As days grow warmer, children are more at risk to get hurt, officials say.
Accidental injury in U.S. is the leading killer of children between the ages of 1 and 14, said Kristen Thorstenson, a public education specialist for Snohomish County Safe Kids.
“We want our kids to explore their little worlds, but we want to make sure they are supervised,” she said.
Safe Kids is a nonprofit group working worldwide to prevent accidental injuries in children.
Falling is the No. 1 cause of injury for kids in Snohomish County, according to Safe Kids statistics for 2007.
That’s especially true in the summer, when kids hop on their bicycles and enjoy other outdoor activities. Parents also need to protect small children from falling out of windows, Thorstenson said. That includes installing child-proof locks on windows, because screens won’t do the job.
“Screens are designed to keep bugs out,” Thorstenson said, “not to keep kids in.”
Every year several children across the country fall out of windows to their death.
Fire and burns present the second-biggest risk, she said.
A deadly house fire in Arlington in November claimed the lives of two boys. Two young girls died in September when a fire gutted their Snohomish mobile home.
Other dangers brought by warm weather are not as common, but just as deadly. A toddler died last month after accidentally being left in a hot car for hours.
Drowning is also a big risk for children in Snohomish County.
New research recently came out that will allow educators to show parents what to do to keep a child safe at a specific age, Thorstenson said.
“It will bring the knowledge of what’s realistic to expect from kids of a certain age.”
Burns are specially dangerous to infants, whose skin is much more sensitive than that of adults. But data shows that children between the ages of 5 and 9 are more at risk for scalding and other cooking-related burns than any other age group.
Children between 1 and 4 are still learning balance. They easily tip over and need a soft place to land. Kids from 5 to 9 years lack an adult’s hand-eye coordination. Early adolescents don’t have the ability to recognize a specific object from within a busy background. That affects their ability to identify oncoming cars on busy intersections.
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
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