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| Too busy to be green? Take small steps that make a big impact. |
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Fire Administration. To reduce your child’s risk of burns from scalding water, turn down the temperature on your hot water heater to 120F. “If your temperature is set at 160 degrees and your child turns on the hot water, he can get a full-thickness burn in two seconds,” says Dr. Gardner. “If you reduce the setting to 120 degrees, it will take ten minutes for your child to get the same burn, and he’ll pull away long before it happens.” When grilling outside, keep matches, lighters and flammable equipment and chemicals far from kids’ reach; and never leave your child unsupervised in the kitchen.
3: Avoid Standing Water
The Danger
Drowning peaks between ages 1 and 4 and is the top cause of unintentional injury death.
The Problem
Young children are top-heavy, so it’s easy for them to look down into a toilet, a bucket of water or other container of liquid and topple in headfirst and be unable to right themselves. “Children can drown in two inches of water,” says Gary Smith, MD, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH. And it can take only minutes.
The Solution
Never leave your baby or toddler unattended around water—ever. Use toilet locks, empty your cleaning buckets immediately, and consider your child’s bathtime uninterruptable—no leaving the bathroom to answer the phone, even for a second. Make sure your child’s caregivers are clear on these rules as well. (For tips on pool safety, see Healthy Child.)
4: Don’t Buy fireworks
The Danger
Kids can be seriously injured or killed by fireworks. In 2006, 9,200 people sustained fireworks injuries serious enough to send them to the hospital. About one third were injuries to kids under 15. About a third of injuries are to hands or fingers, about a fourth to eyes and about a fifth elsewhere on the head and face.
The Problem
Even children who don’t handle fireworks directly may be at risk; about 26 percent of children treated in hospitals for fireworks-related injuries were bystanders, according to one report. “The devastation that bottle rockets cause, for example, is absolutely phenomenal,” says Dr.
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