With the warmer weather finally here, chances are you might not think twice about opening the windows in your house. If you have small children, however, it’s important to consider their safety.

Unintentional falls are the number one cause of injuries for children. According to 2011 statistics, approximately 3,300 children younger than age 5 suffer injuries due to falls from a window, while 127 are killed as a result of the fall. The majority of these accidents happen at home. So what can parents do to help keep their kids safe?

• Lock windows when not in use
• Keep beds, cribs, changing tables, chairs, furniture or anything a child can climb on away from windows
• Don’t rely on screens. Screens are for keeping bugs out and can’t withstand the weight of young children leaning on them.
• Install child safety window guards. There are a variety of guards available, but make sure they include an emergency release device in case of fire.
• Install window stops so that windows only open four inches or less
• Always supervise young children, especially around open windows

Tragedies can be prevented with a few simple steps. If you have questions or need safety equipment like window guards, the Kohl’s Safety Center at American Family Children’s Hospital can help.

Many of us use cotton swabs (commonly called Q-tips) inside our ears to clean out wax and water. And, well-intended parents may actually use the swabs on their children’s ears as well. The problem is that using the swabs can actually cause injury, or create an even bigger problem – impacted wax.

Earwax actually has several important jobs for which you might want to keep it around. It protects and moisturizes the skin of the canal, preventing itchy/flaky/dandruff-like ears. Additionally, it contains special chemicals that help fight infections. And, when dust and dirt enter your ear, earwax serves as a sticky shield, preventing debris from traveling further.

Because you can’t feel how deep you’re going into the ear, never use a cotton swab to clean your child’s ears. You can unintentionally cause serious injury. Many doctors see people with eardrum injuries requiring medical care or a procedure as a result of cleaning their ears with cotton swabs.

Another issue is that while you are trying to get the wax out, you may actually be packing more in. Impacted wax can decrease hearing and cause pain. Routinely I see impacted wax in the ears of my patients, and it is very difficult to remove. Sometimes we need to shoot pressurized water into the ear to get it out.

I will confess, I use “cotton-tipped applicators” on the little crevices on the outside of my ears, and even just slightly into my ear canal, but I never get close to the eardrum. In the office, I only treat earwax with the use of an otoscope, a device that allows me to see into a patient’s ears. 

While implements for cleaning out our ears date back centuries, remember it’s not actually necessary and can cause more harm than good.

Most parents of school-aged children are familiar with this question.  We are fortunate to live in a city such as Madison and its surrounding townships which offer so many activities for our children. 

Play is so important for the well-being of the whole child. We know play has beautiful benefits, including enhancing creativity and overall mental hygiene and simply being plain fun (try it yourself).  One key medical benefit of outside play is the opportunity to be engaged in vigorous activity, which is integral to the prevention of obesity and its consequences. 

Many families take vacations in the summer. It’s wonderful to be away and explore a new place, far or near, while connecting with your child in unstructured and unexpected ways.  Don’t underestimate the benefits of alone time with your family. Even something local, including walking around our wonderful farmers’ markets, offers us exercise and access to fresh, colorful foods.

Summer can be a time to try things out. Maybe there is an instrument, sport or type of dance that your child has been inquiring about, and you simply don’t have the time to commit to it during the school year. Many places offer abbreviated options to try an activity. And there is the added benefit that your child gets the exposure without the time and financial burdens of a semester or school-year commitment.     

Summer can also be a time of enrichment.  It can offer more relaxed or free time to have family reading time with your child or work on confidence in certain skills while “playing in the park.” It could be an extra mini-camp for your child who loves basketball but cannot devote time to it during the school year.

And speaking of camps,  there are lots of choices:  overnight camps, day camps, twilight camps, weekend camps. Appropriate camps with trained counselors can nurture self–reliance, social skills and overall maturity. Such camps can provide fun new environments to form new friendships.   

Happy summer planning! Keep it safe, healthy and as simple as possible. And make sure you get on a park swing this summer; your child and you will thank me for it.

Here are a few summer family resources that you can check out.

• Madison Parks
• Dane County Parks    
• Madison School & Community Recreation   
• YMCA   
• Family-friendly Guide to the Greater Madison Area
• City of Madison Recreation
• Middleton Public Lands, Recreation, & Forestry
• Sun Prairie Recreation & Aquatics
• Verona Recreation Department

Don’t forget to follow our Growing Up Healthy blog this summer. We’ll have even more tips for keeping kids active, safe and healthy this summer. And we’ll have weekly prize drawings from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

What are your plans for this summer? Leave a comment and let us know.