Keeping Your Children Safe and Healthy This Summer

After spending nine solid months in stuffy, congested classrooms, your kids have enthusiastically welcomed the return of summer. For the next three months, homework, early bedtimes and inedible cafeteria food can all take a hike. Your youngsters can now begin and end each day at their leisure and play to their hearts’ content. Having been cooped up inside the house all winter, your little ones are brimming with excess energy. To ensure that your children remain safe and healthy this summer, there are a number of simple precautions you’ll need to take. Although summer vacation is characterized by sunny days, warm weather and carefree fun, it also poses a fair number of dangers to your kids. By putting the following tips into practice, you’ll be able to keep your little ones in good health all summer long.

Find a Reliable Physician

Since children spend a great deal of time outdoors during the summer, they put themselves at risk for a whole host of sicknesses. In addition to the summertime flu, kids often come down with bronchiolitis, croup and pneumonia during the summer months. If not addressed in a timely manner, these afflictions can take a tremendous physical toll on your youngsters. To ensure that your kids receive the care and attention they require after coming down with a summertime sickness, make sure to acquaint yourself with a skilled physician who has extensive experience working with children. The right doctor will be able to quickly diagnose whatever issue is plaguing your kids and prescribe effective medications to treat the affliction. Additionally, if you’re pleased with this doctor’s work, make a point of bringing your children to her whenever they come down with a winter, spring or fall sickness.

Limit their Sun Exposure

Heatstroke, exhaustion, sunburn and sun poisoning all stand to befall your children during the sweltering summer months. Furthermore, if enough time is spent in the sun, your little ones put themselves at considerable risk for skin cancer. To reduce their risk for sun-related afflictions, make a point of keeping your kids indoors during the sun’s peak hours of 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Whenever they plan to spend more than 15 minutes outdoors, equip them with sunscreen, hats and sunglasses. During camping trips, beach outings and other activities that require them to spend an extended period of time outdoors, make sure to reapply their sunscreen every hour.

Keep Your Home Consistently Cool

Although being indoors may protect your little ones from sun poisoning and skin cancer, they can still fall victim to exhaustion and heatstroke in an insufficiently cooled home. To combat this, have your home’s central air conditioner thoroughly inspected by a heating and cooling professional at the beginning of every summer. This person will be able to give the device a thorough cleaning, clear away any clogs and swap out any defective components, thus ensuring that your home remains nice and cool all summer long.

Your kids have been looking forward to summer vacation since the first day of school. As a parent, you can ensure that they enjoy this well-earned chunk of freedom by keeping them safe from the growing assortment of summertime threats.