More time spent at home: 5 steps to minimize injuries & maximize safety

On this inaugural National Injury Prevention Day, Phoenix Children's Center for Family Health and Safety wants to ensure that Arizona’s families remain safe. 

As parents, we all have a story of a scar or broken bone to share; but if we can prevent one injury, then we have done our job.

With more and more time spent at home and increased stress levels, these five steps are sure to help minimize injuries and maximize safety: 

1. Make wearing your bike helmet a habit. Now, more than ever, everyone is riding bikes. All family members can stay safe by wearing a well-fitting helmet.
    
2. If you have a pool, check all access points to your pool. Inexpensive alarms on windows and doors leading to the pool can alert you if your child tries to go outside.
    
3. Use fluffy blankets for infant playtime or tummy time only. You may be tempted to use a thick blanket to keep your baby warm. Instead, you can use a sleep sack, a great way to keep your baby warm without the possibility of kicking the blanket off them.
    
4. Never buckle your child in a car seat with a puffy coat. Your child may wear layers to stay warm but anything thicker than a sweatshirt will result in loosening the car seat harness and will cause your child’s coat to compress.
    
5. Prevent falls. Every year, children end up in the emergency room due to falls. Look around your home for things your child likes to climb. Remove, block or close them. Kids want to climb almost everything, but by bolting bookshelves to the wall, closing pantries where candy is on a high shelf and putting baby gates up near stairs, you can keep them safe.

We hope you join us to celebrate Injury Prevention Day by wearing green, double checking furniture, doors, gates, car seats and bikes, and join the conversation on Twitter by following #BeInjuryFree.