5 Outdoor Safety Tips for Parents

5 Outdoor Safety Tips for Parents

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Whether it’s the summertime cabin fever that spurs you to send your kids out of doors or the after-school energy burst, there are ample opportunities year-round for your children to clock some outdoors time. And if you remember the importance of safety, these outdoor times can be a positive, healthy experience.

Don’t forget to keep the following tips in mind before you send your kids out the door for some outside time.

Gear

When it comes to hitting the outdoors, whether it’s a nature hike, an organized bike ride or just a trip to a local park, it’s important your kids are outfitted with appropriate equipment and gear. First things first – if there’s a chance of rain and it’s going to be an extended time spent outside, make sure they’ve got waterproof clothing handy. Same goes for cold weather – make sure appropriate dress is utilized. Sickness often comes as a result of excess exposure to the elements.

If you’re stepping up your activities (i.e., skateboarding, biking, rollerblading, etc.) then you need to get used to sending them on their way with helmets, kneepads, elbow pads and the like. Johns Hopkins estimates that the No. 1 most common injury sustained on bikes, skates, scooters or skateboards is head injury – and 55 percent of children don’t wear helmets. Don’t let your kids be part of that statistic!

Plant Life

There are plenty of mantras we were all taught when we were kids (“Leaves of three, don’t bother me.”), and the sentiment still stands. When your kids are hitting the outdoors, make sure they (or you, if you’re accompanying) know how to identify harmful native plants. Poison oak and ivy can be identified by their leaves and ragweed, fairly common in the area, has a pretty distinctive look too. These types of plants can cause painful and prolonged rashes or can be packed with pollen or other allergic irritants. (Pro tip: Send a placard along with your kid with a cheat sheet on identifying harmful plant life – to pique their interest, turn it into a game!)

Wildlife

In South Dakota, we’re no strangers to bugs. But when bugs bite, they can carry and transfer a variety of potential problems on to your kids. Make sure that whether you’re accompanying your child or not, adequate insect repellant is on-hand – bite-transferred illnesses like West Nile virus and Lyme disease can have ongoing and severe effects. Additionally, long-sleeved shirts and pants are best when it comes to venturing into areas rife with bugs, such as wooded areas and near bodies of water.

Urban Outdoors

Safety isn’t restricted just to being in nature, either. If you reside in the city, there are still important outdoor precautions to take. A lot of the gear and plant life tips above still apply, as well as making sure your children have your address and phone number on them in case of getting turned around or lost and clear rules set forth on how far they’re allowed to travel and with whom. It’s best to keep your kids within eyeshot or earshot when in a high-traffic area in a city. These are basic, no-nonsense rules of thumb – but a reminder never hurts.

Injury

But what about injury? Are you able to easily identify injuries (or at the very least get in touch with someone who does)? A study from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) found that fractures (36%), contusions (20%) and lacerations (17%) were among the most common injuries sustained on playgrounds and park equipment. An additional study from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) cited climbing equipment (23%), swings (22%) and slides (17%) as the most common playground mainstays to cause injury. Make sure that you know the steps to take if a tumble occurs, and keep a good eye on your younger kids when they’re out and about at the park or playground.

And when it comes to injury your team at Orthopedic Institute has you covered – set up an appointment once injuries like broken bones occur.

What You Need to Know About Bone Health

Bone Fractures & Osteoporosis: Simple Tips for Prevention and Treatment

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Remember how your parents and teachers used to always tell you, “You need more calcium in your diet—it’ll give you strong bones.” Well, on this point, they were overwhelmingly right. Those words you’ve been hearing for years are most definitely some you should be adopting.

Osteoporosis is a disease that can affect any age, sex or race – regardless of what you may have heard – so it’s important to work toward prevention early and often. This means making good choices and instilling good habits at as young an age as possible. (And if it’s already set in for you, don’t worry – you can still take steps to treat it and keep the effects of low bone density at bay.)

Here are just a few simple ways that a person can combat the effects osteoporosis or weakened bones.

Nutrition

This one is a gimme for most—calcium is a key ingredient of preventing and treating low-density bones. But this doesn’t just mean milk and dairy products (though they are a great source of this crucial nutrient). Beans, particularly white beans, are high in calcium and certain types of fish, namely salmon, pack a lot of the nutrient in a serving. And if you’re feeling adventurous, bok choy and even seaweed can work wonders for your calcium intake.

What’s often forgotten, though, is that foods rich in Vitamin D also go a long way toward preventing and treating osteoporosis. This vitamin helps your body absorb calcium, so it’s a critical part of the process. Luckily, many of these same foods that are rich in calcium are also rich in Vitamin D, such as salmon and dairy products. You can also get some extra D through orange juice, eggs and a few extra rays (within reason and utilizing sunblock protection, of course).

Exercise

Your bones get stronger the more you use them – particularly if you make it a habit at a young age. Limit your time being sedentary on the couch and take opportunities to exercise regularly. And even if strenuous exercise isn’t your thing or if you’re not physically up to the task, weight-bearing exercise, from tennis to stair-climbing to general walking, can get you the regular strengthening you need.

Habits

Like with many other health problems, osteoporosis is only heightened by poor habits, such as smoking and excessive drinking. Limiting your alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking keeps these habits from damaging your bone cells, weakening them and opening them up to fracture.

Breakage

Decreasing your risk of falling or injury is always a good idea – weakened bones are all the more prone to fractures and other breakage. Work on exercises that improve your balance and remove any obstructions from your daily routes and paths. As you get older, your bones will naturally weaken, so this becomes even more important with age. Luckily, if you’ve taken these other steps to make your bone cells stronger, breakage is less and less likely, even in the event of a fall.

Don’t Forget

With one in two women and one in four men coming down with osteoporosis (and the added stress that hereditary genes and lifestyle choices add to your odds), take your health into your own hands. These basic changes to your daily habits will limit pain, decrease your days off from work due to injury, reduce your healthcare expenses and keep you moving healthfully.

Source: Bone and Joint Initiative USA