Author: Marianne Halterman

by Marianne F. Halterman

It’s Ground Hog Day, and there are 6 more weeks of winter.  Thinking about spring? You bet I am.  As the weather in the U.S. warms up, people will be venturing out of doors excitedly welcoming so many signs of spring: Crocuses, daffodils, redbud trees blooming. There is still snow on the ground where I live, but as the snow and cold weather subside, people will begin heading for ponds, lakes and rivers to picnic, fish, enjoy natural wildlife and pursue water sports.  They’ll be getting their outdoor water features, hot tubs and pools ready for warm weather use. Families with kayaks, canoes, all manner of water-crafts, sail and powerboats will be bringing them out of winter storage, and getting them ready to put them in the water.  So along with this warm-weather planning, I can’t help but think about safety precautions, and the challenges of child safety in these cooler months in particular.

In many parts of the country, water in ponds, rivers and lakes is very cold–and will remain so at least until sometime in May or June, depending upon your location. Atlantic ocean beaches in the Carolinas won’t be warm enough for comfortable swimming until the end of May-beginning of June. The more northern beaches will experience warming a little later.  Even though we are happily thinking about playing on the beach and eventually going swimming–the water is still cold. And cold water can be dangerous for us, humans.  So this is about hypothermia.

Hypothermia is a condition that occurs when the temperature of the human body’s core falls below  98.6° F (37° C) to 95° F (35° C) or cooler. Hypothermia can occur quickly. The human body’s heat loss in cold water occurs 25 times faster than it does in cold air. Hypothermia affects the body’s important organs, especially the brain, heart and lungs, and can cause physical and mental deficits, unconsciousness and even death.  According to the Minnesota Sea Grant, approximately 600 people die of hypothermia every year.  Children, the elderly and infirm, and people with compromised immune systems and health challenges, and people under the influence of alcohol or drugs, are frequently susceptible to hypothermia when exposed to cold temperatures of air and/or water for prolonged periods of time. Outdoor sports enthusiasts–people who boat, hunt, swim, fish, hike or ski are likely targets for hypothermia!

So are young children who play out of doors!  Outdoor activities and trips with friends and family can expose children to prolonged periods in the cold. Healthy adult human bodies may be better able to tolerate cold weather conditions and usually adults take breaks, but kids often do not. Children playing don’t realize how long they are out in the cold–and if hypothermia occurs–because children are too cold for too long–perhaps their clothes or shoes are wet and they’re out in the cold air too–emergency measures may be required to bring a child’s body temperature back to normal.  As parents, caregivers and family members, it is up to you, to supervise your children’s amount of exposure to cold weather temperatures, and make sure they are warm enough, that they wear appropriate clothing and that they not stay outdoors in the cold too long! And if they go on outdoor trips with friends, make sure there are adults cognizant of safety measures along.  As always, your child’s safety comes first!

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¹ Minnesota Sea Grant, “Hypothermia Prevention: Survival in Cold Water”, University of Minnesota Duluth, 31 West College Street, Duluth, MN 55812, www.http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/coastal_communities/hypothermia#who

Release Date: November 19, 2015

CPSC Release No.: 16-040

MEXICO CITY – Shoppers across North America are gearing up for the holiday toy shopping season, and federal regulators in the United States, Mexico and Canada are joining forces to help consumers shop with confidence.  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Health Canada and Mexico’s Consumer Protection Federal Agency (PROFECO) are holding their Third North America Consumer Product Safety Summit in Mexico City this week, and protecting young children from dangerous and illegal toys is a shared goal among the safety agencies.

Collaboration among the regulators has taken place through joint industry trainings, consumer outreach and education, and three trilateral recall announcements of harmful toys and children’s products. Additional efforts have included joint oversight of product supply chains and timely responses to emerging product hazards. The vision for creating a safer marketplace for consumers across the continent includes: (1) strong safety standards that are enforced, (2) inspections at import, and (3) an emphasis on quality safety manufacturing overseas.

“As we approach the holiday season, our three jurisdictions are working as one to protect children in all three nations from harmful toys,” said CPSC Chairman Elliot F. Kaye.  “Despite our real advances in toy safety, we are still finding too many violative toys at our borders. All consumers, regardless of which of our three nations they come from, deserve us working together to protect them.  This is why working toward seamless surveillance across North American borders is a critical part of our collaboration with Health Canada and PROFECO.”

“In today’s global marketplace, close collaboration between countries is important for keeping Canadians safe,” said Dr. Jane Philpott, Minister of Health, Health Canada. “I look forward to continuing Health Canada’s partnership with the CPSC and PROFECO on our shared goals for consumer product safety, including promoting toy safety this holiday season. As a mom and as Canada’s new Minister of Health, I’m committed to helping keep families safe.”

“Coordinated work among the consumer protection agencies in our region is the starting point to successfully face, in the near future, the challenges presented by the global economy; and, at the same time, assure every consumer that not only are their rights safeguarded, but also that the law exists to assist and protect them,” said Lorena Martínez, Mexico’s Federal Attorney for Consumer Protection (Profeco). “Only by strengthening strategic alliances and sharing efforts and experience, we will reach our mutual goals.”

In addition to working with Health Canada and Profeco, CPSC works closely with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to keep violative products off of store shelves and out of consumers’ homes. In the past six years, the U.S. government has stopped more than 17 million units of about 6,200 different toys that violated applicable standards from coming into the United States.

Click here to view the North American joint statement.

Here are some safety tips for all consumers to keep in mind this holiday season:

• Magnets – Children’s magnetic toys are covered by a strong safety standard that aims to prevent magnets from being swallowed. High-powered magnet sets that have small magnets are dangerous and should be kept away from children. Whether marketed for children or adults, building and play sets with small magnets should also be kept away from small children.
• Balloons – Children can choke or suffocate on deflated or broken balloons. Children can also be strangled by a balloon string. Keep deflated balloons away from children younger than 8 years old. Discard torn balloons immediately.
• Small balls and other toys with small parts – For children younger than age 3, avoid toys with small parts, which can cause choking.
• Scooters and other riding toys – Riding toys, skateboards and in-line skates go fast, and falls could be deadly. Helmets and other safety gear should be worn properly at all times, and they should be sized to fit. Avoid riding scooters on streets or roadways.

Once gifts are open:

• Keep toys appropriate for older children away from younger siblings.
• Battery charging should be supervised by adults. Chargers and adapters can pose thermal burn hazards to young children. Pay attention to instructions and warnings on battery chargers. Some chargers lack any mechanism to prevent overcharging.

CPSC Release: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Newsroom/News-Releases/2016/Collaborating-Across-Borders-North-American-Regulators-Working-Together-to-Protect-Children-from-Harmful-Toys/

Growing up, I know I was fortunate: I never had to be concerned about being caught in the middle of a gun battle, unless my playmates and I were playing cops and robbers in the backyard. In those days, their “guns” were their fingers, a stick, or a toy. But this is the real deal, folks. The Ridgewood-Glen Rock Patch reported this week that a young girl, 8 years old, in Asbury Park, New Jersey, was watching TV in her home. A gun battle apparently ensued on her street, police chased a suspect who obtained a gun… shots were fired, one shot went through the child’s residence. The child was hospitalized. This should NOT happen, and I believe any sane person will agree that too many times recently, people recklessly brandishing weapons are harming children who are nearby.

Gang culture and criminal drug distribution frequently play a part in this stupidity. Gang violence often catches children unawares. They get in the way and are shot. One look at Cook County, Illinois’, murder stats for the past two years (if you can find them on the Internet!) will show there were more than 2,000 deaths by gun violence. I don’t know how many of these were children–and frankly, I am afraid to look at the numbers because I am told they are quite high. The law enforcement community is aware that drug dealers have been known to use children as human shields hoping to throw off observant neighbors or law enforcement. The national news has now alerted the public that a six-year old child was shot–by the police–during a car chase. The parent was the subject of the chase. The child’s death? Sadly, collateral damage. And THIS should NOT happen. Children should never become collateral damage. Children should never be used as human shields. They are the most vulnerable among us, so what is wrong with this horrible picture?

In my view, we are becoming numb to the most horrific crimes and accidents involving firearms, because their numbers are increasing, so much so that we are losing count. 142 School shootings since Newtown! So much so that we refuse to talk about these crimes–or publish essays about them in our newspapers–we wouldn’t want to detract from business or tourism in our communities. I never had to think about guns when I was in school! School and guns were two mutually exclusive terms. I never had to think about being beaten on the street on the way to my classes.

Kids in Chicago and in other “rough” areas of our big cities are lucky to make it to class unscathed, not to mention what may happen to them while in school. This is simply wrong–and it has to stop. The Chicago Reporter’s Angela Caputo, reported in 2012, that “from 2008 through 2012, nearly half of Chicago’s 2,389 homicide victims — 1,118 — were under the age of 25 (chicagoreporter.com/youths-are-the-no-1-target-in-chicagos-homicide-epidemic/). That number has since increased to 1,336 through April 20, [2012]. Of the young people who have been murdered, nearly 500 are 18 or younger (chicagoreporter.com/homicides-chicago-down-number-children-killed-stays-same/).” Three years down the road, not much has changed, the numbers of childhood deaths by violence are still high.

At some point, America is going to have to roll back the liberal way we have allowed firearms- and weapons-related crimes to seep into our lives and to proliferate while allowing the gun-toting criminals who cause them, to live with all the benefits in our prisons.

Meanwhile the children–our country’s future– have been and are being sacrificed by the most selfishly evil elements in our society.

Know this! Children are our only real hope for the future, they are given to us as a blessing. They are the precious fruits of God’s love for us. Is this the way we treat God’s gift?

It’s almost that time of year. Parents, family members and caregivers are out there hunting for just the right costumes for their little ones. Some families are making them at home, and children are getting very excited in anticipation of Hallowe’en! The thought of all that candy, Hallowe’en parties, tricks, treats and fun is almost too much to bear.  Because we want you to “Booooooo!” not Boo-Hoo the day after, here are a few safety suggestions for parents, family members and caregivers to keep in mind about Hallowe’en trick or treating and costumes, in general:

1. Accompany your young children on a familiar route in your own neighborhood or on a route you and they know well. If you are crossing streets with them, hold their hands (please!). And you and they should wear some reflective clothing too–so cars can see you and them!
2. Take a flashlight with you to help navigate steps and curbs! Do not go where you don’t feel safe, for any reason.
3. Make sure children’s costumes do not drape the ground that they might trip or prevent them walking safely–or running–because you know they WILL run!
4. Make sure children’s costumes are breathable–that any mask (especially masks of rubber, plastic, or fake fur) covering their face has plenty of air holes and that arms, legs, neck, and head are not restricted from movement. Also make sure costumes themselves have air holes–you don’t want them to become overheated.
5. Encourage children to choose wrapped candy when possible.  Review their candy when they get home to make sure there’s nothing weird or inappropriate in the candy haul!
6. Make sure before you go out that in case you are separated your children know their names, your cell phone number and their home address. Attach a card in their coat with their name and address on it if need be!  Also, if they have a cell phone, make sure they know to call 911 if they feel in danger!
7. Tell children not to approach any vehicle,  occupied or not, unless you are with them!
8. Do not let children enter a home unless you are with them!  If your children are older (12+), encourage them to remain in a group as they trick-or-treat and not to become separated!
9. Make sure children are warm enough in their costume if it’s cold… or cool enough if it’s warm/hot where you are!

You will find more tips on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children  website. If you want to donate to NCMEC, so that they can keep bringing missing children home to their families, please visit www.ncmec.org