As a parent, your first priority to your children is to keep them safe and help them when they become sick or injured. Along with providing food, shelter, and love to your kids, you can also keep them safe and happy by remembering basic first aid tips throughout their childhood. You may think you’ll never be called upon to give first aid to your own child.
However, kids are vulnerable to innumerable and unpredictable accidents throughout their young lives. Your ability to react and help quickly can keep them safe and help them avoid long-lasting pain and injuries. You can refresh your memory on basic medical care by taking these suggestions into mind.
a) CPR
Perhaps the most basic, yet most valuable first aid skill you should know is the ability to perform CPR. When you perform CPR on your child, it is important you remain calm and focused. You should also call 911 before and during this care to make sure you are doing it correctly.
This skill could help your child survive a traumatic accident like falling into a pool or being pulled under water at a lake. If you are not already up to date on CPR skills, your local Red Cross or health care system usually offers classes a person can take for free or at low cost.
b) Heimlich Maneuver
Parents may know all too well your child’s risk of choking. The vision of seeing your child choking on a sucker or cracker can make you hyper-vigilant when your child is enjoying a simple snack. As much as you may be on guard, however, your child may still get choked on piece of food or a drink.
If you are called upon to do the Heimlich maneuver, it is important you do it correctly to dislodge the food and help your child breathe again. As with CPR, it is best you do this maneuver while calling 911. Considerations for taking a class for this maneuver should be made if you are not up to date on this.
c) Helmets for Biking
Your child’s bicycle may seem like the most harmless thing in the world. With it vibrant colors and bright decorations, you may feel very safe letting your child ride up and down the road or sidewalk without a helmet. However, thousands of kids each year end up in the hospital after falling off their bikes while riding without helmets on.
Helmets can literally save your child’s life while he or she is biking. A helmet can protect your child from brain injuries, paralysis, and even death. Wearing a helmet is the law but paired with knee pads and elbow pads can provide even more protection and allow your child to enjoy biking for the safe recreation it should be for every kid.
Motorist are often unaware or negligent in their driving, causing many accidents for adult and children cyclists today. One bicycle accident attorney firm in Atlanta, GA, Stokes & Kopitsky, P.A., stated,
“Because cyclists are more exposed than and less visible to passing cars, they face very serious dangers in traffic. Distracted drivers often do not afford them the passing distance they should.”
They also stated
“Laws requiring helmets and safety lights likewise do not make cyclists more visible or less exposed to larger vehicles in traffic.”
It is important for a cyclist or a parent of child who has been injured by a negligent motorist while riding their bike to contact a local bicycle accident attorney to discuss their rights.
d) First Aid Kit
Because you cannot wrap your child up in cellophane bubble wrap, you must be ready to clean out and care for his or her inevitable childhood bumps, scrapes, and wounds. Even if you are wary of the sight of blood, as a parent you are expected to take care of his or her wounds quickly. Your first aid kit should include alcohol wipes, peroxide, bandages, and cotton balls to clean out dirt, glass, and whatever other debris might intermingle with the bloody wound.
Cleaning out the wound, bandaging the injury, and taking your child to the ER if the bleeding does not stop within a half hour can help your kid avoid serious harm from a cut, scrape, or bleeding injury.
Knowing basic first aid goes hand in hand with parenting. You have the duty to keep your kids safe by remembering these strategies and being ready to use them. Considerations for taking some classes in your local area should be considered if you are not up to date on any of these first aid basics. It could mean the difference between life and death in some instances when it comes to the welfare of your child.
As a mother to 4, Lisa Coleman understands the importance of being knowledgeable in first aid skills, such as CPR, and having a first aid kit on hand for emergencies. She also stresses the importance of teaching our youth about safety rules and laws, such as biking and helmets. She recently read online at the website of Stokes & Kopitsky, P.A., an Atlanta bicycle accident attorney, about some of these laws and how it can affect a cyclist, including our youth, when injured by a passing or negligent motorist.
