Tag Archives: child safety

Washing Machines Pose Dangers to Small Children

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To parents, a washing machine is a necessary tool for keeping their family’s clothing nice and clean. For small children, the washing machine may look like a spaceship to play in or a good place to hide. Parents can take steps to ensure that their toddlers and preschoolers cannot get inside the washing machine. The Washington Post reported a terrifying story about a three-year-old girl who crawled inside the family’s washing machine. The door closed, and water started pouring in. Fortunately, the girl’s four-year-old brother ran to tell their parents what happened. The washing machine was brand new, and the … Continue reading →

What to do When Other People’s Kids are in Danger

Most parents are very careful and cautious with their children. They put in a great deal of effort to keep their children out of dangerous situations. Sometimes though, things happen and a child could wind up in a situation that is not at all good. What can you do when you see that a child, who is not yours, is unsafe? Here are some suggestions about what to do. What to do if You Think a Child is in Danger A Child Has Been Left in a Car There are a lot of parents who will tell you that they … Continue reading →

Summer Bites

Backyard barbeques, picnics in the park, swimming, sunning, and swinging with friends until sunset; there’s so much to love about summer—minus the bugs. Despite the use of expensive sprays, fancy candles and other popular pest deterrents, my 8-year-old is covered with bug bites.  Living in northern Wisconsin, which is blanketed with forests and other havens for flying blood suckers, doesn’t help; however, this summer’s battle against the bugs seems to be a bit fiercer than in years past. Currently, my mom radar is set on mass insect detection.  I am on especially high alert for deer ticks, which can spread … Continue reading →

What to Know about the Glow

Glow sticks are extremely popular this time of year.  You can find kids sporting them at summer fireworks shows, evening baseball games, backyard barbeques and during bike rides at dusk.  My 8-year-old loves to bend them into bracelets, necklaces and headbands and wear them while we stroll along the beach after sunset. While I’m game for the glow, other parents are not as thrilled to see their kids playing with the popular, yet potentially poisonous neon sticks.  Many moms and dads question the contents of glow sticks.  After all, if the liquid inside the sticks can make plastic light up like … Continue reading →

The Bigger They Are The Harder They Fall

You’ve heard of the Food Network’s hit show “30 Minute Meals,” well, what about “45 Minute Falls”? It’s not the title of a new reality show, but it could be. Unfortunately, for some families reality has hit a bit too close to home. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a child is rushed to the hospital every 45 minutes due to TVs falling on top of them. The nightmare gets worse when you realize that most of these kids are not simply suffering a broken arm or leg due to TV tipping; rather, safety experts say many children die … Continue reading →

New Products That Help You Keep Track of Your Toddler

Did you know that more than 2,000 children in the United States are reported missing each day? What’s more, during the summer months, studies show that number increases by 10 percent. I’ll never forget the gut-wrenching moment when I was in the grocery store with my toddler rearranging items in my shopping cart to accommodate a case of bottled water. When I turned around my daughter was gone and I experienced terror like I had never known before. Fortunately, she had only toddled a few feet away and I found her happily squatting behind a life-sized cut out of the … Continue reading →

Better Safe Than Sorry

Staying in hotel alone with a young child presents several unique problems. For instance, whenever I need to go anywhere I have to take Tyler with me. If I need ice, or need to run to the snack machine or even downstairs to my car, he has to come with me. Or does he? He put this question to me last week when I needed to run to my car. He was involved in one of his TV programs and didn’t want to leave (or put his shoes on for that matter) to slog downstairs with me. “I’ll be okay,” … Continue reading →

Don’t Buy These with a Baby in the House

I have written in the homeschooling blog about how much my five year old son likes anything remotely related to science. He is especially thrilled with physical science. So when we saw the little Magnetix magnet kits in the store, we immediately thought we had a great Christmas present. But we eventually went with a cooler, bigger, more geekish science related toy and left the magnets on their shelf. Have you ever felt the magnet sets? They are surprisingly strong. They have to be, they are designed so that you can build structures with them. The sets contain several little … Continue reading →

Child Dies In Household Storage Container

You’ve seen them in stores. You may even have them in your home or garage. I happen to have dozens of them stacked in closets throughout our home. They are those large plastic storage containers the perfect size for storing seasonal clothing items, Christmas decorations, and children’s toys. Unfortunately, they are also just the right size for young children to climb into… and that’s exactly what one New York toddler did during a recent game of hide-and-seek. According to news reports, a 2-year-old boy was found dead in a plastic storage container in his family’s Bronx apartment two days ago. … Continue reading →

Kidnapping Insurance: Chubb Masterpiece Family Protection

Shawn Hornbeck was kidnapped on October 6, 2002 and held hostage until January 12, 2007 when he was found with another boy who went missing a few days before they were found together. By now we have all heard the story and for once the ending is as good as it possibly could have been for a child who was kidnapped at the age of 11 and held for over four years. Shawn’s mother and step-father never lost hope and virtually invested every asset they had during their four-year ordeal. This story is repeated far too often in the United … Continue reading →