Cool Tips for Parents: Keeping Kids Safe During Summer Heat

With temperatures soaring into the upper 90’s and 100’s across the state, your Mount Laurel Martial Artist Peter Liciaga, would like to offer a few simple parent tips to help keep kids safe and cool during this unusually hot weather.

 

"I think this early summer preview is a great opportunity to help make parents and others aware that children’s regulatory systems are much more sensitive to heat than an adult’s. Let’s make sure that we look out for each other and help make the most of this wonderful weather so that it is not marred by a preventable tragedy,” shares Dinoto Karate Center's master martial arts teacher, Peter Liciaga.

 

Facts Every Parent Should Know:

• Heat exhaustion and heat stroke can occur rapidly in enclosed vehicles. Never leave your child unattended in a car. Children’s thermoregulatory systems warm three to five times faster than an adult’s.
• Always check to make sure all children leave the vehicle when you reach your destination. Don’t overlook sleeping infants. (TIP: Keep your child’s toy or diaper bag in the front passenger seat to help remind you the child is on board). 
• On a 93-degree day, the inside of a car can exceed 125° degrees Fahrenheit in as little as 20 minutes. The temperature inside of a car is hotter than outside temperatures, and can climb rapidly.
• Heat stroke can occur in a matter of minutes for young children and infants. Keep children sufficiently hydrated and cool during the day.
• Cracking the windows enough to let in air is not an effective way to avoid the heat risks involved with leaving a child alone in a car on a hot day. 
• Seek immediate emergency medical attention if you know or think that your child has been exposed to high temperatures by having been left in or accidentally trapped in a car. 
• If your child gets locked inside a car, dial 9-1-1 or your local emergency number immediately. 
• An open or screened window in homes can be a danger to children. Falls from upper story windows related to the heat have been responsible for fatal child injuries in our state. (TIP: Keeping furniture away from windows, opening windows from the top down if possible, and installing child-safety window guards all help to prevent injury).

For more safety tips, visit Care.com

This blog is part of Peter Liciaga's community activism effort for the Ultimate Black Belt Test Program ( http://www.ultimateblackbelttest.com/ ), which is an undertaking of The 100. ( http://www.the100.us/ ), and a part of Peter Liciaga's Dream 100 Project.