For more information about parenting and your child’s development:
www.brazeltontouchpoints.org Questions or comments may be addressed to Dr. Joshua Sparrow, care of The New York Times Syndicate, 620 Eighth Ave., 5th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018. Questions may also be sent by email to: nytsyn-families@nytimes.com. Questions of general interest will be answered in the New York Times Syndicate column that Dr. Sparrow writes with Dr. T. Berry Brazelon, which may be posted on a Families Today website or collected in book form. Drs. Brazelton and Sparrow regret that unpublished letters cannot be answered individually.

A barefoot 12 year old rushed up to a tourist couple disembarking from a ferry that had just arrived at his African island. Bogged down by their wheelie suitcases that wouldn’t roll on the dirt road, they looked around for their hotel – disoriented, and slightly pathetic. They’d read all the guidebooks that warned about thieves and pickpockets in this impoverished country where the average person earns less than a dollar a day. The boy beamed broadly at them, and said, in his approximate English, “Hello, my friends.” He pointed to his chest,” I am Armando, your brother,” and extended his hand. His clothes were tattered and unwashed.

“You stay at Gallery Hotel? I get taxi for you?”

The couple waved him away. “It’s okay – we’ll walk.”

Armando looked disappointed and concerned. “Too far to walk. I get taxi. You have hotel number? I call for you.”

Not sure that they could trust this energetic and earnest young man, the couple trudged on, anxiously attempting to ignore him. But he would not give up, and came up with one solution after another. “I carry your bags for you. I show you the way. I bring you to bus stop. I call hotel to come get you.” He was determined to make himself useful to them. The sun was beginning to go down, and he hadn’t yet had anything to eat that day.

Suddenly he sprinted off shouting and waving his hands. “There’s the hotel bus!                  I stop them for you.” Vaguely afraid that their suitcases and perhaps they themselves were about to disappear forever, they squinted in his direction and saw a well-worn van lurching over the deep potholes of the unpaved thoroughfare. “The Gallery Hotel” was emblazoned on the front door, and it heeded Armando’s hailing. He ran back triumphantly, pointing to the van, explaining excitedly that it would bring them to the hotel.

The tourists felt a wave of relief roll in. His slight frame straining, Armando hoisted the travelers’ heavy bags onto the van, all the while explaining that the hotel was really too far to walk to, and that the road was bad. He seemed genuinely concerned, and pleased with his success. By this point, husband and wife were both reaching into their wallets, eager to repay him for his invaluable services. Armando looked deep into their eyes, in that disarming way that so many children in this country do. Then he danced away, while facing them to shout his profuse thanks.

The coupled climbed into the van and settled into the badly scuffed seats.

“Wow.”

“That kid was sharp.”

“His English was pretty good. I bet he speaks Portuguese and a couple of tribal languages too.”

“It wouldn’t take much for this kid to succeed with all that resourcefulness and determination.”

“What problem-solving skills!”

“What an entrepreneur!”

“What will happen to him?”

Nothing justifies the material deprivation that hundreds of millions of African children experience everyday.  Many of them are just like Armando, and they have much to teach us – about how they face their futures, and how we can help our children face theirs. How will our children learn perseverance, resourcefulness, and problem-solving?

While waiting for their ferry to bring them back to their world a few days later, the couple crossed Armando’s path again. They were relieved to see him. Dusk had descended. They knew they stood out like a lighthouse amidst the throng of passengers waiting in the dusty port. They were aware now that their bags contained more material goods than anyone in these crowds would possess in their life times. Why wouldn’t someone try to take them?

Armando trotted over to them and smiled in that winning way of his. “Hello, my friends. It’s your brother, Armando.” He offered to help them again. “I carry your bags. You need ferry ticket – I show you where you buy it. You have money? I buy it for you. I help you.”

But by now they had found their way around. “Thanks. We’re all set.”

He rubbed his belly and said he was hungry. They offered him an orange. He smiled quietly. With one hand he drew the orange close to his chest. With the other, he shook theirs to thank them, and then disappeared into the night.

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Disclaimer:
The content of these blogs are not intended to constitute or to take the place of medical or psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis or treatment. If you have a question about your child’s health or well-being, consult your child’s health-care provider. Before starting any treatment or new program, consult your pediatrician about your own child’s health, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. These blogs are not substitutes for the advice give by your child’s pediatrician. They should not be used as an alternative to appropriate medical care. The author has strived to ensure that the information presented is accurate up to the time of posting. However, in light of ongoing research and the constant flow of information it is possible that new findings may invalidate information presented here.

For more information about parenting and your child’s development: www.brazeltontouchpoints.org Questions or comments may be addressed to Dr. Joshua Sparrow, care of The New York Times Syndicate, 620 Eighth Ave., 5th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018. Questions may also be sent by email to: nytsyn-families@nytimes.com. Questions of general interest will be answered in the New York Times Syndicate column that Dr. Sparrow writes with Dr. T. Berry Brazelon, which may be posted on a Families Today website or collected in book form. Drs. Brazelton and Sparrow regret that unpublished letters cannot be answered individually.

In many parts of Africa, it is not uncommon to see a seven year old tending a fire, or walking along the road barefoot – with a baby wrapped up on her back, or a basin of water on her head. In the U.S. or Europe, we might worry that such a child (or the baby) could be injured, or at the very least, might be missing out on what we have come to define as ‘childhood.’ Yet these young children have an intent, focused expression on their faces. They carry themselves with a kind of seriousness and pride. They seem to know what they’re doing, and march along the road with a sense of purpose.

Who knows what is really going inside these children’s minds?

Perhaps we are too quick to judge their lives from our own perspectives. There may be much that many of them are missing – clean water, healthy foods, adequate healthcare, and decent schools, for example. But perhaps some of our children are missing out on something too.

Where there are schools, many of these children walk miles each day to get there, wearing uniforms with ties or skirts yet barefoot under the hot sun. Some walk side by side, absorbed in conversation. Others skip and dance all the way. Or they play – without toys, or with ones they’ve made themselves: a soccer ball made out of mounds of plastic bags taped together, an old bicycle wheel rim pushed along the dirt road with a stick, a makeshift kite patched together from bits of paper and string.

None of the resourcefulness and determination that they learn from hardship makes decent water, food, healthcare and education that so many of these children lack any less essential.  Yet in the strengths that can be seen where children are materially deprived but have a clear sense of their role in their own survival and that of their families and communities, there may be a lesson for us about the experiences we can give our children.

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Disclaimer:
The content of these blogs are not intended to constitute or to take the place of medical or psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis or treatment. If you have a question about your child’s health or well-being, consult your child’s health-care provider. Before starting any treatment or new program, consult your pediatrician about your own child’s health, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. These blogs are not substitutes for the advice give by your child’s pediatrician. They should not be used as an alternative to appropriate medical care. The author has strived to ensure that the information presented is accurate up to the time of posting. However, in light of ongoing research and the constant flow of information it is possible that new findings may invalidate information presented here.

For more information about parenting and your child’s development: www.brazeltontouchpoints.org Questions or comments may be addressed to Dr. Joshua Sparrow, care of The New York Times Syndicate, 620 Eighth Ave., 5th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018. Questions may also be sent by email to: nytsyn-families@nytimes.com. Questions of general interest will be answered in the New York Times Syndicate column that Dr. Sparrow writes with Dr. T. Berry Brazelon, which may be posted on a Families Today website or collected in book form. Drs. Brazelton and Sparrow regret that unpublished letters cannot be answered individually.

Some time in mid-August, subtle changes in the light and air start letting children know that September is around the corner. The sun starts setting a little earlier. There’s a slight chill in the air. A maple tree branch tinges early with red. Knowing that a frantic fall and a frigid winter lie ahead, these first signs of summer’s fading make many adults wish summer would never end.

Children’s sense of time is different. Very young children have not yet mastered the seasons’ sequence. For older ones, the idea of ‘next summer’ is real but seems like an eternity from now. Yet, like adults, school aged children and adolescents may feel a mix of apprehension and a longing for summer’s slower pace to stretch out forever. As this summer winds down, they’ll savor its unforgettable moments, and be reminded of the best times of summers past. What are the moments of summer that your children will remember for the rest of their lives? What experiences will their most enduring memories be made from?

In the brain, memories are closely wired to scents, sounds, and sights. Children’s memories are often anchored in the things they experience with their senses – the smell of a moist pine forest or the smoke of a camp fire, the sight of an orange sherbet sunset, the sound of crickets and cicadas or of the ocean in a seashell, the feel of steamy evenings on the front stoop or of a parent’s hand held while scrambling over a rocky coast. They may most vividly remember the vastness of space that opens up from a mountaintop they thought they’d never reach, and a new sense of themselves and their place in the world. Gazing up at the summer night sky, they may suddenly realize how small they are, and perhaps, how alone. These last few weeks of summer are a time to venture out, to discover, to savor and remember – alone, and together.

These kinds of experiences cannot be programmed or prescribed. Instead, parents can set the stage for children to have their own experiences. These need not be elaborate or expensive: the most memorable ones may be just around the corner. Parents can sense when these moments of wonder are best left within the child’s private world, and when their meaning is enhanced by sharing them. Either way, the reward for parents is the child’s growing appreciation for the passage of time, and sense of wonder at what it means to be alive.

(For more on children’s experiences of their summertime worlds, read Robert McCloskey’s classic book Time of Wonder with your children.)

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Disclaimer:
The content of these blogs are not intended to constitute or to take the place of medical or psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis or treatment. If you have a question about your child’s health or well-being, consult your child’s health-care provider. Before starting any treatment or new program, consult your pediatrician about your own child’s health, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. These blogs are not substitutes for the advice give by your child’s pediatrician. They should not be used as an alternative to appropriate medical care. The author has strived to ensure that the information presented is accurate up to the time of posting. However, in light of ongoing research and the constant flow of information it is possible that new findings may invalidate information presented here.

For more information about parenting and your child’s development: www.brazeltontouchpoints.org Questions or comments may be addressed to Dr. Joshua Sparrow, care of The New York Times Syndicate, 620 Eighth Ave., 5th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018. Questions may also be sent by email to: nytsyn-families@nytimes.com. Questions of general interest will be answered in the New York Times Syndicate column that Dr. Sparrow writes with Dr. T. Berry Brazelon, which may be posted on a Families Today website or collected in book form. Drs. Brazelton and Sparrow regret that unpublished letters cannot be answered individually.

Parents of children with ADHD whose children can watch TV or play a computer game for hours often say, “I’m glad he can pay attention to something, but the trouble is, he’s so wrapped up in the game that I can’t get him to stop. I have to nag and nag, and when I finally break through he has a melt down.”

Children without ADHD may not want to stop either, but it is easier for them to do so because their attention is more fluid and flexible. They can tune into the videogame but at the same time take in what is going on elsewhere. A child with ADHD needs to put so much energy into paying attention to a videogame that his attention is likely to have a rigid, ‘locked on’ quality. He’ll have a harder time tuning in to anything else, and he’ll have a harder time shifting his attention away from an activity he has succeeded in paying attention to. This alone does not make the diagnosis of ADHD, but it’s an often overlooked feature that can lead to a failure to diagnose, and to avoidable conflicts.

A child like this will have an easier time stopping one entrancing activity to begin a less exciting one if he is given multiple warnings. When parents and teachers understand that this behavior is not a result of resistance or defiance, but of a kind of inflexible quality of attention, they’ll be able to supply the extra warnings without losing their patience – which of course only makes things worse.

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Disclaimer:
The content of these blogs are not intended to constitute or to take the place of medical or psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis or treatment. If you have a question about your child’s health or well-being, consult your child’s health-care provider. Before starting any treatment or new program, consult your pediatrician about your own child’s health, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. These blogs are not substitutes for the advice give by your child’s pediatrician. They should not be used as an alternative to appropriate medical care. The author has strived to ensure that the information presented is accurate up to the time of posting. However, in light of ongoing research and the constant flow of information it is possible that new findings may invalidate information presented here.

For more information about parenting and your child’s development: www.brazeltontouchpoints.org Questions or comments may be addressed to Dr. Joshua Sparrow, care of The New York Times Syndicate, 620 Eighth Ave., 5th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018. Questions may also be sent by email to: nytsyn-families@nytimes.com. Questions of general interest will be answered in the New York Times Syndicate column that Dr. Sparrow writes with Dr. T. Berry Brazelon, which may be posted on a Families Today website or collected in book form. Drs. Brazelton and Sparrow regret that unpublished letters cannot be answered individually.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), characterized by trouble paying attention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, distractibility, fidgetiness, restlessness, trouble waiting for a turn and blurting things out is sometimes misdiagnosed, and sometimes over-diagnosed.  Yet when the diagnosis is missed, children suffer needlessly. Often they have trouble making friends, feel like failures at school, and are nagged so much that they are at greater risk for becoming depressed. Fortunately, there are effective treatments for ADHD, and the right treatment can truly change a child’s life. (See the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s website www.aacap.org for more information.)

With ADHD, a child’s attention span may not only be too short. It often is also qualitatively different. Every now and then a parent will say, “My kid couldn’t possibly have ADHD. He can watch TV or play video games for hours!” Yet the simple fact of being able to pay attention for a long time to something as riveting as this does not prove a child’s attention is fully functional. Most children can pay attention to TV or videogames for prolonged periods, but a child with ADHD may have more trouble stopping. This alone does not prove a child has ADHD, but it often goes with it.

Stay tuned for more next week about the quality of attention when a child has ADHD.

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Disclaimer:
The content of these blogs are not intended to constitute or to take the place of medical or psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis or treatment. If you have a question about your child’s health or well-being, consult your child’s health-care provider. Before starting any treatment or new program, consult your pediatrician about your own child’s health, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. These blogs are not substitutes for the advice give by your child’s pediatrician. They should not be used as an alternative to appropriate medical care. The author has strived to ensure that the information presented is accurate up to the time of posting. However, in light of ongoing research and the constant flow of information it is possible that new findings may invalidate information presented here.

For more information about parenting and your child’s development: www.brazeltontouchpoints.org Questions or comments may be addressed to Dr. Joshua Sparrow, care of The New York Times Syndicate, 620 Eighth Ave., 5th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018. Questions may also be sent by email to: nytsyn-families@nytimes.com. Questions of general interest will be answered in the New York Times Syndicate column that Dr. Sparrow writes with Dr. T. Berry Brazelon, which may be posted on a Families Today website or collected in book form. Drs. Brazelton and Sparrow regret that unpublished letters cannot be answered individually.

Two risk factors for depression are social isolation and disempowerment. Yet pregnancy is a time for expectant mothers to turn inwards, and even regress. As a result, they need their partners and parents to stay connected with them, and to nurture them so that they can feel successful in caring for themselves and their baby-to-be.

An expectant mother’s need to be babied can come as a surprise for fathers-to-be, who may be feeling uncertain and confused about the changes they are going through, and wondering how they’ll ever rise to the occasion. They themselves may wish they had someone to turn to, and falter briefly as they find the strength within to provide the kind of special care their partner needs now. They’re bound to be put off by the mood swings that are common in pregnancy. And their partner may at times seem suddenly capricious, or self-indulgent. But if they understand that this is all part of what she must do in order to prepare herself for her new role, it will help them prepare for theirs. Fathers often feel neglected by their partners during pregnancy, and like a third wheel once the baby is born. Yet providing this kind of special care to their partner may not only help prevent postpartum depression, but it can also help fathers feel more clearly that they too have an important new role.

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Disclaimer:
The content of these blogs are not intended to constitute or to take the place of medical or psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis or treatment. If you have a question about your child’s health or well-being, consult your child’s health-care provider. Before starting any treatment or new program, consult your pediatrician about your own child’s health, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. These blogs are not substitutes for the advice give by your child’s pediatrician. They should not be used as an alternative to appropriate medical care. The author has strived to ensure that the information presented is accurate up to the time of posting. However, in light of ongoing research and the constant flow of information it is possible that new findings may invalidate information presented here.

For more information about parenting and your child’s development: www.brazeltontouchpoints.org Questions or comments may be addressed to Dr. Joshua Sparrow, care of The New York Times Syndicate, 620 Eighth Ave., 5th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018. Questions may also be sent by email to: nytsyn-families@nytimes.com. Questions of general interest will be answered in the New York Times Syndicate column that Dr. Sparrow writes with Dr. T. Berry Brazelon, which may be posted on a Families Today website or collected in book form. Drs. Brazelton and Sparrow regret that unpublished letters cannot be answered individually.

I’ve heard that in the far off Goto Islands of Japan, families know how to prevent postpartum depression. They may have something to teach new fathers and other family members here.

During pregnancy, the women sit on the beach, quietly mending their husbands’ fishing nets. Before they are born, the fetuses already seem to be benefiting from this simple, quiet way of life. At birth they newborns are calm and attentive, readily responsive to their mothers’ soothing.

The postpartum period is a time when the extended family comes together to nurture and support the new mother. She’s put to bed in a futon with her baby. Her only job is to nurse her baby, to rest and recover. The grandmothers and aunties do all the rest – they change and bathe the baby. They coddle the mother and feed her with chopsticks. They gently help her up to the bathroom, and settle her back into a bed. They even talk to the mother in baby talk. This goes on for a full month, and I’m told that there is no postpartum depression!

Pregnancy can be a time for turning inward for a new mother. For many, it can sometimes feel like a time for becoming a baby again, as if to remember what it’s like, and as a way to prepare for being a new baby’s mother. (See The Birth of a Mother: How the Experience of Motherhood Changes You Forever by Daniel Stern and Nadia Bruschweiler-Stern.) On the Goto islands, it sounds as if everyone helps the mother give into her need to feel like a baby again until she’s ready to get on with being a new mother.

Stay tuned for more next week on postpartum depression and how families can help prevent it.

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Disclaimer:
The content of these blogs are not intended to constitute or to take the place of medical or psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis or treatment. If you have a question about your child’s health or well-being, consult your child’s health-care provider. Before starting any treatment or new program, consult your pediatrician about your own child’s health, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. These blogs are not substitutes for the advice give by your child’s pediatrician. They should not be used as an alternative to appropriate medical care. The author has strived to ensure that the information presented is accurate up to the time of posting. However, in light of ongoing research and the constant flow of information it is possible that new findings may invalidate information presented here.

For more information about parenting and your child’s development: www.brazeltontouchpoints.org Questions or comments may be addressed to Dr. Joshua Sparrow, care of The New York Times Syndicate, 620 Eighth Ave., 5th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018. Questions may also be sent by email to: nytsyn-families@nytimes.com. Questions of general interest will be answered in the New York Times Syndicate column that Dr. Sparrow writes with Dr. T. Berry Brazelon, which may be posted on a Families Today website or collected in book form. Drs. Brazelton and Sparrow regret that unpublished letters cannot be answered individually.

Do you remember the vacations your family went on when you were growing up? Even if you didn’t travel very far away, memories of these excursions can last a lifetime. What do you remember? Maybe something spectacular, like a roller coaster ride at Disney Land, or Old Faithful gushing at Yellowstone. But some of the tenderest memories are bound to be about the time a family spends together, playing cards or frisbee, walking along a beach, or just hanging out on the porch or front stoop.

Family time is getting scarcer, so here are two ideas about how to protect it and enjoy it on vacation.

First, don’t plan a trip that is more expensive or complicated than you can handle without getting stressed about it. If every moment feels like it has to pay off, it’s not worth it. There’s no point in teaching your kids to expect fancy vacations if you all have a terrible time. It’s really not about where you go or even what you do. It’s just about having a break, together, and having that feeling of closeness that only a family can have. Don’t over-schedule yourselves so much that you end up feeling rushed. Squabbles are bound to ensue.

Second, make it a priority to tune into each other. Put all the electronics aside – cell phones, laptops and tablets, portable DVD players and everything else – until you really need them. On a long trip, they may help the kids from driving you and each other crazy. But if they spend all their time playing a video game, you might as well stay home. Of course everyone may need a little time on their own each day – but plan individual downtime deliberately so that every one can count on it, and so that people aren’t tuning each other out the whole time.

Finally, don’t expect your vacation to be perfect, or for everyone to get along the whole time. Something will go wrong – that’s part of the adventure.  Family members will disagree – it’s their chance to learn how to get along. Not everyone will be thrilled with every activity, but they’ll learn the importance of compromising and taking turns.

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Disclaimer:
The content of these blogs are not intended to constitute or to take the place of medical or psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis or treatment. If you have a question about your child’s health or well-being, consult your child’s health-care provider. Before starting any treatment or new program, consult your pediatrician about your own child’s health, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. These blogs are not substitutes for the advice give by your child’s pediatrician. They should not be used as an alternative to appropriate medical care. The author has strived to ensure that the information presented is accurate up to the time of posting. However, in light of ongoing research and the constant flow of information it is possible that new findings may invalidate information presented here.

For more information about parenting and your child’s development: www.brazeltontouchpoints.org Questions or comments may be addressed to Dr. Joshua Sparrow, care of The New York Times Syndicate, 620 Eighth Ave., 5th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018. Questions may also be sent by email to: nytsyn-families@nytimes.com. Questions of general interest will be answered in the New York Times Syndicate column that Dr. Sparrow writes with Dr. T. Berry Brazelon, which may be posted on a Families Today website or collected in book form. Drs. Brazelton and Sparrow regret that unpublished letters cannot be answered individually.

“Here’s what all of us agree on,” we told our 8^th graders: “Starting this summer, when you go out, we need to know where you’re going, how you’re going with, how you’re getting there and back, and what time you’ll be home. If you’re going to a party, there needs to be a parent in the home, and if we’re not sure, we’ll call the parents to be sure they know that they’re hosting a party. We’ll wait up until you’re home, and if we fall asleep, it’s your job to wake us up to say goodnight.” These are not restful years for parents, but this is another important time to look a child straight in the eye.

The most important rule: “No driving -ever with someone who’s been drinking or doing drugs. Call us and we’ll pick you up – no matter when, no matter what – no questions asked, no punishments. We just want you to be safe.”

Of course they all rolled their eyeballs and groaned. But deep down, they felt reassured and held within this caring community of parents who would stay in touch with each other, and with them.

Then, high school happened and they all made it through, not without scratches and bruises, but – no car accidents, no pregnancies, no suicide attempts, no drug or alcohol addictions. At some point, their safety would be up to them. But at the beginning of high school, they needed to know that our respect for their wish for more freedom didn’t mean that we cared about them less. The rules and limits put in place had to be part of our way of showing them this.

Epilogue: When our second and last child was in fourth grade, we set up our own afterschool with kids in her class too. Unfortunately, her best friends were busy doing other things, so the chemistry wasn’t quite right for her with the kids who were in the group – but we knew where she was, who she was with, and that she was safe. And she learned how to get along with all kinds of kids.

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Disclaimer:
The content of these blogs are not intended to constitute or to take the place of medical or psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis or treatment. If you have a question about your child’s health or well-being, consult your child’s health-care provider. Before starting any treatment or new program, consult your pediatrician about your own child’s health, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. These blogs are not substitutes for the advice give by your child’s pediatrician. They should not be used as an alternative to appropriate medical care. The author has strived to ensure that the information presented is accurate up to the time of posting. However, in light of ongoing research and the constant flow of information it is possible that new findings may invalidate information presented here.

For more information about parenting and your child’s development: www.brazeltontouchpoints.org Questions or comments may be addressed to Dr. Joshua Sparrow, care of The New York Times Syndicate, 620 Eighth Ave., 5th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018. Questions may also be sent by email to: nytsyn-families@nytimes.com. Questions of general interest will be answered in the New York Times Syndicate column that Dr. Sparrow writes with Dr. T. Berry Brazelon, which may be posted on a Families Today website or collected in book form. Drs. Brazelton and Sparrow regret that unpublished letters cannot be answered individually.

Did you know that child injuries are more common in the summer months than at any other time of year?

Barbecues, campfires, swimming pools, bicycles, roller blades, baseballs, lawn mowers, fireworks on the Fourth of July – these are among the many culprits that make summer the most dangerous time of year for children.  Fortunately, most accidents are preventable if you can see them coming beforehand. It may be a little anxiety-provoking to think about all the kinds of accidents that summertime can bring, but if you do, you’ve got a much better chance of avoiding them.

Every summer, too many small children find their way to swimming pools where they drown. Swimming pools must be enclosed with fences and gates that lock. Children should never be inside that fence unless an adult is with them. Teaching children to swim early is also a big protection, but no substitute for adult supervision.

Every Fourth of July, children sustain severe burns when they set off fireworks – it’s not worth it!

When a fire’s going –in a barbecue or a campfire, an adult must be close at hand, and children at a safe distance. You can teach your kids to respect how out-of-control a single flame can quickly become as you’re toasting marshmallows. You’ll worry less once you know that they really understand.

Lighter fluids –if you must use them- should be used according to directions and then immediately sealed and stored out of children’s reach.

Bike helmets and protective gear for other sports are life-savers, as are life-jackets for any kind of boating. But they must fit snugly and be fastened properly. Your children will model on your behavior, so be sure to wear yours.

These are just a few suggestions, but be sure to see the National Safety Council and Safe Kids websites www.nsc.org and www.safekids.org for more easy ways to keep your child safe this summer.  If you can worry just enough to take all the necessary precautions, then you and your family can relax and enjoy the summer.

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Disclaimer:
The content of these blogs are not intended to constitute or to take the place of medical or psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis or treatment. If you have a question about your child’s health or well-being, consult your child’s health-care provider. Before starting any treatment or new program, consult your pediatrician about your own child’s health, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. These blogs are not substitutes for the advice give by your child’s pediatrician. They should not be used as an alternative to appropriate medical care. The author has strived to ensure that the information presented is accurate up to the time of posting. However, in light of ongoing research and the constant flow of information it is possible that new findings may invalidate information presented here.