Parenting Advice From Joy Berry: Summer Safety

The other day my granddaughter presented to her mother a note from her teacher that outlined the procedures for the last day of school. The gleeful look on my granddaughter’s face juxtaposed with her mother’s deep sigh said it all. While most kids look forward to summer with as much anticipation as they do Christmas, parents are never as enthusiastic about this time of the year.

Of course, one big reason for many parents’ lack of enthusiasm for summer is the challenge of keeping kids busy and out of trouble. A bigger concern is keeping kids safe. The fact that most major accidents involving children happen around summertime only contributes to the already high level of parental anxiety about this particular season.

It’s virtually impossible for a parent to protect a child from all harm. A parent simply can’t be by a child’s side 24/7, and even if they could, danger is often unpredictable and can originate from improbable sources. Consequently, a more realistic goal is to teach children how to keep themselves safe.

This is why I developed a SUMMER SAFETY presentation that I share with elementary-school-age children. Like all presentations designed for young people with short attention spans, this presentation is simple and to the point. It begins with three words that usually come to mind when one thinks about summer. The three words are “sun,” “water,” and “fun,” and are featured on an 8 ½” X 11” poster that is distributed to the students to put on their refrigerators at home. The poster puts forth the following information:

Be SAFE during the SUMMER

Be SAFE around WATER

Don’t swim or play around water without adult supervision.

Don’t swim or play around water alone.

Be SAFE in the SUN

Don’t spend time in the sun without wearing sunscreen.

Don’t stay too long in direct sunlight.

Be SAFE while having FUN

Don’t go anywhere without adult supervision.

Don’t do things that scare you or are dangerous.

AND drink plenty of WATER

After presenting the poster, I have the students play a game that families can play at home or on the go. It is called “Sensible Summer Safety.” The game is based on the fact that by the time children are in grade school, they have learned a lot about safety and merely need to respect their fears and use common sense in order to keep themselves safe.

I begin the game by having the students think up words that start with the letter “s” as in “Sensible Summer Safety.” Then I have them verbalize a common sense safety rule or guideline relating to each word.

Here are some of the words that can be utilized when playing this game.

Surfboard
Surfing
Sunshine
Streetcar
Storm
Stairs
Stepladder
Speedboat
Softball
Soccer Ball Stop Sign
Siren
Stoplight
Shotgun
Shoelaces
Ship
Slingshot
Sharp Objects
Sewage
Seashore Sea Life
Sailboat
Sand
Strangers
Sidewalk
Street
Swimming
Sharks
Scissors
Snakes Skateboard
Scooter
Skates
Sun
Slide
Swings
See Saw
Spiders
Subway Car

A fun variation of the Sensible Summer Safety game that families can play in the car involves a version of “I Spy” in which one person “spies” an object, and another person puts forth a safety rule involving the object.

In closing, parents need to remember that safety is not a one-time lecture, but rather a continuing dialogue that needs to happen year-round—especially during the dreaded (if you are a parent) or anticipated (if you are a child) time of the year called summer vacation.