The Safety Mom Chronicles

Tips For A Safe 4th of July

It's still two days before the 4th of July but my entire family is already getting excited about the holiday!  We live in a typical small town that has a 5K Run in the morning followed by a town barbeque, live music and of course fireworks.  Unfortunately two of my children are still small enough that the fireworks scare them but my 10-year old can't wait!  Last year he was at a friend's home and came close to getting burned by a sparkler so I wanted to share some safety tips to help ensure everyone has a fun and safe holiday!

Fireworks safety:

• Don't allow any child under 12 years of age to handle sparklers or fireworks
• Establish a "do not cross" line to keep kids away from the area you are lighting fireworks
• Make sure to keep a fire extinguisher and a bucket of water nearby along with a cordless phone
• Dont' try to relight a "dud" firework.  Wait 20 minutes and then immerse in water

Barbeque safety:

• Keep the area around the barbeque free of any objects that a child can trip over
• Don't leave sharp knives or other utensils hanging from the grill
• Never leave a lit grill unattended
• As soon as you're done, shut the propane tank and replace the cover

Party safety:

• If you're serving drinks such as margaritas or other mixed drinks be sure that you constantly scan the area for half-filled drinks which kids could mistake for punch
• Establish with your partner who is in charge of watching the kids at any time and be sure that person is not drinking
• If your children will be on riding toys, including skateboards and Razr Scooters, bring along the proper safety gear
• If you are visiting a friend's home with a pool be extra vigilant in watching your children

 

An ATV Tragedy Close To Home

This weekend I was heartbroken to learn that a 14-year-old boy in my town died tragically in an all terrain vehicle (ATV) accident.  Unfortunately he had been riding with no helmet or safety gear and crashed into a tree.  The eight grader had just been sitting next to my friend's son at their graduation the day before. 

Sadly, it appears that ATV deaths and injuries are on the rise.   According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, at least 555 people — including more than 100 children — died in all-terrain vehicle accidents in 2006. Government safety officials expect the number to go much higher as they receive information from coroners and hospitals nationwide.

The majority of these accidents occurred when kids were riding adult-size ATVs, were riding recklessly and/or without the proper safety gear. 

ATVs don't require a license to drive, so many parents think they are a safe toy for kids. The reality is, however, that they are not a toy at all but a very powerful vehicle that most tweens and teens don't have the ability to control.  According to the ATV Safety Institute, more than 90 percent of child injuries are caused by improper driver behavior.

Here's what you can do to keep your kids safe on ATVs.

• Make sure they are riding the right size ATV.
  
• Have your child take a training course.
  
• Make sure they wear a helmet.
  
• They should wear protective gear - like boots, gloves and googles.
  
• And always supervise your children while they are riding.

Laws vary from state to state when it comes to riding on public land, but the ATV Safety Institute says, no one younger than 6 years old should be on an ATV.

Also, parents can buy ATVs that are smaller and made specifically for kids. Not only are they smaller in size, but they don't go as fast. Parents have the ability to change the speed, so if they don't want their kids going more than 5 miles per hour, they can make the ATV go no more than 5 miles an hour.

For information about ATV training courses in your area, contact the ATV Safety Institute at (800) 887-288 or log on to www.atvsafety.org.

What You Need to Know About Dry Drowning

This week, the news was filled with a report of a 10-year-old boy in South Carolina who died from "dry drowning" - a little known phenomenon in which a person drowns without being in water.  There is a delayed effect - between one hour and twenty four hours - from the time the water reaches the person's lungs.  Every year, about 4,000 American's die from dry drowning. 1,400 of them being children.  It usually happens in people who are swimming for the first time or those who are not good swimmers.  People suffering from asthma are also more at risk. 

I never heard of this before this week and I tend to suspect most people haven't.  But it's important for parents to recognize the symptoms and take them seriously.  The most important signs are extreme fatigue, difficulty in breathing and changes in behavior.  All are the result of reduced oxygen flow to the brain.  If your child has any of these symptoms and he has recently been swimming you should immediately take him to the hospital. 

This is just one more example of the dangers of pools and swimming.  Remind every mom you know that it's critical to always keep an eye on kids when they're in the water. 

Latest MySpace Cyberbullying Victim

This week an 8th grade girl in Florida is missing her graduation.  She's too embarrassed to go because she's afraid she'll be teased about the sexual comments that have been posted on her My Space page.  The problem is, she isn't the one who has been posting these messages.  This little girl is the most recent victim of cyberbullying

Shameeka Mucklin made the unfortunate mistake of giving her MySpace password to some friends.  After a falling out, these ex-friends changed her e-mail information and password so that Shameeka no longer had access to her own MySpace page.  They then began posting sexually provocative comments under all of Shameeka's pictures.  Within hours, the 14 year-old began getting calls to her cell phone from adult men asking to meet her and wondering if "she'd do what she talked about on her MySpace page."

Shameeka's mother has contacted MySpace but has still not received a response.  The local police department is conducting an on-going investigation into this cyber-bullying case but for Shameeka the damage is done.  While MySpace says that it's sending out a list of safety guidelines, they're rather ineffective when dealing with devious teens. 

I'd be interested in hearing if your child has been the victim of cyberbullying or even if they've been a cyberbully.  How have you dealt with it?

Give Someone A Safety Tip for Mother's Day and Possibly Save a Life!

Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing moms out there!  Motherhood is a special club and the lifetime membership  fee is pretty high - your heart and soul - but we all give it willingly.  It is a club where this is no discrimination and we gladly welcome new members.   There is no secret handshake or code word but there is a secret power we all acquire - mother's intuition.  It is the most supportive club I have ever belonged to and my personal goal is to pass along wisdom gained along the way to new members.  And it's a club filled with the greatest joys as well as sorrows.  I was elated to become a part of the club in 1997 with the birth of my son Connor.  Sadly, my membership was "rescinded" a mere four months later when he died of Sudden Infant Death Sydrome.  I instantly fell into this strange gap in which my childless friends could not completely relate to my pain yet my friends with children were almost afraid to be around me lest my misfortune somehow rubbed off on them.  I had the good fortune of become a full fledged member once again a year later when my second son Spencer was born.  From that moment on I made it my mission to help in some way spare other moms the grief I experienced.  I devoted my life to child health and safety and became The Safety Mom.  Every day I interview experts, review information and educate myself on the many safety topic effecting our kids and pass this along to both new and "veteran" moms. 

Sadly, all too often, we never dream that tragedy will strike our children.  Unfortunately it does and I frequently hear from grief stricken moms saying "if only I knew."  This Mother's Day, let's reach out to our sister members in the most amazing club we will ever have the privilege of belonging to.  Pass along one safety tip that you have learned that could potentially save another child's life.  It could be about the importance of putting a fence around a pool, the warning signs of teen depression, the benefits of banking a baby's umbilical cord blood or the dangers facing our children on the Internet.  Childhood accidents are the leading cause of death for children 1 - 14 years of age.  Let's work together to make this statistic obsolete.  Let's start a movement to save our children and pay it forward!  What tip can you pass along?  I will soon be starting a discussion board on my site, thesafetymom.com so we can all learn from each other.  Happy Mother's Day to all!

Warning of School Threat Spread By Text - Help or Hystera?

There was an article on the cover of USA Today this morning about the power of text messaging in spreading rumors about potential school violence.  Apparently in the past several months many schools have seen wide spread absenteeism after students had used text messages to spread warnings about potential campus shooters, bomb threats and the like. 

As the article states, in nine out of ten times, these threats are unfounded but do you really want to take the chance of being that tenth one?  Schools are trying to respond rapidly when they learn of these texting waves by holding assemblies and sending automated phone messages to parents to assure them of the school's safety.  But once these text messages take off it's hard to control and schools are seeing, at times, two-thirds of their student body absent on a particular day in which violence has been threatened.  The article quoted a security expert who noted that "Mom finds out about it faster than the superintendent, the school board or even the building principal."

While this can be a problem I'm not sure it really bothers me.  Unfortunately we have seen too many times where a school has not acted quickly enough when they have learned of a planned attack.  As a Mom I want to be the one to make the decision whether to send my child to school if there is a threat of violence.   In this day and age with so many campus shootings it's difficult to predict what will happen.  Too often we hear friends of a gunman say that they had heard rumors something was going to happen.  While we can't live in a state of fear or overreact, I want to be the one to decide what I think is credible and whether I feel it's safe for my child to go to school. 

How do you feel?  Do you think the wave of texting is helping moms or causing hysteria?  What would you do if you learned of a threat that has occurred at your child's school?

Toyota's Teen Driving Program

I remember when I first got my driver's license  (oh so many years ago!)  I felt invincible.  Just like any other teenager, I felt completley in charge and believed I knew exactly what I was doing.  That is until the first time I drove on a wet, slippery road and spun across three lanes of traffic.  Unfortunately many teens overestimate their ability to handle situations that come up while driving.  That's why I was so happy to learn about "Toyota Driving Expectations."  This is a four hour driving course for parent and teens to complete together.    Offered free of charge in cities across the country, the program goes beyond what is taught in typical driver training classes by putting teens behind the wheel to face challenging, real-world scenarios under the supervision of professional drivers.  It is also one of the only programs of its kind that hosts teens and their parents os they can learn how to drive more safely together.

This course goes way beyond traditional drivers-ed classes and helps teens practice how to best keep their eyes on the road, learn about how anti-lock braking systems work on both wet and dry roads and demonstrate how everyday distractions can have unexpected hazardous effects.   Parents and teens also drive a "distraction course" -- as they drink water, change a CD and text.  At the end of the program, to reinforce what they learned, teens and parents develop a safe driving contract together to be put into practice when they return home.

The class is being held this weekend, 5/2 - 5/4, at Belmont Park Race Track in Elmont, NY.  You can register to attend and get more information by visiting www.toyotadrivingexpectations.com.

Have you taught your teen to drive or did you send them to driving school?  What sort of rules have you set up for your teen when it comes to driving?  I'd love to hear from you!

BPAs - What You Need to Know To Protect Your Baby!

Many parents are aware of the serious threat that Bisphenol-A (BPA) poses for our children.  For parents-to-be, grandparents and anyone else who is not familiar with this chemical, it is found in millions of plastic products to make them shatter resistant, most notably baby bottles, pacifiers, teethers and other plastic baby products.  Many researchers and scientists believe it causes a wide range of health problems, including breast and prostate cancer, infertility, diabetes and brain damage. 

On Friday, the Canadian government announced that it considers BPA dangerous and that it will most likely ban the use of BPAs in baby bottles.  Unfortunately it seems as if once again our government is going to be the last to recognize these dangers.  The FDA points to two studies that deem the chemical safe.  What they do not say is that these studies were funded by The American Plastics Council.

But parent's mounting concern about BPA is finally motivating manufacturers to take action.  Playtex has just announced it will distribute one million free samples of Playtex Drop-Ins Original Nurser Systems, which are free of BPAs.  It also announced that the balance of the product line will be converted to BPA-free material by year end.  Simply fill out the form and, while you're at it, download the chart which lists all of their products and whether they contain BPAs or Phthalates.

While I'm excited that Playtex is taking this step I wonder which other major manufacturers are selling BPA-tainted products.  I don't seem to be alone.  I have received numerous e-mails from parents asking if their particular bottle is safe.  In doing some research on this, I ran across an amazing blog -    Z Recommends which reviews toys and infant products.  In their Third Edition on BPA in Infant Care Products they have provided an exhaustive list of each manufacturer and the products that are BPA free.  You can even send them a text message to find out information on a particular product.  A big thank you for saving moms a tremendous amount of time trying to research all of these products!

Now it's time for moms to take action in protecting our children.  Just as we couldn't rely on the government to protect our children from lead-tainted toys, we cannot rely on them to protect our babies from toxic bottles, sippy cups and other basic items.  Visit Moms Rising.org and sign a petition that will be sent to the five major manufacturers of baby bottles to stop the use of BPAs in our children's products. 

How familiar are you with the issue of BPAs?  Let me know your thoughts on this subject!

Remembering Abigail

Last month 6 year-old Abigail Taylor died.   In June of last year Abigail was injured at the Minneapolis Golf Club when she sat on a wading pool drain.  The powerful suction ripped out part of her intestinal tract and she needed to receive a new small bowel, liver and pancreas.  Unfortunately she suffered setbacks, including a cancerous condition sometimes triggered by organ transplants. 

She did not, however, die in vain.  Her parents, Scott and Katey Taylor, lobbied for tougher regulations to help prevent similar injuries and, in December, President Bush signed a law that bans the manufacture, sale or distribution of drain covers that don't meet anti-entrapment safety standards.  It also incentivizes states to adopt comprehensive pool and spa safety laws including mandating that new pools be completely enclosed by a fence as well as educate pool owners, builders and service companies about drown prevention.

As we are starting to get into warm weather, please take a moment and consider the safety of your pool and every pool that your child might visit: 

• Be sure that there is a fence with a self-closing and self-locking gate completely encircling the pool. 
• Install a pool alarm as well as an alarm on any door or window leading out to the pool.
• Have everyone watching your children certified in CPR and First Aid.
• Keep a cordless phone with you at the pool at all times.

Too many times parents don't consider the safety of public pools or other family's pools.  Before allowing your children to swim at any pool be sure that safety measures are in place and that you feel completely comfortable with the surroundings. 

Connor's Birthday

Yesterday was my son Connor's 11th birthday.  Unfortunately, he wasn't here to share it with me.  Connor died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in 1997 when he was 3 months and 24 days old.  Even though he was with us for a short time he changed my life profoundly.  He was my little angel and continues to watch over our entire family.  Spencer, Kelsey and Hannah, my other three children, all know Connor and help us celebrate his life every year.  We have a tradition of writing messages to him on balloons and releasing them as we sing Happy Birthday.   

SIDS is unpreventable and unpredictable and his death left me filled with questions I probably won't ever have answered.  What I do know is that it's made me  incredibly aware of everything that can happen to babies and toddlers.   And I try to never take for granted how lucky I am to have my three other beautiful children.   

For more information about SIDS and risk reduction measures please visit www.firstcandle.org.