I had a chance to interview Corie Wagner, sr. editor, industry research for SafeHome.org, to get information about kids and safety over the summer.
Why can summer activities lead to more ER visits?
There are a few reasons for this: in the summer, kids play outside more. They're participating in contact sports and swimming. Swimming alone caused nearly 69,000 ER visits among kids last summer. Kids have more hours in the day in the summertime to dedicate to play, rather than sitting at a school desk, so the opportunity for injury increases.
What might be behind the increase in children's ER visits compared to last summer?
Between 2021 and 2022, a lot changed in our society. Most pandemic lockdowns and restrictions ended by the summer of 2022, and people were returning to regular life outside the home. This increased activity could have caused increased injury. Additionally, people with injured children may have tried to avoid emergency rooms if at all possible during the pandemic, opting for urgent care centers or pediatricians' offices to lower the risk of Covid transmission. In 2022, parents might have felt more comfortable bringing their children back to hospitals for treatment.
How can families encourage their kids to follow safety rules while still allowing them some freedom in activities?
Parents can set some basic ground rules that are non-negotiable, and then let their children have as much freedom as possible within those rules. For example, parents could say when their kids are biking, it's non-negotiable that they need to wear a properly fitting helmet and never ride by themselves, but they are free to explore any street in the neighborhood (depending on their ages).
Check out the full report here.
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