Although we’re well into summer, it’s never too late to make sure it’s a safe one! With the beautiful weather, more time is spent outside, with can lead to a higher exposure to injury. It just takes some simple steps to keep everyone safe during summertime activities.
Safe Kids Wordwide has some helpful tips that adults and children alike should mind in order to be safe. Safe Kids Worldwide is a nonprofit organization working to help families and communities keep kids safe from injuries.
Here are some safety tips from SafeKids:
“• Actively supervise children engaging in summertime activities, such as swimming and playing on playgrounds or in backyards.
• Role model proper safety behavior. Children are more likely to follow safety rules when they see their parents doing so.
• Keep children away from the grill area while preheating and cooking and while grill is cooling.
• Apply sunscreen rated SPF 15 or higher to your child’s exposed skin 15-30 minutes before going out, and reapply frequently.
• Make sure your child drinks plenty of water.
• Use bug repellent containing DEET to keep mosquitos, insects and ticks away.
• Remove all potential poisons from your yard, including poisonous plants, pesticides and pool chemicals.
• Use the appropriate safety gear for your child’s activities, such as a helmet for wheeled sports and sporting activities, a car seat or booster seat as appropriate and a life jacket for open water swimming and boating.
• Walk all the way around a parked vehicle to check for children before entering the car and starting the motor. Don’t let children play in driveways, streets, parking lots or unfenced yards adjacent to busy streets.”
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) also have some helpful tips for summertime safety:
• “Teach kids to swim. Formal swimming lessons can protect young children from drowning.
• Learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Your CPR skills could save someone’s life.
Install a four-sided fence around home pools.
• Wear a properly fitted life jacket every time you and your loved ones are on the water.
• Never leave infants, children, or pets in a parked car, even if the windows are cracked open.
• Dress infants and children in loose, lightweight, light-colored clothing.
• Stay cool with cool showers or baths.
• Check to make sure that the surfaces under playground equipment are safe, soft, and well-maintained.
• Supervise young children at all times around fall hazards, such as stairs and playground equipment.
• Learn concussion signs and symptoms and what to do if a concussion occurs.
• Make sure kids and teens wear the right protective equipment for their sport or recreation activity.”
For kids, the summer is one of the most exciting times of the year! With these simple tips, you can help make sure it remains just that.

By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer