TIPS TO KEEP YOUR KIDS ACTIVE — AND SAFE TOO
(NC) — Are you concerned about the safety aspects of your children’s favourite activities?
Dr. Alison Macpherson is one of Canada’s leading authorities on keeping kids safe. She is a health professor at York University and is also a mother of three who believes firmly that children should lead active lives. During her time at the Montreal Children’s Hospital in the mid1990s, Dr. Macpherson saw it all, from kids with fractured fingers to spinal cord injuries, she said. But not all injuries are bad, she points out. Her approach is to worry about the bigger things.
“All my kids bike, snowboard, ski, and participate in all of those other great activities that promote healthy child development,” she said. “But, they wear helmets and get training to prevent the really bad injuries. A scraped knee is part of childhood, but a broken spinal cord is not.”
Dr. Macpherson was among the first researchers to call for a ban on body checking in recreational hockey. In 2011, the Ontario Hockey Federation heard the message and rewrote its rule book, convinced that it would attract young people to the game.
It’s not always easy to convince policy makers to put recommendations into practice, especially since provinces and municipalities may have different standards. Dr. Macpherson is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to examine these issues, and to promote a consistent approach to preventing child injuries across the country.
But keeping kids safe from injury must also go beyond changing laws and regulations, she pointed out.
“We need to look at the big picture,” the doctor said. “In addition to bicycle helmet laws, for example, communities need bike paths and traffic calming. We need safer environments so kids can be kids.”
Here are her top four safety tips for parents: • Secure kids properly in vehicles. Children should sit in rear-facing safety seats for as long as possible. Depending on their height, kids should stay in booster seats until they are at least eight years old. Afterwards, seat belts should be worn all the time and every time.
• Supervise kids near water. “Child drowning is a silent death,” she said. “You won’t necessarily hear your child fall into the water or out of a boat.”
• Encourage helmets for fast-moving
sports. Put one on for biking, skating, skiing, skateboarding, snowboarding, roller blading and tobogganing.
• Keep kids active, but in a safe environment. “Kids need to learn to play,” she said. “That’s their job.”