American Medical Association Family Medical Guide - American Medical Association [58]
Give your child the following tips: Always skate on smoothly paved surfaces, away from traffic. To avoid falls, don’t skate on water or gravel. Never skate at night when visibility is poor because you can’t see obstacles in your path, and drivers can’t see you.
Skateboards
Tens of thousands of people, mostly boys under age 15, are treated in hospital emergency departments for skateboard-related injuries every year. A third of the injuries occur in children who have been skate-boarding for less than a week. Common skateboard injuries include sprains, fractures, bruises, and cuts and scrapes from falls. Riding on irregular surfaces, performing risky stunts, and lack of experience, balance, and body control (which is common in children under 15) are factors that contribute to injuries. Falls and collisions with objects or vehicles such as cars can be fatal.
To lower your child’s risk of being injured while riding a skateboard, teach him or her to follow these safety guidelines:
• Check your skateboard after each use. Make sure it doesn’t have any broken or loose parts, sharp edges, or cracked wheels. If it does, don’t use it again until it has been fixed by a qualified repair-person.
• Wear protective clothing such as a helmet; slip-resistant, closed-toe shoes; elbow and knee pads; wrist guards; gloves; and a padded jacket and shorts. Protective gear is not required to conform to government safety guidelines, so be careful when making a selection. Choose gear that fits properly and does not obstruct your hearing or vision.
• Stay away from irregular surfaces. More than half of all skateboard injuries occur from riding on holes, bumps, rocks, or debris. Check the area where you intend to ride. Better yet, use a designated skateboard park.
• Don’t show off. Difficult stunts take careful practice in an area designed for skateboards. Never hitch a ride from a bicycle, car, or other moving vehicle.
• Learn how to fall. If you lose your balance, crouch down low (to shorten the distance you fall), avoid stiffening your body, and roll with the fall. Try to land on the fleshy parts of your body (such as the thighs or buttocks) instead of trying to break the fall with your arms or hands.
Playground Safety
Playgrounds are exciting areas for children to explore and develop motor and social skills. But no national regulations exist for the manufacture or installation of playground equipment, although the federal government has established voluntary guidelines for equipment and ground surfaces. When taking your children to a public playground, it’s up to you to check the equipment to make sure it is safe. Look for the following playground safety features:
• Surfaces around the playground equipment should have at least 12 inches of wood chips, mulch, sand, or pea gravel, or be made of safety-tested rubber material.
• The protective surface should extend at least 6 feet from play equipment in all directions. Surfaces around swings should extend to twice the height of the suspending bar both in front and in back.
• Play structures that are more than 30 inches high should be spaced at least 9 feet apart and have guardrails to prevent falls.
• Openings in guardrails or between ladder rungs should be less than 3½ inches or more than 9 inches.
• Sharp points or edges on hardware such as bolt ends should not protrude from the equipment.
• Tripping hazards such as tree roots or stumps or exposed concrete footings should be eliminated.
Don’t let young children climb higher than 4 feet (5 feet for older children) because, at greater heights, even recommended surfaces cannot adequately absorb a child’s fall. Check your neighborhood playgrounds regularly to make sure the equipment and surfaces are in good condition. Always keep an eye on your children at the playground because supervision is the best way to prevent injuries.
Child Safety Seats
In the United States, motor vehicle collisions are the No. 1 cause of death