Community

welcomeThey say it takes a village to raise a child. It’s doubly so when a child’s health and well-being is concerned. Welcome to our “village” where you can hear from our team of experts their thoughts on current and ongoing child health and safety issues as well as share stories in areas like how you’re handling a particular child health-related challenge or the ups-and-downs we face every day trying to keep kids safe. Our Pedsafe Chat Rooms are there for you anytime to ask questions and exchange ideas.

Oh, and if you notice that in all of our posts we use “pedsafe” as a tag, or see a #pedsafe hash-tag in a tweet, it’s because we now have our own personal PediatricSafety tag. We created it so we can always find each other’s posts and tweets …so please help us out and tag yours too.

Latest Community Posts

Kid-Safe Your Backyard

Kid-Safe Your Backyard

by Michelle LaRowe

The warmer weather is coming, and you’ll soon be preparing to transform your backyard into a summer playground. To keep the kids safe, follow these childproofing guidelines to cut back on the hidden hazards in your backyard and to make your summer play zone a safe place to be. Carefully inspect your playground equipment. According to the National Program for Playground Safety over 200,000 children per year are injured on playgrounds. Since most of these injuries are a result of falls, be sure that you have a proper shock absorbing surface underneath your play set. 12 inches of sand, mulch or... 

Be a Parent and Not a Referee: Simple Tips to End the Fighting

Be a Parent and Not a Referee: Simple Tips to End the Fighting

by Michele Borba, Ed.D.

It’s the soundtrack to parenthood: the battles, the bickering, the rivalries. Mom- she’s touching me! He’s looking out my window! Tell her to get out of my room! Even on the best of days these sibling squabbles can make you want to pull your hair out. Add in busy schedules and mounting stress and coming home to conflict and contention can just be too much to handle. So what can you do when your living room more closely resembles a war zone rather than the relaxing retreat that it should be? Though you can’t force your siblings to be best friends, you can get a handle on their squabbles... 

Simple Tips to Prevent Childhood Obesity

Simple Tips to Prevent Childhood Obesity

by Dr Kim

I am always skeptical of easy fixes. If a diet or a product or a book claims that they will have astounding results with little pain, my first instinct is to run in the other direction. However, a study that will be published in March in the journal Pediatrics looks at risk factors for obesity and has three simple bits of advice that I think are worth following. Eat with your family. Decrease TV time. Get more sleep. Simple, right? But are these recommendations really so simple? If so, why aren’t we all doing them? Our lives are busy and some families do have difficulty intergrating consistent... 

Pediatricians urge food manufacturers to reduce choking hazards

Pediatricians urge food manufacturers to reduce choking hazards

by MomRN

In a policy statement published in the March issue of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) calls upon food manufacturers to reduce choking risks for children. Pediatricians want manufacturers to make foods that are known choking hazards safer by changing the size, shape, and/or texture of high risk foods. They also request labeling of such foods with a warning about the potential for choking. Foods such as hot dogs, carrot sticks, grapes, peanut butter, and many others fall into the high risk category because of the frequency of choking incidents among young children involving them. Hot... 

Distracted Driving – Don’t Risk It

Distracted Driving – Don’t Risk It

by Jim Love

No doubt. We live in a busy, hectic and connected world. I can stay in touch with anyone from virtually anywhere. Unfortunately this also includes while driving and this practice is commonly referred to as distracted driving. Distracted driving places us all at risk. Distracted driving has become so common place and had resulted in so many traffic mishaps- collisions and fatalities that the federal government has launched a new website to help educate us all with the hope of curtailing the practice. This new site states that: There are three main types of distraction: Visual — taking your eyes...