Safety Information for You and Your Family

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Childproofing Your Home 

To make sure that your home is a safe haven for your children - and you - learn to spot and eliminate hazards throughout the house. This checklist will show you how. [Go to Checklist].

Keep Emergency Information In Eye Sight
by Rosalie Pleiman

Did your child just swallow something he shouldn't have? Don't panic.  Just look on your previously designated emergency information board.  This board can be on your refrigerator, just as long as kids don't "redecorate" your fridge and move it on you.  Or you can have a bulletin board with all of this information on it in your kitchen or study. 

This board should have all of your "What To Do If" scenarios on it.  Everyone who watches your children should know about the emergency board...yes even Grandma should know where it is...even though she'll tell you she raised you just fine without having one.  Emergency contact numbers as well as diagrams on CPR and the Heimlich maneuver are important as well.  Here are a few items that should be included on your board.

Poison Control Center: 1-800-222-1222 or go to their website at http://www.aapcc.org/DNN/

Fire Emergency: Call 911.  Also, look up your local fire department numbers just in case you have any questions under non emergency situations.

Police Emergency: Call 911. But you also want to keep your local police number handy just in case you have any non emergency relation questions or situations.

CPR instructions: First, please consider taking a CPR class; second, put up a few illustrations that will help you remember the steps.  Check out the American heart Association's CPR page for more information. 

And yes...there is an app for that check out http://www.americanheart.org. The application is $3.99, but well worth it.

Always add your current destination, the phone number you can be reached, and an emergency contact backup such as a close friend or neighbor.  Sometimes things go wrong with your cell phone..you accidentally turned it off or you "butt dialed" someone and your phone is busy.  It's very important to have a seperate emergency contact for such dunder-head instances.  

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Keeping Children Safe From Child Abduction

·         Every 40 seconds another child is reported missing.

·         One in every 42 children will become abducted, missing, lost or runaway.

·         Over 2000 children are reported missing each day

·         Over 725,000 reported missing children every year.

·         The rate of missing children has increased 444% since 1982.

·         Most abducted children are recovered or killed in the first 3.2 hours.

Child abduction is a frightening thing to think about, but as a parent you must consider the odds of your child being abducted.  Knowledge and action are the best defense against child abduction.  Telling your child to never talk to strangers is a great idea, but it shouldn't end there.  Child abductors ask children for help, for example, to help them find their dog that ran away, or to help them find a store close by.  Children may feel conflicted when this happens because parents tell their children to help people as much as they can.

The two ideas: never talk to strangers, but help people as much as you can, will conflict when a stranger asks them to help out.  Your child must know that strangers that ask them for help, when their mom or dad aren't around, are more likely strangers that might want to do them harm.  Tell your child to just say no and find the adult that they are with and tell them what happened.  Also tell your child to never get into a car with a stranger for any reason, and to never go off with them anywhere, even if they threaten them with violence or hold a weapon on them.  If a child goes with the abductor because of the threat of violence, the child is better off screaming and yelling, "NO-STRANGER-HELP!" in a public place than going somewhere with the abductor that has a weapon. 

As parents we cringe to think about this happening to our children, but you and your child must be prepared for the possibility.  The next article on child safety will include advice on how to keep children safe from being abducted by people the child knows.

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MyPreciousKid.com offers a wide variety of safety ID's for your kids. Click here to go to their website.

How to Properly Intall Child Safety Seats

Car Seat Inspections - This is a site to check if you have your child's car seat correctly installed by having it inspected by a professional for free.

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