Summer Safety
So, All month I have been talking about Kids and summer, today I will continue this theme with a nod to next month’s theme, safety. Today’s post is on summer safety— sun and water.
“Sun safety is always in season. It’s important to protect your skin from sun damage throughout the year, no matter the weather. Why? Sun exposure can cause sunburn, skin aging (such as skin spots, wrinkles, or “leathery skin”), eye damage, and skin cancer, the most common of all cancers.” — FDA.gov Also according to the FDA, you should reapply sunscreen every two hours and especially after getting out of the water or a sweaty workout. If you like my family, you should always have a bottle of aloe-based after sun on hand for sunburns. Just as you should protect your skin with a broad-spectrum sunscreen SPF 15 or higher, you need to protect your eyes too. “Choose sunglasses with a UV400 rating or “100% UV protection” on the label. These sunglasses block more than 99% of UVA and UVB radiation and provide the most protection against UV rays”. — FDA.gov Even with sunglasses, the FDA recommends wearing a wide brim hat.
Now that we have covered the bases with the FDA’s sunscreen and sunglasses rules, let’s turn to water safety.
“On average, there were about 400 reported pool/spa drowning deaths among children younger than age 15 each year from 2016 through 2018, according to new CPSC data. Three-quarters of those deaths involved children younger than 5, and 83% of those occurred in residential pools. Child drownings remain the leading cause of unintentional death among U.S. children ages 1 to 4, according to the CPSC.” — Robert Priedt, US News and World Report
How do you prevent this?
1. Put a fence around your pool with a locking gate.
2. Talk to your kids about water safety and make it clear for toddlers and young kids that an adult must be present to use the pool.
3. Get swim lessons for your kids (my daughter started at 18 mos.)
4. As they are learning use swim wings or other floats in the pool.
5. Adults should learn CPR just in case
When it’s not a pool, but a lake or the ocean… According to the Red Cross “ Always swim in a lifeguarded area. Never swim alone, regardless of your age or level of swimming skills. Keep within your fitness and swimming capabilities. Be aware of weather and water conditions and heed warnings.” Always follow the orders of the lifeguards on the beach and the colored flags at the beach entrances that tell you what to expect. Sometimes, we’re not swimming, we’re boating. Inexperienced boaters, no matter how good a swimmer, should wear life jackets along with inexperienced, and non-swimmers. Even my dog has a life jacket for when he goes in the lake at my mom’s house in Massachusetts.
No matter what you and/or your kids do this summer, remember to play it safe. Wear sunscreen, sunglasses and gauge your swimming and boating ability to determine if you should stay out of the ocean, wear a life jacket or do a cannonball into the pool.