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Proactive Child Care
Children are our most precious possessions. While they are in our care they are our greatest joy and greatest responsibility. Protecting our children requires diligence and forethought. As we are now in the summer season where children are out of school we want to point out some recent tragedies in Phoenix, all taking place in June, where children were injured or died, in the hope we can learn from these incidents and perhaps prevent some future tragedies and their lifelong consequences.
On June 14, a 14 year-old boy was found dead in a shower from an apparent fall due to a medical condition. On June 15, a 3 year-old drowned in a pool; the relative watching her didn’t know how to swim. On June 20, a 2 year-old boy was accidentally run over by a speeding driver in a trailer park community. On the same day, a 3 year-old girl was killed in a traffic collision between two vehicles. On June 22, a mother accidentally shot her 11 year-old daughter in their home. Finally, on June 27, a 3 year-old boy was critically injured when he pulled a chest of drawers onto his chest.
These incidents were not necessarily related to criminal intent but they were accidents where negligence may have been a factor. In every instance adults were present or nearby. Could they have been prevented? We are not here to pass judgment, and we send our condolences to all the suffering families who have lost loved ones. But we need to learn and point out opportunities to think about and practice prevention. These incidents cover topics of home safety, driving safety, pedestrian and vehicle safety, gun safety, and water safety.
- Children on medication must be monitored constantly and not put in a position where their medication is either unavailable or changed without a doctor’s orders.
- Adults who supervise children around water need to know how to swim and perform CPR.
- When driving you must operate a motor vehicles safely and obey the traffic laws; making sure all passengers are properly restrained, speeds are within legal limits, and caution is a common word.
- When at home parents must make sure that children cannot get into ropes or cords, pull furniture down on themselves, break glass, hide, or play around machinery and appliances. Make your home as safe as possible.
- Guns must be stored safely so that a child cannot have access to a loaded gun or ammunition.
- The same holds true for matches, flammables and poisonous materials.
These are only a few safety issues. There is a lot to look out for when trying to protect and care for children, a primary responsibility of parenthood. And, yes, most certainly, sometimes accidents are unavoidable. We cannot think of everything, but we can think of many things to do safely.
There are numerous web sites and information sources for organizations that promote child safety issues. Please seek them out and take care to protect your children as much as you can.