1. Always choose age-appropriate toys for children.  Keep toys appropriate for older children away from younger siblings.

2. Include safety gear whenever shopping for sports-related gifts or ride-on toys including bicycles, skates and scooters. Helmets and other safety gear should be worn properly and be sized to fit.

3. Be aware of your child’s surroundings during play. Young children should avoid playing with ride-on toys near streets and traffic, pools or ponds.  They should avoid playing in indoor areas near hazards such as kitchens, bathrooms or rooms with corded window blinds.

4. Once gifts are opened, immediately discard plastic wrappings or other packaging from toys.

5. Battery-charging should be supervised by adults. Chargers and adapters can pose a thermal burn hazard to young children. 

6. For children younger than 3, avoid toys with small parts and small balls. For Children younger than 6, avoid toys with small magnets. Keep all young children away from broken balloons.  Keep deflated balloons away from children 8 and younger. Balloons are a choking hazard.

-Erica Smith
esmith@opubco.com

Would you know what to do if your child started choking?

The answer for me a year ago was ‘no’ and it scared me to think that if my son started to choke, I wouldn’t know how to save him.  I kept picturing just the two of us, at home eating dinner when a piece of pizza or steak got lodged in his throat.  I would probably panic and call 911, but by the time they would come, it could be too late.

Wanting to be prepared for the worst prompted me to take CPR and first aid training from the Red Cross last February.  It’s a full-day class, where you are trained by a professional on how to do CPR and first aid on infants, children and adults.

At the end of the class, you’ll know what to do for not only for choking, but also burns, gashes, broken bones and other major injuries.

There’s a test at the end of the course and passing is required for certifcation. The great thing about taking a course from the Red Cross is that the CPR certification is valid for one year, and for first aid, it is valid for three years. There are no prerequisities necessary.

To register with the Red Cross, go to http://okc.redcross.org/ and click on ‘Be Educated’ and choose ‘Red Cross Courses’ from the drop-down menu. From there you browse all their course offerings. If you’d like to learn how to do CPR and first aid on an infant or child, take the course that specifically says “Class adult, child, infant CPR, first aid.”  Classes range from $48 – $60.

Isn’t having the ability to save your child’s life or someone else’s worth a Saturday?  It’s a small price to pay for peace of mind.  I know I’ll be going to back to get re-certified next month.

~Erica Smith

esmith@opubco.com