If there is one thing I know about myself, it’s that I am not the most coordinated person. I know this because I ran cross-country in high school, and I still have the scars to prove it. Even the smallest branch or bump in the road used to be enough to bring me tumbling to the ground in spectacular fashion.
This tradition of tumbling continued when I left for college and became a tour guide. If you have ever been on a tour of a college campus, you can imagine that it is not the best job for the uncoordinated. Leading the tours required me to walk backwards in front of large groups of people. On my very first tour as a freshly-minted guide, I ran into no less than five tree branches and several innocent bystanders, not to mention nearly being struck by a passing car.
This autumn, Safe Kids is teaming up with MOTRIN® and Kelly Ripa to celebrate moms everywhere and the things that make them unstoppable. Visit the MOTRIN® Facebook page to share your best mom tips from now until December 31st. As official charity partner, Safe Kids will receive $1 for every tip posted.*
Our new study helps answer some of the questions parents have about when to switch from a booster seat to just a seat belt. We surveyed 1,000 parents of children ages 4 to 10 and found that an alarming number of parents are allowing kids to use a seat belt alone before they are big enough. In fact, 7 in 10 parents do not know that a child should be at least 57 inches (4’9”) to ride in a car without a booster seat.
I’m a state trooper, a certified child passenger safety technician and a father of four kids under the age of 11, so I understand the importance of safety seats. I’ll never forget the day in March 2014, when I saw for myself just how important they are. I was volunteering at a car seat inspection at the Fabius-Park Township fire department, just outside of Three Rivers, Mich. The forecast that day was for rain and snow. Ice had already started covering the roads.
My son, Murphy, is passionate about playing football. Along with that passion comes bumps, bruises, and a fair share of helmet clashing. The physical intensity and risk of injury rises each year as he ages, and his practice schedule is a grueling 6-8 hour-per-week regimen. Murphy managed to play relatively injury free until well into his third year in 2012.
This is National Childhood Injury Prevention Week, which means it’s a great time to brush up on a few of the easiest things parents can do to keep their kids safe. When it comes to safety for your children, you already know the basics: buckle up, wear a helmet, learn to swim, look both ways. Here are some lesser-known – but just as important – tips to help keep your family safe.
Change every diaper. That’s my first piece of advice for one of my best friends, Muppus, who just had a healthy baby boy. (We call him Muppus because that was the name of his band in high school.) I’ve benefited from the advice of Muppus on so many extremely important things – like how to build the perfect fort — so I thought sharing all the things I learned as a parent of two boys might be a nice way to pay him back.