Injury Prevention for Three- ... Video Transcript

Participants

Bonnie Boswell , Calvin G. Lowe MD, FAAP

Summary

Being a parent of a three- or four-year-old is a real challenge. At this age, children love to explore--they enjoy climbing, jumping, running, and many other activities that can unfortunately lead to injury. While it is important to let your child play and discover new grounds, it is also important to follow some safety rules to keep your child from harm. Join us as we discuss the prevention of outdoor dangers. Topics will include:

• Car safety
• Pool safety
• Playground safety

Webcast Transcript

BONNIE BOSWELL:  Hello, I am Bonnie Boswell and welcome to our webcast.  We are talking about injury prevention for three-- to four--year--olds, those sometime mischievous but definitely fast little guys who can sometimes find hazards where you would least expect them.  Joining me to discuss this is Dr. Calvin Lowe.   He is the Emergency Department Attending Physician at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.

Let's talk about this age group, particularly with regard to car safety, because that is a big issue.  A lot of kids are riding around with their parents, and sometimes we don't know at what point they should be in the seat, the booster, or out of the seat.  Let's talk about that.  What is your advice?

CALVIN G. LOWE, MD, FAAP:  In this age range, the kids are up to about 40 pounds or so, so it is a law that every child should be in a car seat, belted in, and safely and correctly restrained.  The safest part in a car is for the child to be in the back seat.  When they get larger than forty pounds, they need to be in a booster seat to allow proper size and fitting of the seat belt.

BONNIE BOSWELL:  That is sometimes tricky, because a lot of times they are not the right size.  You see the kids with the belt over here, or sometimes, I know my kids would take their belt and put in back of their arm because it is not quite the right size for them.

CALVIN G. LOWE, MD, FAAP:  That is what the need for the booster seat is.  It elevates them up, so the proper placement of the shoulder goes across the front like an adult, and the lap belt goes across the hips.

BONNIE BOSWELL:  So, this is something that the parents really have to pay attention to, not only having this, but using it correctly.

What about helmets, and so forth?  They are outside, they are playing around the playground -- do they need them when they are on those little bikes maybe they get at four years old?  They are on the tricycles.  Do they need any kind of protection at that level or not?

CALVIN G. LOWE, MD, FAAP:  Absolutely they do need it, because a lot of children that come to the Emergency Department from falls, whether from heights, or from small bicycles like Big wheels, they get toppled over very easily.  They are riding so fast, at full energy, sometimes they don't know when to stop or how to stop and they fall over and again their head is relatively larger than the rest of the size of their body, so they go forward like a missile and hit their head.  So, any protection that is offered to them should be used.

BONNIE BOSWELL:  What other kinds of incidents occur in the playground that parents should be aware of?

CALVIN G. LOWE, MD, FAAP:  A lot of times, a good prevention is supervision.  Kids are around climbing ladders and so forth at this age who are developmentally able to do that, so they are at the top of the slides, then other kids are pushing over and get they go over the sides.  So, one of the big things is to watch your child, especially at high places to prevent the falls.

BONNIE BOSWELL:  Behavior sounds like it is also an important element of being out on that playground, too, in terms of the attitudes, what is happening, the interaction.

CALVIN G. LOWE, MD, FAAP:  That is correct.  Kids, you know, they want to play with other children of their age and they don't know better.