Safety at Home

By Whitney

My stepfather recently acquired a large boat. When I say large, I mean it has two bathrooms, which is more toilets than my post-college apartment offered. So as you can imagine, when you are aboard this vessel, it is a long way down to the water’s surface. Especially when you are enjoying the view from the upper deck.

There is no such thing as a babyproofed boat. Check out the gaping holes from every railing.

And, did I mention? Neither of my children can swim.
So as much fun as it was to journey out into the ocean, wave to the sea lions, and scramble over the deck from side to side, when the wake rocked us, my eyes darted over to one of the boat’s best features – a stack of life vests.

Remember, a life jacket only works if you are WEARING it! Same goes for little ones!

By Whitney

I have a fire extinguisher under my sink, but I must confess that my confidence in my ability to use it is low. When I saw mom blogger Real Life Sarah’s video demonstrating her visit to UL and the fire extinguisher practice she got to experience, I was envious!

The PASS acronym she describes is a helpful way to remember the steps to using a fire extinguisher.

-Pull the pin
- Aim at the base of the fire
-Squeeze the trigger
-Sweep back and forth

If you DON’T have an extinguisher or two in your home, what are you waiting for?! Order one online!

By Heather

I was joking today that summer in the Bay Area means wool sweaters and flip flops. Most of our homes near San Francisco don’t have air conditioning and we don’t miss it. Heck, we’re just hoping we don’t have to turn on the furnace on the foggy days.

For those of you enjoying the heat of “Real Summer,” I offer you a few tips on staying cool (and saving energy):

1.     Change your air conditioning filter.  The simple steps you take to change your filter will improve indoor air quality and help your air conditioner run easier.

2.     Hit the movies. Nothing beats hiding in the mall or movie theater to take advantage of free public air conditioning.

3.     Visit a water park. Not a movie kind of day? Hit the water at your local pool, beach or water park to get soaking wet and stay cool. Not low energy enough for you?

4.     Turn on the sprinklers or bust out the kiddie pool. Any kind of water play should be carefully supervised, but the kind in your backyard offers the lazy parent option.

Photo by wesley jeanne

Hope that you’re staying cool and comfortable this summer.

By Heather

Since a dear college friend fell to his death through an open window on a warm day, I have been especially cautious around windows in high places. Add toddlers to the mix, I’m double paranoid. With the warm weather in full force, we keep windows open to keep a breeze blowing (and to freshen indoor air), but this can pose a serious safety risk for young kids.

Dr. Tony Woodward, chief of emergency medicine at Seattle Children’s Hospital offers these tips for preventing children from falling out of open windows:

• Move chairs, cribs, beds, furniture and anything your child can climb on away from windows
• Remember that screens on windows keep bugs out but don’t keep kids in
• If you open a window that does not have a guard, open it only 4 inches or less
• Consider planting shrubs or soft grass underneath a window in case a fall does occur
• And – of course! – supervise your child at all times

In this video, Dr. Woodward discusses the steps you can take in your home to prevent window falls with tips and demonstrations of simple improvements.

What steps can you take today to prevent a dangerous window fall? Share your action in the comments.

By Whitney

You’ve surely heard that duct tape can fix anything:  patch a leaking air mattress, hold a dangling headlight in place, and even protect a blister in a pinch. So go ahead and pack it if you’re going camping in the wilderness.

But if your summer travels involve a hotel room or a vacation house, bring along a roll of painter’s tape instead.

5 uses for painter’s tape on vacation

1.     Bundle and tape any dangling cords from curtains that might present danger to toddlers.

2.     Cover electrical outlets.

3.     Apply strips to the inside of a bathtub that’s too slippery.

4.     Place an X or two on a clear sliding glass door with which your family is not familiar. I wish I could say I didn’t walk straight into full speed ahead in a sunny hotel room in San Diego, only to watch my nephew do the same thing, even faster, an hour later.

5.     And finally, create train tracks or a hopscotch game if your vacation turns rainy and you must pass the hours inside.

When you are ready to leave your temporary digs, just peel up your tape and leave no trace.

By Heather

The BlogHer conference is just around the corner and we’re looking forward to seeing some of our favorite writers gathered together. Many of the fantastic contributors to the Safety at Home community will be there and we can’t wait.

The Safe ‘n Swanky rooftop pool party offers an evening opportunity to rub elbows with new friends before the main conference kicks off.

The star attraction is safety, with guest appearances by refreshing hors d’oeuvres, signature “safety spirits,” shoulder massages and breathtaking views of the Manhattan skyline.

In addition to fun activities, there will be safety stations to exchange ideas about keeping our families safe while:

• Splashing in the pool

• Playing on the playground

• Grilling in the backyard

• Cooking family dinners

• Enjoying the holidays

The party is Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 and we promise to share some fun photos via twitter and the safetyathome blog.

By Whitney

Across the country, on the evening of August 3^rd, neighbors will be gathering in the streets or driveways to observe a National Night Out.  Organizers will bring city personnel such as police and councilman to attend and connect with residents.

National Night Out or NNO, for those in the know, is a crime prevention event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch. Their goal is to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness, strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships, and send a message to criminals to let them know that neighbors matter.

Hundreds of families will be hosting block parties, cookouts, visits with local police, and parades for America’s neighborhoods.

As I wrote last year, getting to know your neighbors is an important part of keeping your community safe. When we get to know who lives in which home, and what children belong with whom, we can more easily help each other out.

Will you be participating? Visit the National Night Out website to see if an event will be hosted near you:

http://www.natw.org/nno/locator.html

http://www.facebook.com/nationalnightout

By Heather

Our Facebook page recently posed the question “How do you protect your family or your newborn from the strong summer rays?” and we got some fantastic tips from the readers.

My skin is super fair. My babies inherited my fair skin and were bald for the first year of their lives. Our key to sun protection was HATS!

In the tiniest newborn phase, I was also fond of throwing a light blanket over the infant carrier or stroller to block all the sun’s rays.  If you choose that mode, make sure to allow ventilation and cross-breeze on hot days.

Autumn makes sure to seeks out shade and puts her little one in a floating pool toy with a shade on the top.

Tiffany reminds us not only to seek out shade but also to remember lots to drink! For infants that means milk. For mamas, that means water!

Ronnie adds a light blanket to the list (yay, summer-weight blankets!).

Kimberly waits to go outside until after 2pm and recommends using a long-sleeved rash guard shirt for older babies.

Melissa warns that even a little suntan is skin damage and uses a sun umbrella.

Remember sunblock is only recommended for babies over six months old because of babies’ delicate skin. Jennifer suggests finding spray sunscreens that don’t need to be rubbed in to make application easier.

By Heather

We just had my son’s five-year-old well-check appointment. The doctor was pleased with his health, height, weight, diet, and general growth (yay!) so she grilled him on safety questions left and right (uh oh, what would he say?! C’mon kid! Mama’s a safety blogger!)

She started him out with a few softball questions, “What do you wear on a scooter or bike?”

Easy peasy, he answered, “A helmet.”

“What do you do if there’s an earthquake?”

[pregnant pause]

She had stumped him. FAIL.

She said to always protect your head and hide under a table.

She asked him, “What do you do if there’s a fire at home? Would you hide under the table?”

He said, “No, I would leave the house.”

WIN.

Truth be told, we could spend more time discussing and practicing our fire exit plans, but I’m glad he didn’t say he’d hide under the table. She suggested we practice this often before kindergarten because kids often remember “stop,drop, and roll” at the expense of everything else.

It’s one thing to have great safety practices in mind as parents, but we also need to continually share and discuss these plans with our children.

How do you discuss safety with your little ones?

By Heather

Tomorrow morning, I am chaperoning a class of four- and five-year olds on another field trip. This time, we’re taking the ferry from the East Bay to San Francisco to visit the aquarium.

Photo Courtesy of PBO31

Frankly, I bet the excitement of the ferry is probably enough fun and field trip for some of these kids but nobody asked me… so we’re taking awesome public transportation and then we’re doing even more cool stuff!

When I told my son, Holden, that we were taking the ferry to San Francisco, he expressed deep concern about drowning. I immediately pictured the building-like boat with high windowed walls and minimal opportunity to get close to the water and tried to empathize with his concerns.

We talked about his feelings and brainstormed possible solutions. Together – and I won’t tell you which ideas are which – we came up with this list:

• he could hold my hand the whole time
• we could wear leash-like wrist bands connecting ourselves
• he could wear a life jacket
• he could stay inside the whole time and hold the hand railing closely
• he could sit in my lap
• he could wear a magic harness or jet pack that allows him to fly safely above any danger

After creating this list, I reminded him that we’ve taken the ferry before and it was pretty fun.  He insisted on seeing pictures (or better yet, video!) as proof.

While I don’t think he’s going to need a life jacket, it’s a great idea to be prepared and know where they are on the ferry before we push out to sea. I’m glad he’s safety-conscious; I just hope he can have fun without feeling panicky the whole time.

Maybe it’s a good idea that there are going to be fun activities on the other end of that boat ride, after all.