November is Child Safety Month: What You Need to Know Now

About 14,000 children, from birth to age 19, die of injuries each year in the United States. According to the Education Development Center, 227,000 children are hospitalized, and 8.7 million of them visit the emergency room. 

Therefore National Child Safety and Protection Month was created in November – to raise awareness and educate parents on how to establish a safe environment for their children at home and wherever they roam from day to day.

What Are Some Home Safety Tips Parents Should Follow?

A common risk for children at home is accidental poisoning from ingesting medications or chemicals. The American Association of Poison Control recommends that parents keep these potential poisons out of reach from children, along with these other tips:

• Store all cleaning supplies, medicines, and chemicals on a high shelf or locked away, and store them away right after using them.
• Only purchase medications with childproof lids. Do not use food containers to store nonfood items.
• Save the Poison Control number on a cell phone.

Bathroom Safety Tips

Parents should secure bathrooms to ensure their children’s safety by keeping the water heater temperature low to avoid any burns, securing all razors and medications out of reach, and installing a slip mat in the bathtub to prevent slips and falls.

More Safety Tips Around the House

Danger lurks at every corner of a home, so it is critical for parents to go through a safety checklist to safeguard other areas of the house to protect children from potential accidents, such as:

• Covering electrical outlets with child proof covers and keeping cords out of reach
• Using child safety locks on cabinets and child safety gates
• Regularly checking smoke and carbon monoxide detector batteries and testing the detectors
• Keeping walkways, hallways, and stairs clutter-free
• Keeping small objects, like hard candy, away from small children
• Keeping pillows, blankets, and comforters out of baby cribs

What Are Some Water Safety Tips?

Backyard pools are common amenities found in homes throughout Nevada, which is why it is so essential for parents to keep child safety in mind when it is time for pool playtime by following tips that include:

• Never leaving small children unattended near any size water feature
• Establishing safety rules and educating children on them, such as no running or no pushing
• Always holding infants and toddlers in and around water

Bike Safety Rules for Children

Bike riding is a fun family activity, but parents should still be mindful of these safety tips for kids to reduce the risk of injury, such as:

• Wearing a helmet that fits properly 
• Riding on the sidewalk whenever possible or, if that is not possible, riding in the same direction as car traffic
• Using hand signals and following the same rules as car traffic
• Wearing bright colors or reflectors on clothes when riding at night
• Staying together as a family until the children are old enough to ride on their own

Car Safety Rules That Parents Should Follow

Car accidents pose the biggest risk to children’s safety. In 2020, 607 child passengers ages 12 and younger were killed in car crashes in the United States, and more than 63,000 were injured, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of those children who died, 38 percent were not wearing a seatbelt. 

It is imperative for parents to make sure their child is correctly fitted in the car seat for their height and weight in the back seat of the vehicle. According to the CDC, however, car seats and booster seats are often misused – up to 85 percent – which makes them less effective.

Some of the most common errors they found were:

• Loose car seat installation and harness
• An incorrect recline angle for rear-facing car seats
• A harness that is behind the child’s arms, legs, or back
• Improper lap belt or shoulder belt position for booster seats

Child car seats progress in three stages: rear-facing, forward-facing, and booster seats. There are many child passenger laws in place from state to state. In Nevada, children under 2 years old must ride in a rear-facing child safety seat in the back seat, and children under 6 years old and less than 57 inches tall are required to be restrained with a safety harness.

If adults do not abide by a state’s child passenger safety laws, they may have to face first-offense fines from $10 to $500 or driver’s license point penalties. 

What Parents Need to Know About Children’s Internet Safety

It is critical nowadays for parents to teach their children about the risks online, how to avoid them, or how to report unsafe activity, such as inappropriate websites, malware, scams, or sexual predators. 

Parents should make children aware of some good safety rules, such as:

• Not posting their photo on public sites
• Never giving out any personal information
• Never agreeing to meet someone they met online
• Not opening emails sent from a stranger
• Reporting any inappropriate messages, like bullying

Additional Internet safety tips include:

• Keeping children’s electronic devices in a common area of the home 
• Checking children’s browser history
• Activating privacy search features and notifications if this has been breached
• Keeping track of their passwords

What Parents Should Know About Child Safety at School

Parents can do everything in their power to set high safety standards at home and any time they are around their children, but they do not have direct control of their child’s safety at school. 

If their child was hurt while at school (or daycare) under someone else’s supervision, they should:

Get Medical Attention

If the child has been physically injured, do not delay. Take them to urgent care, a pediatrician, or the emergency room, depending on the type and level of injury. Parents should also keep track of everything the physician says, save medical bills, paperwork, and instructions, and keep a record of how long they will need to miss school.

File an Accident Report

Talk further with school administration to discuss the details of the accident and file an accident report if one has not already been completed. If bullying was involved, ask what that student’s punishment will be. 

Talk to an Attorney

It may be a good idea for the best interest of the child to hire an attorney who is an expert in deciphering who is at fault for an injury at school. 

If your child was injured, please call 702-680-1111 or contact us online so we can start discussing your case.