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Don’t just worry -- help protect your kids

Parents always think, It cant happen to us about their kids, but it can. (Steve Debenport, istock / April 2, 2008)

Gary Dymski | Home Work

April 3, 2008

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We worry so much about our children, regardless of their ages.

I shake my head in disbelief after hearing about a 2-year-old girl in Coram causing her own death last month when, reaching for a remote control, she pulled a 25-inch television down on herself.

And I can't imagine the pain - haunting so many families - after the arraignment of a 17-year-old Smithtown youth who crashed his father's car, killing his two passengers and a third person, a passenger in another car.

"As kids get older, the dangers don't just stop," says Alison Rhodes, a self- proclaimed Safety Mom. "They just get worse."

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Other than taking away their keys, I'm not sure about how to get our young people to drive slower and with more care. The Smithtown teen was driving

85 mph when he crashed. Every time I hear screeching tires, images of my children, driving or as passengers, flash before my eyes. Four of my five kids drive and, thank heaven, we've been lucky so far. Nothing more than inconsequential fender benders.

We probably were lucky, too, when our children were younger. Like Rhodes says, parents are just too busy, too wrapped up in other things to make home safety a priority. But what could be more important than our own children?

I say my wife and I were lucky as young parents because one of us was always home with the kids. We worked different shifts, and we always had one eye on the children.

But Rhodes, a Wilton, Conn., mother who lost a son to sudden infant death syndrome, says all parents always think they'll never let their children out of their sight. "That's what every first-time parent, every grandparent, thinks," says Rhodes, whose Web sites,thesafetymom.com and peekaboobabyproofing.com, promote child-safety issues. "They say to themselves, 'It can't happen to us.'"

But, of course, it can. The last week of April is National Children's Safety Week. That event, as much as the recent local tragedies involving children young and younger, prompted this column.

Instead of just worrying about our children, we should move to make our homes and cars a little safer. Just look around, use some common sense.

"So many first-time parents are thinking about the design of the baby's new room or baby clothes," Rhodes says, "and they never take a second to consider child safety before the baby is born.

"We really should be proactive."

For example, long cords on blinds and window coverings, electrical outlets and stairwells can be dangerous to children. The cords can cause strangulation; outlets can cause electrical shock; and stairwells can be invitations to deadly falls. Preventive measures include adjusting the length of the cord (instructions are at windowcovering .org), using outlet covers or plastic inserts that fit into the plug opening, and installing child safety gates.

As for common sense, well, I'll let Rhodes tell it. "Hospitals tell me that

50 percent of new parents show up with their car safety seats uninstalled," she says. "And studies show 80 percent of the parents who do have them installed have them installed incorrectly."

Rhodes says it's all about taking time to think and act.

In some instances, it's fine to think small. When our oldest two were toddlers, they'd often empty the bottom shelves of our kitchen cupboards to play with mixing bowls and utensils. We quickly made sure all the contents of all the lower cupboards and vanities in our house were childproof. We moved anything that could be dangerous to places they could not reach.

Rhodes also says parents should think about health risks. The Back to Sleep campaign, which promotes putting infants to sleep on their backs, has reduced SIDs deaths by 50 percent. Even banking the stem-cell rich blood from a baby's umbilical cord (cordblood.com) should be considered, she says, because it can be used to fight disease.

"You just don't think things will happen to your baby," Rhodes says. "It's not the natural order of things."

Again, as parents, we should know better.

"In this country," I say to Rhodes, "we need a license for virtually everything - except for having children."

"That's true," she says. "And sometimes it's frightening."