Injury Prevention for Five- t... Video Transcript

Participants

Bonnie Boswell , Alan Nager MD, Rafiu Ariganjoye MD, MBA, C

Summary

Between the ages of five and eight, children start to become more independent. Knowing their parents aren’t looking gives them the opportunity to explore, and often gets them into situations that can lead to injury. Join us as we review important safety guidelines every parent should know--and teach their children.

Webcast Transcript

BONNIE BOSWELL: Hello, I am Bonnie Boswell, and welcome to our program. Today, we are talking about injury prevention for five-- to eight--year--olds. My guest is Dr. Alan Nager. He is a doctor at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles and directs the Emergency Department here.

We want to talk about what can happen to five--year--olds to eight--year--olds when they are in the home. What kinds of situations do they find themselves in that can sometimes get them into trouble?

ALAN NAGER, MD: In one word, mischief. Kids at this age are mischievous, they are searching, they want to have fun. Whether it be inside the house, or outside the house, the convenient places to look around their environment within their own territory, and make a playground out of it. We see kids within the house do such things as climb on chairs, climb on cabinets and make it into playground equipment. That should really be done on the playground, not in the house.

So, we see kids bouncing off chairs, bouncing off cabinets, bouncing off bookshelves.

BONNIE BOSWELL: Are they jumping? Is that what is happening?

ALAN NAGER, MD: They are jumping, they are diving, they are doing flips. We had a child who came in who was trying to do a back flip off a bookshelf onto the couch.

BONNIE BOSWELL: OK.

ALAN NAGER, MD: He fell on his head, fell on his back, had really substantial injuries. Dangerous to do.

BONNIE BOSWELL: Because they are seeing these things, and like you said, they are adventuresome, they just kind of want to be on top of the world. What is a parent to do in such situations, because kids are going to explore, you want them to be creative, so, what is a parent to do?

ALAN NAGER, MD: I think rules are important.Chairs are meant for a purpose. Cabinets are meant for a purpose. I think the parent really needs to sit down with the child and explain very specifically what those pieces of furniture are for.

Probably weekly, we see kids jump on chairs, jump out of windows, jump off couches and fly off balconies. This is not the place for those kinds of activities to take place. Move the furniture away. Move the furniture at safe distances so that can't happen. Secure cabinets, entertainment centers, making sure your television set really is appropriately snug and in its place so that a child can't grab it or move it.

BONNIE BOSWELL: As a parent, could you help them maybe make some kind of indoor play situation that is safe? Would that be a way to kind of get around it? Because kids are going to want to make tents and all that kind of stuff. Does a parent need to help supervise, would that be of help?

ALAN NAGER, MD: Supervision is always key. But yes, ground level activities are appropriate and can be fun. Making tents, making beds, playing activities on the ground that don't involve flying across the room. Those are all appropriate for the child to do and can be a fun activity.

BONNIE BOSWELL: So, allowing that creativity but really keeping it at a low level so that there are fewer injuries. That is a great tip.

Let's talk about again, going higher. Sometimes the falls that do occur, maybe off of as you said, balconies, and so forth. How can we prevent those kinds of accidents? Maybe they are not accidents so much, but just things that kids are exploring and there is a Whoops! factor there.

ALAN NAGER, MD: One of the issues that is not rare in our experience in our Emergency Department is that in crowded conditions, and sometimes not even in crowded conditions, beds are pushed right up against walls that have open windows.