Want to Save Your Kid's Life? Do These 5 Things
Of course there’s nothing wrong with buying organic or avoiding unnecessary chemicals. I try to do both for my kids whenever I can. But when it comes to actually being able to save your child’s life and preventing major injuries, a few other factors matter more.
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1. Teach your child to swim.
I know, swim lessons are expensive and time-consuming. Some kids hate them, and you may need to get into the pool with them, but your kid needs to know how to swim early.
I’m emphasizing this point first because it’s personal for me. Not long ago I held in my arms a small child who was found at the bottom of a pool and had stopped breathing. He was blue and unconscious.
Children ages 1 to 4 have the highest drowning rates. In 2009, among children 1 to 4 years old who died from an unintentional injury, more than 30% died from drowning. Drowning is responsible for more deaths among children 1-4 than any other cause except congenital anomalies (birth defects).1
Yes, drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death in kids.
If you spend money on one activity for your kids, it should be swimming lessons. Not just “splash in the pool” lessons, but ones where the focus is on teaching kids how to get to the side of a pool or float until help arrives, should they fall in or find themselves struggling in water.
I can tell you that it happens in a moment, in a flash. It’s silent, there usually isn’t any splashing or yelling for help. They slip under and are gone.
Teach your kid to swim. Now. And never take your eyes off your children when they’re near water.
2. Learn CPR.
Nobody thinks they’re going to need CPR, but knowing that drowning is a leading cause of death in small children and that CPR can help save the life of a child who has stopped breathing, you should be compelled to learn.
One boy in the news who nearly drown was saved after more than 100 minutes of CPR, with no pulse. That’s an unusual case, but it’s testimony to how essential CPR is in saving kids’ lives.
You may never have to use it, but if the time comes that a child needs CPR, and you don’t know it, you’ll spend the rest of your life regretting never having learned. That’s a regret you’ll never get over.
I was fortunate that a firefighter friend of mine basically forced me to learn. This helped me know what to do when a child I knew was the one who stopped breathing.
It doesn’t take long, and you don’t necessarily need to be certified. There are special short instruction sessions given regularly nearly everywhere in America. Find one - even one online is better than nothing! Learn. Don’t be afraid to use it should the time come.
Trust me, I’m glad I took the ten minutes out of my life to learn, because that child survived and is doing great.
3. Use proper child safety seats in cars, and make sure they’re installed correctly.
Get this:
Even though children’s rate of death in auto accidents plummeted by 40% between 2002-2011, there were still 9000 deaths of kids in car crashes in that time in the U.S. Nine thousand.
In 2010 alone, almost 900 children died in car crashes.
But child safety seats can help save your kid’s life, if used properly and properly installed.
Car seat use reduces the risk for death to infants (aged <1 year) by 71%; and to toddlers (aged 1–4 years) by 54% in passenger vehicles.2
Booster seat use reduces the risk for serious injury by 45% for children aged 4–8 years when compared with seat belt use alone.
A 50-70% reduction in death. Let that sink in. And visit the DMV’s guide to correct use and installation. And have your kid’s seat inspected - for free!
The CDC elaborates on the problem of kids not buckled in properly:
In the United States during 2011, more than 650 children ages 12 years and younger died as occupants in motor vehicle crashes, and more than 148,000 were injured.
One CDC study found that, in one year, more than 618,000 children ages 0-12 rode in vehicles without the use of a child safety seat or booster seat or a seat belt at least some of the time.
4. Install smoke detectors and make sure they work.
The deaths of seven beautiful children in Brooklyn has fire safety on all of our minds right now, where there was no evidence of smoke detectors in the living areas of the home.
The best thing you can do to help save your kids’ lives in a fire is to install smoke alarms and make sure they’re installed correctly.
The FDNY Fire Zone website gives a great guide to smoke alarms, but the basics are this:
1. A smoke alarm on every level of your home, including basement and attic.
2. A smoke alarm in every sleeping area or bedroom of your home.
3. Place smoke alarms up high - smoke rises!
4. Test smoke alarms once a month and replace batteries every year. One idea is to make New Year’s Day the battery change date to help you remember.
5. Have a fire escape plan.
Smoke detectors are important, but your kids also need to know what to do in the event of a fire.
Practice with your kids your plan, walk through the actions, have them open the doors or window they may need to open in order to get outside, and have them walk to the meeting area where your family will meet in the event of a fire.
Find a family escape plan guide for your local area, or start with this one from the FDNY.
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These five things above are just a start, obviously. There are many other things we need to teach our kids to keep them safe: How to call 911 and give helpful information, how to handle a stranger approaching them, how to feel empowered in ways that could help keep them safe from sexual abuse, how to cross a busy road, and much more!
So, to all you great parents out there who are diligently applying non-chemical sunscreens, watching out for pesticides, avoiding toxic plastics, I salute you - and I’m one of you!
But prioritize first and foremost the basics of keeping kiddos safe. The rate of accidental deaths of kids is dropping, but we need to do more. Too many innocent lives are taken from us each year. Let’s take responsibility and help our kids live long, happy lives.
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Originally appeared at The Good Men Project
More from GMP:
Parents: 6 Common Phrases (You Might Be Saying!) That Should Be Banned In Your House
33 Ridiculous THings You Had No Idea You Had to Teach Your Kids
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