Families today are inundated with bad environmental news. Climate change, super-bugs, explosive growth of autism, and tainted food supplies hover around our subconscious making us jumpy, nervous, and helicopter-y. As more and more people become professors of Internet research, misinformation is easily promulgated and theories are pushed as facts.
Clearly, some of these concerns are valid. When even organic foods such as Pirate's Booty are recalled, how can we keep from collapsing on the floor in a pile of environmental angst?
According to an article in the journal Pediatrics, the leading
risks to infants, children and adolescents are totally preventable and not related to environmental factors at all.
Here are the top hazards to young children today and tips for reducing risk of injury:
- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome -- By placing sleeping infants on their backs and keeping their home smoke-free, the risk of SIDs is vastly reduced.
- Falls
-- Infants and toddlers can suffer head injuries by falling down stairs, off of beds, or out of strollers.
- Car accidents -- Proper installation of car seats and booster seats can prevent serious injury.
- Vehicle Back Over Accidents -- Take great care when backing up the car. Make sure all children are out of the driveway and that you have visual contact with them.
- Burns
-- Infants can suffer burns from kitchen equipment or hot items pulled
off the table, as well as hot water in a tub and uncovered radiators.
Toddlers should never have access to matches, cigarette lighters or other fire hazards.
- Poisoning
-- As soon as children can crawl, they are at risk of poisoning from
medications, household chemicals, pesticides and rodent killers. Store any dangerous materials behind cupboards with childproof
locks.
By taking basic safety precautions we can do far more to protect our children, than we achieve by buying organic food, taking them to Gymboree, or making them watch Baby Einstein videos. Worrying is easier, but far less effective to insure our children's safety.
