The Danger Zone and other school bus safety games

The Danger Zone is one of eight simple games that can help remind children of the rules to
follow to stay safe when using a bus to go to and from school. The games are part of the School Bus Safety Web, an online information center provided by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The center’s School Bus Drivers section has a downloadable handbook and a variety to other information and resources.

Several pages of safety tips for parents include these practical suggestions for children to learn for winter safety:

Walking to the Bus Stop
Allow extra time in the morning to get to your bus on time.
Wear bright clothing so the bus can see you in the early morning and late evening.
Stand away from where the bus stops. Buses need extra room to stop when there is snow and ice.
Dress properly. Winter clothing, hats, mittens and boots will help keep you warm.

Waiting at the Bus Stop
Don’t play in the snow while waiting for the bus. Don’t throw snowballs at the bus or anyone else.
Don’t slide on the snow or ice patches in driveways or on the street. You could slide under the wheel of the bus and get hurt.
Don’t push or shove around the bus. Someone could fall down on the ice and get hurt.

Tips for heater safety from New York Fire Department’s bravest

In New York City subways this January advertising cards above the seats include a picture of a city fire fighter who is offering safety tips for using portable heaters. He urges riders to go to heatersafety.org for STAY SAFE: TOP TIPS FOR USING YOUR ELECTRIC HEATER SAFELY. The website, in both English and Espanol, offers 12 illustrated tips online and a free brochure to order by email. There is also an audio message that plays when you click here. The audio features one of New York’s bravest: FDNY Lt. Anthony Mancuso discussing portable heater safety. The STAY SAFE website and brochures offer materials and advice from experts. The materials are free and can be used by parents and teachers to inform children about the dangers of portable heaters, helping to keep them safe. The project is sponsored by the Association of Home appliance manufacturers.

Safety Tip: Drugs & Alcohol

The holiday season is a time when vacation and parties expose young people to lots of opportunities and excuses for using and abusing substances and drinks. As the Defywire Safety Tip on this subject points out: talking to kids, especially about drugs and alcohol, is never easy — yet parents influence youngsters on these subjects more than any other person. Click the Safety Tip of the Week page and the December 10 movie to watch this tip.

Safety Tip: Christmas tree cords

Places to buy Christmas tree are popping up all over town. One of the early exciting things to do this season for many children is to help select and decorate the Christmas tree that lights their home during the holidays.

The trees are potentially a serious fire hazard. A key safety tip is to make sure not to overload extension cords and circuits. Basic rule of thumb: when in doubt, remove some plugs. To see this reminder from the Defywire’s Safety Tips, look for the title Christmas Tree Safety: click here to see it under July 9, 2007.

Fire Safety Tip I

There are complex steps to learn, skills to acquire and a lot of detailed information that can equip us to increase safety. There are also very simple things we can do — and often simple preventions stop dangerous situations before they get out of control.

The Defywire movie tip Fire Safety I (click here to see it under February 5, 2007) describes one of the simplest and most powerful ways to keep a family, school or workplace safe: install smoke detectors and maintain them to be sure they are working. As the movie explains, experts say you should install a smoke detector on every level of your home, including the basement. Check your smoke detectors’ batteries at least once a year, for example when you change your clocks for Daylight Savings Time.

Like the Nike folks would say: Just do it!

Safety Tip: Home Playground Safety 1

The Defywire Safety Tip for the first week in November is Home Playground Safety 1. Watching this video tip provides a reminder that playgrounds at home need safety planning, and also need adults who keep a watchful eye on children as they use them.

Live Safe - Play Safe

Washing Hands Safety Tip

The superbug safety concerns that are receiving a lot of focus this fall have parents, children and school people working hard and carefully to learn the best ways to keep children safe from infection at school and elsewhere. As it turns out, at the top of almost every list of steps to take is the advice to wash hands often and correctly. The Defywire Safety Tip (on the list for January 8, 2007) is about Washing Hands. Watch the video with you children for a quick reminder that will be reinforced by seeing the actors doing the right job in the sink.

Some of the top health sources that recommend hand washing to prevent infection by antibiotic-resistent Staphylococcus and other germs are:

The Mayo Clinic: Wash your hands. In or out of the hospital, careful hand washing remains your best defense against germs. Scrub hands briskly for at least 15 seconds, then dry them with a disposable towel and use another towel to turn off the faucet. Carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer containing at least 62 percent alcohol for times when you don’t have access to soap and water.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Where you can read detailed instructions for washing your hands with soap and water, using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and when you should wash your hands.

Microbe World has an activity for kids called Caught Dirty-Handed which is a very much hands-on tutorial on the importance and methodology of hand washing.

“Track and Treat” pilots safe Halloween

One hundred families in Atlanta are participating in a cellular safety pilot project this Halloween. The idea is for GPS-enable phones to make it possible for parents to keep track on a map of exactly where their children are as they are out in soliciting treats. Roberta Rovetta, senior director of product management for QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies, the pilot program’s sponsor, said:

“Halloween is a great time for moms and kids to have GPS on their cell phones because trick-or-treating is the first time many kids venture out without adult supervision.”

More details of projects to use mobile phones for Halloween safety are described in the Marketing Daily article quoted above. In addition to the GPS pilot, there are these wireless approaches:

. . . Atlanta-based Cingular Wireless is providing tips for parents that can help them more effectively communicate with their kids via wireless messaging. The company issued a series of sample text messages parents could send to their kids while they are out trick-or-treating, such as, “Save ur candy till I chk it!” and encouraged kids and parents to use the picture/video messaging capabilities on their phones to keep in touch.

Cingular also sponsored a survey of parents indicating that 63 percent of the 1,175 parents surveyed said that text messaging has improved their communication with their kids.

Halloween Safety Tips

As I began looking around for useful material to blog something here about Halloween safety, I found that the Internet has lots of information. The first three notes I made were these important safety tips:

• Make the costume eye holes big enough so your child’s vision is not impaired. Peripheral vision can be blocked if the holes are too small—making crossing streets in the costume very dangerous. To be completely safe, use face paint instead of wearing a mask.
• Pumpkin-carving with a sharp knife should be supervised carefully, especially if small children are involved.
• Costumes and party decorations must be fireproof! Pumpkins with candles inside need to be a safe distance from clothing, curtains and anything else that might catch fire.

There are other basic safety rules, especially for trick or treaters. Rather than summarizing them, I think it is more helpful to point you to some top pros:

There is the Red Cross Halloween Safety Tips for Kids and Adults. (Image of the ghost above is from the Red Cross website.)

A commercial website called Halloween Safety Guide has extensive tips for kids, adults, parties, costumes, trick or treating, yard haunts and pet care.

There is also a simple game to play that makes some of the most important points here: Play the Halloween Safety Game. Children who have clicked through the steps to play the game will be made aware of some rules that prevent danger.

Biking to School: Safety Tip of the Week

Riding your bicycle to school is as American as apple — but with more cars on the road than ever it can also be dangerous. Choose the October 15th Biking to School video here, from Defywire’s 100 Safety Tips, for some basic ways to stay safe. Watch with your kids to help remind them to focus on safety when they are riding their bikes.