I've made my share of safety mistakes -- like leaving change on a hotel nightstand where my 3-year-old son Nate could reach it. He swallowed a penny and we spent five hours in the local ER. (He passed it without harm the next day.) That was the last time I've let loose coinage linger, but I'm bound for other blunders down the road -- all moms are.
Make sure your child doesn't get into an accident when you're not looking.
"Nobody can watch a child at every moment," says Robert Sege, M.D., a professor of pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine. But that doesn't mean it hurts to step up your game. Check out these seven situations that can turn frightening in a flash -- and learn how to keep them as uneventful as possible.
SNEAKY SITUATION 1
When you're grocery shopping
Cart surfing may seem like a rite of passage, but allowing kids to ride in the main basket or perch on the outside can lead to trouble. In 2005 more than 17,000 American children under 6 were treated in emergency rooms for injuries related to such hijinks -- and most were head or neck injuries. "A child's head is the heaviest part of his body, so if he leans, he'll go right over," says Michael Turner, M.D., a pediatric neurosurgeon in Indianapolis.
• Play it safer: Obviously, always strap your child into the seat until he's too big (or too independent to stand for being confined). Bring along toys, books, and snacks -- and don't turn up your nose at those little car-shaped carts (they're low and don't tip easily). And mini-carts are great for getting little kids to walk along and "help" shop.
to be continue
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