Survive the Scrapes of Summer

By Christina Elston

Childhood's long summer days are full of possibility – like a handful of money just waiting to be spent. But kids aren't always the wisest consumers of free time.

"One of the first injuries I treated was to a kid who rode his bike off a roof into the family pool," says Marion Sills, M.D., an emergency physician at The Children's Hospital in Denver. The lucky 9-year-old recovered fully, but many children aren't so fortunate.

Injury and death generally increase among children during the summer months, as kids are out of school, playing outside and involved in riskier activities. July, in fact, is the deadliest time of the year for unintentional injuries among children, according to the National SafeKids Campaign.

Parents need to be aware of and prepared for the kinds of scrapes, bruises or more serious injuries that come with kids and summertime. Here, emergency medicine experts from across the country offer their advice on keeping kids safe this summer.

Injury Prevention

Parents can do plenty in the name of injury prevention, even in the most routine situations.

On the road to summer activities, for example, "everybody should be buckling up," says Roxanne Woods, R.N., coordinator of the Center for Injury Prevention at the University of California – Davis Medical Center. Put kids in the backseat, with appropriate carseats for those who are under age 8 and/or weigh less than 80 pounds.

Even young pedestrians need supervision.