Summer safety tips

When summer comes we find new outdoor activities and a lot, but a lot, fun with the children. But so much fun shouldn't make us forget the indispensable safety measures in summer To avoid scares and accidents.

Falls, bites, burns and drowning are the most common reasons why children may need help in summer and are also some of the reasons why children suffer the most serious accidents. For that reason, as much as we have fun, we should never put aside the security measures that will protect them.

Here are some summer safety tips I hope they serve you to spend a happy and peaceful holiday.

Never leave a child alone in the car

I know it won't even go through your mind, but it doesn't hurt to remember it. Every summer there are misfortunes due to forgetfulness or cases in which the parents will do their errands leaving the child in the car. Temperatures inside a car in summer are very high, deadly, and even if that does not happen, leaving a child can only cause other misfortunes: to steal the car, to give it a blow, to open it or to The child manipulates something. The car is not a place for children to be alone.

On the street and at home, always with a responsible adult

In school time, children spend a lot of time in school and that time is used to manage or work. On vacation, they will be without class and we must provide every hour of their care, with family, neighbors, caregivers or camps, but never leave them alone at home.

Nor, when we have to go out on an errand, we should not leave the children alone at home, even if it is very hot or we think it will be five minutes.

A fall, look out a window, a spark that causes a fire. These are things that happen and that would not be serious if an adult had stayed with them. Things that do not seem to happen to us, but what better to prevent being aware that leaving children alone at home has risks.

The same should happen when children go down to play in the park or go for a walk. At these ages at which we are heading in Babies and more there would always be an adult responsible for them so that if children have a problem or fall, take immediate action. With such young children, you should not lose sight of them for a moment, or leave them in charge of other older children.

Never leave a child unsupervised at sea or in the pool

Not a second. There are no compromises on this. Never stop supervising a child in the sea or pool.

You always have to be vigilant and looking at them. A minute that we go in for a drink home, a moment of dismissal, a poorly closed door, can cause a fatal accident.

Unfortunately, every year we will read news of children who have suffered drowning at sea or in the pool when their parents or caregivers left them briefly without supervision.

There should be lifeguards in public swimming pools or in large urbanizations, but that should not make us trust. If there are many people, they may not see the child. Our eyes are irreplaceable. And if there is no lifeguard, more reason for that. We should not leave them in the care of another child, even if they are older and responsible, and always be watching, making sure, if we are several adults, that one is in the care of the child.

If we have a private pool at home and there are children we would have to install a security fence high enough so that they cannot jump it and even set pool alarms, which let us know if the child falls into the water.

These safety measures are essential, too, if we talk about a swimming pool for babies, even if it barely covers, or if the children wear sleeves or a float.

Last year it happened on the beach I go to. The mother thought that the father was watching him, the father that the boy stayed with his mother, and while they both chatted with their friends on the shore, the three-year-old boy approached to look at the water. He didn't bathe alone, he was cautious, but he had to stumble and didn't know how to get afloat. It was a minute, but the current dragged him, although the sea was calm, and when they found him ten minutes later it was late.

It's horrible, I know, but I think telling it makes us much more aware of how dangerous water is for children and that we never, never, not a second, should stop looking at them. Unfortunately it is not the only case that I know every year children join this lucid list. Things we want to forget, but we must not forget.