Safety at Home

Inside my washing machine, at the very bottom, is a scary warning sign.

Did you catch that? Yeah, yeah, I’m not about to pour gasoline-soaked clothes into the washer, but what about this part: do not dry anything that has been spotted with any type of cooking oil?!

I’m certainly guilty of that infraction. So, yikes! I asked the safety guru at UL what I should be doing instead of washing these items (dish towels, pot holders, my shirt sometimes!).

“A small amount of oil on clothing is unlikely to start a dryer fire,” said John Drengenberg, Consumer Safety Director for Underwriters Laboratories. “However, I would exercise caution with any items that were exposed to oil of any type but especially oil or  gasoline-soaked rags, for example. Even after washing, it is possible there is enough oil left in the fabric to spark a fire when placed in the dryer.”

Yikes again. In case you were wondering what fire hazard #1 in the laundry room is, I won’t keep you in suspense: it’s the lint trap!

By Whitney

You know those little button-style batteries that power watches and other household items? Ooh, shiny! I mean, that’s what a little kid must think. Right before she pops it in her mouth.

Yes, kids are eating batteries and the stuff inside them is poisonous, so we need to really be careful about this. According to the National Capital Poison Center, 3,500 cases of button battery ingestion are reported to U.S. poison control centers every year, with the majority of cases involving children under the age of 4. The team at the Seattle Children’s Hospital shared information about this health hazard with me in an effort to educate parents.

With all the noise-making puzzles, thermometers, musical greeting cards, and remote controls that use these batteries, there are some in every house. (Unless you are really living off the grid. And if so, how are you reading this website?) Children see batteries when they are being changed in a toy or appliance. Even the old “spent” batteries can be dangerous.

After just a few hours in the body, lithium batteries can harm a child’s body, burning the esophagus and doing worse damage that I will spare you a graphic description.

Signs that a child may have swallowed a lithium battery include drooling, wheezing, vomiting, and chest discomfort.

If you believe your child has swallowed a button-style battery, go quickly to a health care facility for a chest x-ray and do not allow your child any food or drink until they have been checked out.

Again, thanks to Dr. Kathy Sie, attending surgeon at Seattle Children’s Hospital for this information

By Heather

I’m pleased to offer a guest post today from Christopher Gavigan and our friends at Healthy Child Healthy World with an excerpt from the book Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home.

The challenge for parents is to exert some restraint in what they buy for their kids – and for themselves. Many of the gadgets we feel we must have to simplify the tasks of parenting inevitably complicate things (wipes warmer, anyone?) and we too often end up acquiring toys and clothes that our kids don’t need or even want that badly – or, even when they do, tire of quickly. These things clutter the house, collect dust and other allergens, contain chemicals our kids are at risk for ingesting…and then they become landfill. I remember the panicky feeling of looking at a baby gift registry in the weeks before Luke was born, wondering on one hand whether we’d checked off enough stuff to be prepared for the frenzy of new parenthood, and on the other, feeling dismayed over the wastefulness, not to mention anxious about how the heck we would find room for all our new acquisitions.

I know I must sound like a killjoy. Yet the antidote is genuinely easy, and a boon to the whole family. For one, buy less. For another, buy better: Introduce less stuff that might inadvertently compromise your children’s development or physical health. Before you shop, ask yourself why you’re getting something. Is it wanted? Needed? Or has a marketer convinced your child that he or she really wants and needs it?

Find Out More:

• The Absolute Greatest Guide to Green Gifts for Kids
• Secondhand Safety

Excerpt taken from Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home. Reprinted by arrangement with Plume, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Copyright © 2009 by Healthy Child Healthy World. Learn Christopher’s top 10 tips for finding safer toys, gear and clothing by picking up a copy of our book!

By Whitney

Photo credit: abbysunderland on flickr

16-year old Abby Sunderland was recently rescued from the middle of the Indian Ocean after storms wreaked havoc on the boat she was sailing in a solo journey around the world. As media attention turned toward her parents (Abby herself is still on a rescue boat at the time of this writing), they were put in a position to defend themselves.
Stating that Abby was well-prepared for the trip, having proved herself on practice runs in challenging conditions, her father appeared confident that his choice to allow her to take the risky voyage was a reasonable one. Her mother described Abby’s love of sailing fast and facing challenges.

Not long before this teenager made headlines with her sailing adventure, a boy of 13 climbed Mt. Everest, becoming the youngest climber to ever reach the peak. Like Abby Sunderland, the climber, Jordan Romero, has a dream he is chasing. He wants to climb the highest peaks in every continent, inspired by a mural in the hallway of his middle school. The Everest climb has extreme conditions and more than one hundred climbers have died during their attempt, making Jordan’s accomplishment even more thrilling.
Since I don’t yet have a teenager, I’m not able to pass judgment on the parents. Did you follow these stories? Would you allow your teenager to follow a dream that includes life-threatening conditions?

By Heather

I truly love Independence Day. I love the fireworks and my invented tradition of going around the table sharing with friends what I’m happy to be “independent from” (yes, it started with a break-up one year, but it stuck!)

Now that I’m a parent, I have to factor in the safety of little ones as we plan our annual celebration. If I thought that this was the year to introduce my little boys, now three and five, to sparklers, these helpful tips from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) give me reason to reconsider.

The NFPA reminds us that each July Fourth, thousands of people, most often children and teens, are injured while using fireworks. Ugh. Remember that the absolute safest way to enjoy fireworks is to attend a public display by trained professionals.

Remind children not to touch or approach any fireworks.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_webhamster/3680948700/

Also – huge bummer! – the tip of a sparkler burns at a temperature of more than 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit? That’s 1000 degrees hotter than boiling water! So, unless your kids are smart enough NOT to grab that shiny awesome flame, keep them away. Sorry kids.

Last year, I offered some tips on fireworks safety too. Though we attended a public fireworks display, my son and I still ended up in the ER from an errant ping pong paddle.

Be safe out there!

By Whitney

My best friend just welcomed a new dog into her home. His name is Teddy and he is as cuddly as they come. (If you like an 80-lb dog to snuggle up to you, that is.) He is adjusting to life in his new space and meeting the key players in his life, one at a time. Sharon doesn’t have children, so mine will be the primary little people who give Teddy attention.  Both parties behaved themselves perfectly upon introduction.  As we are not dog owners, this is a mutually beneficial relationship, and we’ll expect my kids and Sharon’s dog to become BFFs.

With 4th of July on the horizon, I was glad to see these tips from MyPetCARETV.com that focus on making the potentially LOUD and hot holiday a safe one for dogs. Please consider these five guidelines for dog safety:

1. Do not use fireworks around your pets. Resist the urge to take your pet to fireworks displays. During the festivities, keep your pets indoors in a sheltered, quiet area.
2. Make sure your pets are wearing identification tags so if they do escape their confines, they can be easily identified.
3. Do not leave your pet alone in your car.
4. Never leave pets unattended, even in a fenced yard or on a chain. Consider boarding your pet for the night if you will be out late and (s)he’ll be alone with the sound of fireworks. If the party is at your place, never leave alcoholic drinks where your pets can reach them.
5. Turn on your radio or television to help alleviate loud noises.

By Whitney

When it comes to fruits and vegetables, organic means that the food is grown in a way that eliminates the use of toxic pesticides and fertilizers . The reason so much focus in healthy living discussions centers on organic foods is because of the range of health problems associated with pesticides.  (So, if you grow strawberries in a pot on your porch and haven’t sprayed them with anything but water or planted them in any synthetically enriched soil, they can be considered organic strawberries. Ooh la la.)

Our food is not the only source of pesticides in our environment, however.  We may be using pesticides or insecticides on our lawns and then sending our children to play and roll around in them.

How about spraying inside your house for ants or roaches? Watch out for that stuff!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kronicred/1896015893/

Look for natural alternatives when you can.  One set of solutions involves using products with fewer chemicals. Some essential oils can act as bug repellents, for example.  Another way to look at the problem is to identify the source of the pests and use non-toxic controls such as traps, sticky tape, or other physical blockades. Outdoors, ladybugs can be helpers.  This approach is called integrated pest management or IPM. Fancy, right?

Protecting our families from everything is impossible, but switching a few of the products we use around the house to more natural options is a step in the right direction.

By Heather

I loved “wearing” my baby and keeping my hands free to do other things (type, eat, gesture, drink…). I had almost every variation and flavor of baby-wearing devices including at least one homemade wrap.

I am so sad to report that a few tragic infant deaths have triggered multiple recent recalls of slings for various falling hazards as well as suffocation.  So scary.

Daniel DeNoon from WebMD offers these tips (and more) for safely using a sling. Some of these tips are applicable for all baby-wearing devices so I hope all parents take heed.

1.     Do not use baby slings for infants under 4 months.  Use a sling only after your baby has proper head control.

2.     Make sure your child’s face is visible at all times; it shouldn’t be covered by any fabric or pressed too tightly into your body.

3.     Make certain your child isn’t hunched over so that his or her chin touches the chest.

4.     Check on your child frequently.

I hope that baby-wearing fans can continue to keep their little ones safe and cozy like Whitney and baby Scarlett (pictured).

Related: See recent baby and child product recalls.

By Whitney

Multi-media art class, Music & Movement, Circus Arts, Ukelele, and Gymnastics. These are some of the different lessons my five year-old son has taken over the past year or two.  He has loved them all. And then there’s swimming.

Swimming has been infrequent, barely tolerated, and fairly ineffective. You might notice from the list of activities above that my son has zero interest in sports. Therefore any invitations from his parents to try out soccer and t-ball have been rejected. I’m not asking him to consider swimming as a sport, however.  Since he’s never willingly put his head underwater, I think we are still miles, or at least meters, away from any athletic swimming. I just want him to be water-safe.

Many approaches have run through my mind: daily lessons until it sticks; private lessons; lessons with me out of the room; teaching him myself.  Frankly, the whole thing is sort of a pain, when you compare it to a dance class. You know, the wet swimsuit, the locker room and all that.

Again, I’m not looking for an achievement for him. I’m just hoping for a level of proficiency that allows me a little more relaxation around the pool.

Here are a few Water-Safe principles that I want him to know:

• Supervision is a must: Follow the 10/20 rule when you’re at the pool. The 10/20 rule states the supervising adult needs to be able to scan the pool within 10 seconds and reach the water within 20 seconds.
• Flotation devices, toys and inflatable swimming aids are not safety devices:These popular poolside items are toys and can easily puncture and deflate.
• Empty small wading pools after children are done playing and remove all toys: Infants can drown in just a few inches of water. Pool toys may attract children to the pool when it is unattended.

For more, maybe we should watch this live streaming  “Safety Smart in the Water Video” with Pumbaa and Timon. Maybe that might do the trick.

Am I obsessing unnecessarily? How old was your child when swimming fell into place?

By Whitney

We spend half a day at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk this weekend, a place where Kettle Corn passes for lunch and a Ferris Wheel rises high above a beautiful California beach.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottschrantz/3525628679/

Our five-year old is incredibly brave and wants to go on any ride that will have him.  Our nearly three-year-old wants nothing to do with the mechanical monsters that keep engulfing her brother and his friends for two thrilling minutes at a time. She also does not want to hear the noise of the rickety roller coaster or see the water splash over the edge of the log flume ride. In short, she is scared of almost everything at the boardwalk, and whimpers in fear, contorting her body at the sight of miniature train rides the same way she does before she receives an injection at the doctor’s office.

In general, we respect her anxieties and don’t brush them off.  We validate her feelings and agree that “Those are loud noises” and “I know you want to walk as far away from the blue man on stilts as possible.” We allow her to leave public restrooms without flushing because her anticipation of the flushing sound has resulted in one too many potty accidents.

So we went into this outing knowing that we’d be doing a lot of holding her, covering her ears and turning away from spectacles. We did not pressure her to go on any rides. And you know what? She surprised me.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nomad73/204420462/sizes/m/

She went on a ride — and she liked it!  She sat in a little boat-shaped vehicle with another child she knows, held onto the pretend steering wheel and waved proudly at us every time she came around the circle.

I felt excited and hopeful. I wondered if the rest of the outing would be more relaxing. I started to wonder if we should have bought more ride tickets, because suddenly we had two kids– not one– who like to be turned round and round or bobbed up and down by large machinery.

But no, her adventurous behavior was a short momentary lapse of anxiety.  The only ride she took for the rest of the day was in the stroller we brought with us to the boardwalk.