It turns out that this year’s hottest holiday toy is safe after all. After the recent media coverage around toy safety, many parents are left wondering if other toys on their children’s wish lists are safe, too. I thought it would be helpful to share some tips for making sure children’s toys are safe during this holiday season, courtesy of Safe Kids New Jersey:

1. Before shopping for toys, consider the child’s age, interest and skill level. A fun, but inappropriate toy for a particular child can be dangerous.
2. Make sure toys intended for older children are stored separately from those for younger children.
3. Keep toys with small parts away from children under age 3. They can choke on small toys and toy parts.
4. Check regularly for damage that could create small pieces that are choking hazards. Make any necessary repairs immediately, or discard damaged toys out of the reach of children.
5. Actively supervise children when they are playing with riding toys as well as any toy that has small balls and small parts, magnets, electrical or battery power, cords and strings, wheels or any other potential hazard. Simply being in the same room as your child is not necessarily supervising. Active supervision means keeping the child in sight and in reach while paying undivided attention.

According to Safe Kids, most toys are safe, especially if you buy from a reputable retailer. Parents can stay informed about harmful products by visiting http://www.recalls.gov/ and signing up for email alerts on recalled children’s products.

 If secondhand toys are purchased, or received from friends or relatives, parents should visit http://www.cpsc.gov/ and make sure the toy hasn’t been recalled for safety reasons.

Safe Kids New Jersey has more tips and resources on toy safety to help parents keep kids safe this holiday season-as well as important information about kitchen safety and holiday decorating safety.

Parents and students have a reason to be extra cautious on their way to and from school. I was surprised to learn from a new Safe Kids study that one out of every six drivers in school zones is distracted. The Safe Kids New Jersey blog issued the following warning to drivers:

Almost one in six drivers in a school zone behaves like a drunk driver. Multitasking while driving can have deadly consequences. Drivers need to shut off their phones and pay attention to the road, especially in areas that are filled with children.

Here are a few points from the study that I found interesting (and alarming):

• Unbelted drivers are 34 percent more likely to be distracted than belted drivers, meaning they are engaging in multiple unsafe driving behaviors.
• Afternoon drivers are 22 percent more likely to be distracted than morning drivers, which is also the time of day when one in three child pedestrian deaths occur (according to Safe Kids New Jersey).
• Women are 21 percent more likely to be distracted than men, mostly by cell phones and grooming while driving.

I wasn’t too surprised when I read that the use of devices like cell phones, PDAs and Smartphones was the leading cause of distraction. In New Jersey, like many other states across the U.S., it is illegal to use a handheld cell phone and text while driving. But, every day on my way to and from work I see my fellow motorists with one hand on the wheel and the other holding a cell phone. I wonder why so many drivers risk their safety, and the safety of other drivers and pedestrians.

Spread the word and ask your friends and family members to turn off the phone and focus on the road while driving.

It’s back to school time, and many kids may find they can no longer see the blackboard as clearly as they did last year. Children that need vision correction and are active, or even those who just want a new look, may be asking their parents if they can wear contact lenses instead of glasses. 

 

According to a recent survey parents may be the largest barrier to children making the switch to contact lenses. Parents are sometimes concerned that contact lenses may be too difficult for their kids to take care of. Mary Lou French O.D., F.A.A.O., M.Ed. is an eye doctor that specializes in children’s eye care and offered the following tips to parents of children who want to wear contact lenses:

 

I find that parents do not think that their child is mature enough to wear and care for contact lenses. With the current lens modalities available, such as daily lenses and 2 week lenses, the worry about hygiene is minimized. If they want lenses they will listen to the instruction on the care and cleaning of the lenses.

 

If your child has an active lifestyle and requires vision correction then contact lenses could be the best choice. Contact lenses improve depth perception and peripheral vision, which is important for sports of all types. Contact lenses do not break, fall off of the face, or need constant adjustment and repair. And they can be worn just for that sport if needed, leaving the glasses at home. 

 

Recent research supports the fact that kids are successful contact lens wearers, and that has also been my experience caring for children’s eyes for the last 32 years!

 

Additionally, contact lenses may offer kids benefits beyond vision correction. According to the ACHIEVE study, contact lenses offer both girls and boys greater freedom in sports and other physical activities and may boost confidence in academic performance as well. For girls in particular, the switch from glasses to contact lenses can have a significant impact on improving self-esteem. To see one girl’s view of all this, check out the video that was just uploaded to the corporate website.

 

Hearing from Dr. French got me to thinking about eye health and kids. Now as you may know, I’m a big fan of Safe Kids, and I found they offer more information about children’s eye health and safety that parents should check out.

Update: This is a great piece about how one mother determined whether her daughter was ready to wear contact lenses.  

 

Safe Kids USA issued an important hot weather safety alert: 

Never leave your child alone in a car! Did you know that when left in a hot vehicle, a young child’s core body temperature may increase three to five times faster than that of an adult’s and can reach dangerous levels within minutes?

Watch the video for more information and safety tips:

 

Safe Kids has been keeping children safe for more than 20 years. Find out more about Raising Safe Kids, One Stage at a Time

Now that we are in warm weather season, I seem to be spending most of my weekends reminding my son — and his friends in the neighborhood — to WEAR THEIR HELMETS whenever they hop on their bikes, skateboards or scooters.
(This weekend, in fact, I had to add “go cart” to that list after my son and his friend threw one together using some of the scrap lumber in the garage.)

Most of the time, my pleas are met with blank stares or the occasional “why.” Well now, thanks to an article in today’s USAToday, I have yet another example of why they should keep their helmets on.

The article opens with the story of a mom who returned home to discover her 10-year-old son laid out in the street, his head in a neckbrace, his smashed bike beside him. Fortunately, her son remembered to wear his helmer. According to the article:

discover her son had that underscored the good work that Safe Kids has been doing to improve childhod safety. “The No. 1 killer of children is not cancer or diabetes or obesity,” Korn says. “It’s unintentional injuries, or accidents. And almost every single one of them is preventable.”

Having observed the efforts of Safe Kids for several years now, I know that by taking some basic steps you can greatly reduce the incidence of childhood injury. Yet as experts like Safe Kids have found, parents need to remain vigilant and to stay firm with their kids to ensure that they keep those helmets on. I know from experience that this isn’t always easy to do — but based on stories like the one related in the USToday, it is worth the effort.

Since Monday, two more videos have been added to the Johnson & Johnson health channel on YouTube that help bring the report issued this week by Safe Kids USA to life.

The first provides different safety tips for parents of children who are between one and four years old:

The second video does the same for bigger kids, between five and ten years old:

As a parent of two kids, I find that much of my “parenting” energy is spent trying to keep them safe. This weekend, for instance, I must have told my 13-year-old about a dozen times to wear a helmet when cycling before he finally put one on. But my it wasn’t always just about wearing protective gear — as my children have grown up, the kind of guidance I’ve provided has changed.

This year (as Sarah Colamarino pointed out in an earlier post) Safe Kids USA issued a safety report that, for the first time ever, provides a road map for parents of different safety hints and suggestions that are age appropriate. The report is divided into different stages of development, and to help bring each section to life, several videos are being placed on the Johnson & Johnson health channel on YouTube. The first covers the first 12 months.

By Sarah Colamarino, Vice President, Corporate Communications, Johnson & Johnson

One of the things I enjoy most about my job at Johnson & Johnson is working on programs that make a difference in people’s lives. An initiative that is particularly close to my heart is Safe Kids Worldwide. Over 20 years ago, Johnson & Johnson became the founding sponsor of Safe Kids WW, whose mission is to educate adults and children about how to prevent unintentional injury and death. As a mother of two children, keeping our kids safe has a special meaning for me.

This year, Safe Kids USA has just released the first-ever safety report that makes the connection between the different stages of a child’s development as it relates to unintentional injury. For years, Safe kids has been telling parents how to keep their children safe, but this year’s report highlights exactly when and why those precautions are essential. This report also offers safety tips in five leading injury risk areas: falls, recreational safety, burns and scalds, motor vehicle safety and poisoning.

For a copy of the report, or to view the safety tips according to a child’s age, check out the Safe Kids site.

I hope that you’ll take a moment to review this important information that could help save your own children or grandchildren from harm. We’ll keep you updated with important tips and hints throughout the year.

Have a safe summer!