It's not perfect. It's parenting.
Sometimes you need answers to the little everyday things that parents encounter. And sometimes, you just need someone to encourage you through all of the craziness and challenges of parenthood. Welcome to Parent-ish, a blog from the experts at Children's Mercy.
Category: Safety tips
Add Safety to Your Sprucing This Spring
Nearly 4 million kids across the country take a trip to the emergency department each year for injuries that happen at home. Even more eye-opening: many of them can be prevented. While January gets the credit for fresh starts, it’s spring that often powers the potential for change. Warm weather and longer days inspire cleaning, decluttering and a general refresh of our spaces and lives. This season, as you tackle cobwebs, windows and floors, add safety to your sprucing scene with these 10 tips
Keeping kids safe from accidental poisonings
According to the American Association of Poison Control Center, over 91% of poison exposures in Missouri and Kansas occur in the home, and over 45% of those cases involved children under the age of 5.
Marijuana edibles: Staying safe around kids
With the recent legalization of recreational marijuana in Missouri, we are seeing more children accidently consume marijuana edibles. As these foods often look like your everyday treats—cookies, brownies, chocolate or gummy candies—children may eat them, unaware they contain marijuana. Despite preventive regulations for child-resistant packaging, warning labels and public health campaigns, unintentional ingestion continues to rise, so below are some frequently asked questions about the dangers of marijuana ingestion in children, how to safely secure these items and what to do if you expect your child has ingested edibles.
Tips for a safe Halloween
Halloween is a great time of year for children. But before your kids head out to trick-or-treat here are some safety tips to help keep your ghosts and goblins safe.
Medication 101: What you may not realize about medicines
Here’s a fact that will knock your socks off – a medicine cabinet is one of the worst places to store medicine. It’s true! It shouldn’t even be called a medicine cabinet because storing medicine in the bathroom where temperatures and humidity can get high is one of the least stable places to keep medicine. Let’s run through a few other things you may not realize about medications.
Preventing heat-related illness for student-athletes
Preparing for the return of school sports can any student-athlete excited, but during these hot summer months as the temperatures continue to rise, it’s important to be aware of heat-related illnesses. You don’t have to just be a football player doing 2-a-day outdoor workouts to be affected by heat stroke and heat-related illnesses. Anyone can be at risk. Here are some steps to help keep your student-athlete safe from the heat.
When do you need a bike helmet? Your bike safety questions answered.
We all love the freedom and fun bikes can bring for children. It’s such a fun milestone for any kid when they move from training wheels to only using 2 wheels. Then, they can go on long family bike rides or zip over to their friend’s house. Even bike to school! As you start to hit the road, remember these bike safety tips.
6 Ways to keep kids safe around medications
You might be pretty good at home security. Many people have doorbell cameras, security alarm systems, door locks, window locks and child locks. But have you ever thought about medication storage? Medications are often left in places where curious children can find them, like bathroom cabinets, purses and nightstands. It helps to have a strategy to prevent kids from accessing medications.
Newborn sleep tips
Bringing a baby home is one of the most incredible feelings. All that time waiting for this precious little person and then, they are here. And awake! Here is the real talk about newborn sleep, so you can sleep sound, too.
Winter safety tips you may not realize you need
Each winter brings a new chance for fun things for kids to do, like ice skating and snowball fights. As we gear up to celebrate the season, keep these 5 things in mind.
Why teaching personal boundaries is important for kids
Sadly, 1 in 10 children will be sexually assaulted before their 18th birthday. We all want to keep kids safe from this kind of trauma. One way to keep kids safe is to teach them a few things to feel empowered to stop abuse before it even starts. Here’s what I mean.
Dog safety 101
We know to teach kids to look before crossing the street and to not run with scissors. These are all well-known safety skills parents always talk about with kids. But we should be teaching a few safety things when it comes to dogs, too.
Parents beware: gruesome injuries caused by toys
Any parent or pediatrician can agree – children will try to swallow almost everything. Some say, there is nothing quicker on Earth than a child’s hand reaching for something they shouldn’t have. When kids are young, they use their mouth to explore the world. But, when they are playing with certain toys, it can be extremely dangerous.
Four rules of lawn mower safety
Spring has sprung! We all know what that means…mowing season has arrived. You probably have the one friend who LOVES to mow, but for most people it is a hot, sweaty and dirty task at the bottom of the “adulting” to-do list. Kids may even find the ride on lawn mowers exciting. But when it comes to kids and lawn mowers, things can turn dangerous quickly.
How to plan for tornado safety with your family
Spring can’t come soon enough after months of winter cold and darkness. But with spring comes severe weather and tornados which can cause dangerous conditions and sometimes lead to injuries. What does your family need to stay safe during severe weather? Check out these tips for tornado safety.