Safety at Home

If your spring cleaning didn’t include medicine cabinets – or if you are saying, “Spring cleaning? Huh?” – I have an easy and productive summer purging challenge for you today.

Go through your medicine cabinets and check all the expiration dates on bottles, tossing anything that’s beyond expired.

While it’s unlikely that the contents of those bottles will hurt you, they will eventually lose their potency and not deliver the active ingredient you are seeking. If you’re in desperate need of a spoonful of Pepto, for example, I’m guessing you’d be pretty disappointed for it to not to be effective.

Note: Sunscreen should not be more than three years old. The impact of using defunct sunscreen will be made obvious to you after a day at the lake.

Keep a running list as you organize your drugstore stash so that you can replace the items you have discarded.

Related: How to safely dispose of medicines.

My little guys are not quite ready to swim without a watchful (10-20 rule following) adult.  For many of our readers with older kids, this summer will be an important test of freedom and independence by swimming without a grown-up.

Here are a few tips to share with your old-enough child.

1. Always swim where a lifeguard is present. The pool or well-attended water park = awesome. That undiscovered swimming hole = bad idea.
2. Always bring a buddy. Make sure you swim with a friend or two to increase the fun AND safety.
3. Listen to your body. If your stomach hurts or you’re feeling tired, take a rest not a dip.
4. Reapply! Yes, I’m talking about sunscreen. As long as you’re paying attention, get that buddy to do your back and shoulders.

I hope that your child has many happy memories of splashing at the lake or pool this summer season and that you both have peace of mind.

With hurricanes and tornados ravaging much of the country, I am humbled and grateful to be safe in my home with my belongings and loved ones today.

If you live in tornado country, hopefully you know about these safety tips already. I hope that you have practiced them well at home and school. I still remember my tornado drills in school, but now I live in earthquake country so the routine is a bit different. Still, always protect your head and neck!

According to FEMA, your best bet will always be to find a pre-designated shelter area or the lowest building level. If there is no basement, go as far inside away from corners, windows, doors, and outside walls. Get under a sturdy table and use your arms to protect your head and neck. Do not open windows.

See other FEMA tips about what to do in a tornado (including if you’re outside or in a vehicle at the time).

During a hurricane, instructions are similar. FEMA advises listening carefully to local news for information about evacuations.

By Whitney

Spurred by the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami that followed, my attention turned once again to our household emergency supplies. Living on the West Coast, in a town right on the bay, we actually saw a very baby version of the Japanese wave lap up on our shores on Friday morning. Some towns a few hours from us did evacuate.

My husband and I mused aloud about how much of a threat the wave actually was, and if it was necessary for any of our fellow Berkeleyans to move to higher ground. In this case it was not necessary, but I began to worry that my car is not ready to go in case of an emergency.

I usually carry a bunch of snacks and extra sweatshirts in the car, but my husband cannot help himself to clean it out every so often. I need to dedicated a duffle bag for this purpose and label it “Emergency: Do not remove from car”.

I went to purchase a gallon of bottled water to keep in the car and was not surprised to find that Target was completely sold out of water in quantities larger than a liter. The threat of a natural disaster was on the minds of my whole community.

My friend Kami recently posted at great little guide to putting together a car emergency kit. Check it out:

1. Old towels: great to have on hand to soak up blood or for a last minute swing through the car wash
2. Ice & Snow Scraper
3. Water! 2 gallon container (refill with fresh water at least every 6 months)
4. Antibacterial Wipes
5. Small UL Listed Fire Extinguisher
6. Small backpack filled with necessities (listed below) in case you need to travel away from your car
7. Small blanket with water proof backing
8. Road Flares
9. Hiking water bottle with head lamp inside
10. First Aid Kit
11. Bungee Cords
12. Hand cranked FM/AM Radio

1. The backpack
2. Ponchos (enough for each person in your family)
3. Emergency Survival Blanket
4. Emergency Food Rations
5. Wet Wipes
6. Small First Aid Kit
7. Coin Change/ or cash for making a phone call
8. Tissues
9. Water
10. Light Sticks
11. Granola Bar
12. Hand Warmers

Isn’t it helpful to see everything laid out like that? For more clever ideas from Kami, check out her blog, No Biggie.

By Heather

Yes, we are expecting a new baby in the fall, so its time for me to revisit the big DIAPER question. For our first two sons, my husband and I used disposable diapers. We didn’t feel great about it, but at least our second baby wore his diapers twice as long. Sad, but true.

For our modern baby, we may explore cloth diapers or some of the new biodegradable or partially-compostable choices.

My friend, Stefania, uses EarthBaby diapers and LOVES them.  In the Bay Area, EarthBaby delivers compostable diapers and wipes to your house for a moderate service charge plus the cost of diapers. Each week, they take away all the yucky stuff in their special bags and compost the contents off-site.

{image from http://www.earth-baby.com/home.php}

I’ve also heard great things about gDiapers (pronounced like g’day rather than gee-diapers), the hybrid disposable, reusable, compostable diaper. Inside the cute cotton diaper covers is a single-use liner; soiled liners can be flushed and you can compost the wet ones using a home composting system. Even in the regular trash, they break down much more quickly than traditional disposables.

{image from http://www.gdiapers.com/shop-diapers/little-gpants}

As for cloth diapers, I admit I’m hesitant to sign on to more laundry and effort. And to be green about it, my part of California is frequently in a drought alert. We had a great discussion about cloth diapering in the comments of our post about becoming a born-again rookie mom.

What about you? Have you found a greener alternative to disposable diapers that works for your family?

By Whitney

I have definitely been to the emergency room a couple of times in the past year. You may recall that I recently broke my foot walking (ah, to be young again) and also that my daughter Scarlett got bitten by a dog on her face. However, I have also been to a pediatric urgent care clinic, a place that services medical needs during evenings and weekends, and recently learned that sometimes that is the better choice.

An article from iTriage Health encourages us to “Save the emergency room for emergencies.” The trend of folks to hop over to the ER whenever they have a sprained ankle or busted lip results in long wait times and rising health care costs for everyone.

Scenarios that are urgent, but not emergencies, can be treated outside of a hospital, at an urgent care facility. Examples include:

• Minor burns – I waited more than three hours at an ER once to have my burned arm treated after a terrible lasagna-related accident.
• Cuts and lacerations – a common scenario for parents, right? Kid hits head on side of coffee table and needs a couple of stitches.
• Urinary tract infections – If you need to pee every five minutes, you certainly don’t want to be sitting around in the waiting area of the ER with all the other bacteria circulating.
• Vomiting and diarrhea – See above. Sounds like you’ve got enough bacteria for one person.
• Sprains and strains – call your doctor or an advice nurse and find out where to go for help.
• Flu-like symptoms – Again, usually not an emergency. Seek care that fits your level of crisis.

Are YOU an ER-addict or have you already discovered the convenience of a nearby clinic?