Now that the summer is well-established and all school systems have dismissed for summer vacation, let’s focus on ways for everyone in your family to remain safe. Now that family vacations and daytime adventures are underway, it is important to make sure everyone remains this safe summer. Here are a three suggestions that will help make your summer memorable and safe.
Be Present and Supervise
Ensuring that children, young teens, and soon-to-be young adults are safe requires parents and guardians to be actively “present.” Adults sometimes develop a false sense of security as their children get older, they sometimes think, “my child is getting older so they are also becoming more mature.” This thought is not always true. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the number of violent crimes committed by teens between 2011 – 2020 was 32,070 (https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/statistical-briefing-book/crime/faqs/qa05101). Violent crimes are identified as murder, robbery, and aggravated assault (https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/statistical-briefing-book/crime/faqs/qa05101). Despite the increasing age of your child, they require supervision, even “twenty somethings” or young adults require supervision to ensure that they make appropriate choices.
Furthermore, it’s important for adults to provide guidance and supervision for the youth in navigating the vast amount of information available to them. Monitoring the type of media, such as music and video games, that children engage with is also crucial in ensuring their well-being and development. The various types of media can be extremely impressionable on young people, so it is a good idea to keep track of their activities, both online and offline.
Two is Company, Three is Better
The buddy system is a safe way to allow your youngsters the freedom to explore when on vacation. Never allow your children to go any place alone, always encourage a buddy system. When traveling with family, encourage your youngsters and teens to remain together. Inform the older ones to keep a look out for the younger ones; however, children under six years of age should remain with their parents or an adult. Be sure that the teens or young adults in charge are responsible enough to care for the younger children; this is a person who normally makes appropriate decisions and does not get into trouble themselves. Lastly, when you do allow your youngsters an opportunity to venture off independent of adults and with a group of peers or younger relatives and friends, always designate a meet-up or return time to make sure everyone is okay. Be safe and have fun!
Hydrate and Protect
Hydration is critical during the summer months. Most often people hydrate themselves with everything except water. Water is the best liquid for rehydration; not sodas or gatorade. Your body needs water because every time you exhale, you are releasing water vapor, not to mention if you’re sweating due to high temperatures outdoors, now you are losing double the amount of water. For this reason, it is vital to replenish your water levels. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends to drink water in small increments throughout the day and to never exceed 48 oz. of water per hour (https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/45851 ).
Sun safety is another important area to keep in mind. Most skin cancers are caused by overexposure to the sun, according to the CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/skin-cancer/sun-safety/index.html ). Ultra violet (UV) rays from the sun can lead to skin cancer if overexposure occurs. When the UV rays are forecast to be over 3, the CDC recommends to put on sunscreen if you plan on being outdoors for a long period of time. Protect your skin while outdoors. Here is a link to the CDC to provide more information about how to protect your skin: https://www.cdc.gov/skin-cancer/sun-safety/index.html.
Have a great summer!