Out and about these holidays? Camping by the beach? Off on the boat? Townies visiting your cousins in the country? Here are Safekids’ top ten tips for keeping kids safe these holidays:
Water safety
Tip 1: Always maintain hand contact with babies and stay within sight and reach of your child around water.
For more on water safety, visit the Water Safety NZ and WaterSafe Auckland websites.
Boating
Tip 2: Life jackets are the key. Children must have them too.
For more, visit Water Safety NZ’s web page on boating and life jackets for kids.
Camping
If your bach, tent or caravan is going to be “home” for the holidays, how about giving it the #makeyourhomeasafetyzone treatment? Lots of actions from our home safety checklists will also apply to baches, tents and caravans.
Tip 3: Are matches and lighters out of sight and reach?
Tip 4: Is the trampoline in good condition? (Regular maintenance checks required). And only one child at a time on the trampoline.
Tip 5: Are buckets and paddling pools emptied after use?
Tip 6: If you have a swimming pool, is it surrounded by a 1.2m high fence on four sides, with a self-latching gate?
Tip 7: When cooking on the barbeque, help the kids avoid hot oil splatter.
Hot cars and heat stroke
It looks as though it’s going to be a hot summer. :-)
Tip 8: Your babies, small children and pets don’t cope being in hot cars for too long. Cars can get hot very quickly, so this is something to watch for.
Cycling and scootering
Did Santa bring the kids a bicycle or scooter for Christmas? We hope he remembered helmets to go with them, and knee pads too for the scooters?
Tip 9: Not sure how to fit the helmets properly? Check out our cool 2-4-1 rule on how to wear a helmet correctly:
· 2: The helmet should be no more than two fingers above your eyebrow.
· 4:Adjust the straps under your ears. They should form two ‘Vs’.
· 1:No more than one finger should fit over the chin strap
Visit our web page Cycling / bike helmets and watch “Boom, crash, bang!” to learn more about helmets.
City kids visiting country cousins?
Farms have lots of hazards around for kids, and especially kids not used to the environment. Quad bikes are one of the biggest hazards and children aren’t big enough to control them. Neither do they have the skills or knowledge to operate them.
Tip 10: Safekids recommends no kids under 16 on quad bikes.
Let us know what you did during the holidays to keep safe – post your pictures on Facebook or Twitter and tag us Facebook @SafekidsAotearoa and Twitter @safekidsnz. We’d love to hear from you!
Have a happy and safe holiday from the team at Safekids!