During the exciting weeks leading up to the holidays, many people find themselves out shopping for gifts, driving to visit family and friends, and decorating their homes in the spirit of the season. Among all this holiday cheer we often forget that unsafe toys, and other holiday season safety hazards cannot only ruin the holidays, but the months and even years to follow.

• Make sure all toys are well-suited for your child’s age group and skill level.
• Check the Consumer Product Safety Commission website to look for toy recalls and reviews of unsafe toys.
• If you have small children in your home, avoid breakable or fragile Christmas tree decorations as well as edible decorations as children can easily be confused as to which ornaments are edible and which are not.
• Active toys such as skateboards, bicycles, skates, or sporting equipment should always be accompanied by the appropriate safety gear (helmets, pads, etc.)
• When enjoying the warmth of a fireplace, be sure to use a screen or glass enclosure to keep embers at bay and prevent logs from rolling out. A word of caution however, glass enclosures can heat up to 400°F in just 6 minutes and take as long as 45 minutes to cool. To prevent serious burns, keep your kids away from the fireplace for at least an hour after the fire has been put out.
• If you’ll be visiting friends and relatives over the holidays, know that their homes may not be child-proofed. Be sure to ask in advance if there will be fences around swimming pools or guns in the home and kindly remind them small objects that would be within reach of a toddler should be removed.
• If traveling, try to keep your child’s routine (eating time, nap times, etc.) as consistent as possible to keep both of your stress levels low and allow you to enjoy the holidays together.

By following these holiday safety tips you can help ensure that this season is filled with happy memories you’ll treasure for years to come.

Kids Playing Outside, courtesy of www.rsspieces.com

That’s what my mother would call out to me and my brother as we casually, usually absentmindedly, informed her that we were going  outside to play.

That was more than twenty-five years ago. Over the past two decades, things have changed for kids in America.

Single parents – like my mom – still had to work in order to pay the  bills. Which meant that she couldn’t be there when we got home after
school let out but that didn’t mean that we didn’t have our  instructions: homework first, chores second, then playtime. Sometimes
we even fixed our own dinners. But that’s just the way it was and that’s the way it is for a lot of families.

What’s different is that, over the past twenty-five years, in direct response to fear of child predators, Social Services mis-interpreting a familial situation and the staggering cost of childcare, parents have equated indoor-time as the lesser of two evils.

But, what that’s left us with is a whole generation of kids, who are now having families of their own, who are raising their children as
they themselves were raised. For the most part, hours spent in front of a computer screen is considered constructive and parents tout the advantage their child gains by continually gaming.

In the mean time, no one is playing outside.

Studies have proven that those children who regularly play outdoors tend to play more imaginatively, have lower stress levels, and have a greater respect for themselves, for others, and for the environment. Not to mention that they’ll be creating memories that will last their
entire lives and learn how to interact with other in a way that no on-line environment could hope to duplicate.

I can tell you more disputes got settled on my side porch with a more satisfying outcome than any disagreement started in any chat room. The afternoons, early evenings, and seemingly endless Sundays significantly contributed to who I am today just like all these kids,
staying at home, playing by themselves day after day, interacting with a computer screen, will have a life-long affect on them. Playing
‘Kick-the-Bucket’ with a bunch of neighbourhood kids in my side yard, sliding on the grass and getting bumped and bruised is nothing like
playing ‘Kick-the-Bucket’ by myself on my Wii. Grass stains can’t be ‘virtualized’ and the smiles and memories that come from playing
outside can’t be duplicated with a hand-held, intuitive, wand.

Encourage your child to turn off the monitor and go out and play. There’s a time and place for everything and that includes playing
outside and staying within earshot of our parents.

Who knows… With any luck, the next generation of children will have to be told that they have to come in and ‘do’ their computer time before they can go back outside and play some more.

Playing outside is eco-friendly.  Here are some more eco-friendly tips.