The holiday season is upon us and I’m sure you’re in the swing of shopping for the kids.  Safe Kids would like to provide a few safety tips to keep in mind when buying toys.

1. Keep age and cognitive ability in mind.  Just because a toy says it is for an 8+ doesn’t mean it is right for your child.

2. Consider other children in the house.  Smaller toys (marbles, Mancala, Polly Pockets, etc.) are great for school-age children, but if there are young children around will it pose a choking hazard?  Decide how to keep the toys and kids separated and how to supervise when they are being used.

3. Are you giving a gift with wheels?  If so, remember the safety equipment…HELMET, HELMET, HELMET!!!  Helmets expire after 3 years and if they are ever involved in a crash (where the head is hit), it needs to be thrown in the trash!

4. Buy toys that encourage your child to be active, not just video games and books (though those are fun gifts!) and participate with them by at least actively supervising.  A ball, a jump rope, a frisbee, etc. can create many hours of fun for the entire family.

If you would like more tips on toy safety, check out http://www.safekids.org/toy-safety.

Have a happy and SAFE holiday season!

Do you have energy drinks in your house?  If so, keep them out of reach of the children.  A recent article in Science Daily states that a typical energy drink has 400 mg of pharmaceutical-grade caffeine.  A typical cup of coffee has about 100 mg of caffeine.  Adolescents can be poisoned if they consume over 100 mg of caffeine per day and children under 12 years of age can be poisoned if they consume 2.5 mg per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of body weight.

Poison Control Centers have seen an increase in the number of calls of children and adolescents accidentally consuming too much.  For more information, you can read the article at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141116094326.htm.

Thank you to WISH (Women Investing in Strategies for Health) for granting Safe Kids Larimer County $5,000 to support our car seat education and distribution program. Safe Kids distributes approximately $25,000 worth of car seats to families who could not otherwise afford them each year. Thank you WISH for helping us fulfill our mission!

http://pvhandmcr.thankyou4caring.org/wish 

You can help us fulfill our mission as well by donating at https://pvhandmcr.thankyou4caring.org/ and selecting Safe Kids–Car Seats.

Image from: http://www.cpsc.gov// /Global/Images/Home%20Page/Recall-Carousels/Toy-Recalls_Carousel-web.jpg

If you have a Graco stroller, please take a minute to check the recall and how to fix it.

http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2015/Graco-Recalls-11-Models-of-Strollers/