa. These include: 4Take inventory. Parents should examine their children’s candy and remove anything they consider unacceptable before allowing them to eat it. 4Avoid anything tacky or gummy. This type of candy can stick to teeth and cause decay. 4Be consistent. No matter what time of day children eat candy (day or night), they should remember to have good dental hygiene. 4Take precautions. Before Halloween rolls around, a dentist can put sealants into children’s teeth grooves to protect them against corrosion caused by too much sugar.
Be caref
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From Staff Reports
alloween is one of the best times of the year for children, but it can be one of the most dangerous as well. Since more pedestrians are on the roadways on Halloween, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles urges driver to be extra alert. DMV recommends motorists enter and exit driveways slowly and carefully, and stay below the posted speed limit, especially in residential areas. They should avoid passing other vehicles since they may be slowing down for trick-or-treaters, and should look out for children darting out between vehicles. According to Safe Kids USA, on average, twice as many kids are killed while walking on Halloween as compared to any other day of the year. Therefore, parents and caregivers are encouraged to trim children’s costumes or candy bags with reflective tape that will glow in the beam of a vehicle’s headlights. Costumes should
‘We urge Halloween party-goers to designate a sober driver and keep the party off the road.’ Richard D. Holcomb The Governor’s Highway Safety Representative
ful on the streets be short enough to prevent children from tripping and falling. Pedestrians are also encouraged to carry flashlights on Halloween. While trick-or-treating, children should walk (not run) from house to house and use the sidewalk if available, rather than walking in the street. If there is no sidewalk, pedestrians should walk beside the road, facing traffic so drivers can see them. “Parents should remind their children not to assume the right of way,” said DMV Commissioner Richard D. Holcomb, the Governor’s Highway Safety Representative. “Just because one car stops, doesn’t mean others will. Also, drivers may have
trouble-seeing trick-or-treaters.” Parents and caregivers are urged to plan their trick-or-treat route ahead of time to avoid busy, high-speed or multi-lane roads. They should decide before leaving home how the group will cross any streets. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Halloween has one of the highest rates of pedestrian injuries and fatalities in the United States. The number of deaths among pedestrians ages 5-14 is four times higher on Halloween evening than any other evening of the year, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “On Halloween, motorists are urged to watch out for trick-or-treaters, but they
also need to be aware of the possibility of impaired motorists,” Holcomb said. NHTSA reports that 48 percent of all highway fatalities across the nation on Halloween night in 2009 involved a driver with an illegal blood alcohol concentration. In Virginia, there were 308 crashes, 159 injuries and three traffic fatalities on Halloween in 2010; 41 of the crashes and 29 of the injuries were alcohol-related. “We urge Halloween party-goers to designate a sober driver and keep the party off the road,” Holcomb said. “Not only do you risk killing yourself or someone else, but the trauma and financial costs of a crash or an arrest for impaired driving are significant.”
Happy Halloween