Do you know what preparing for a ski vacation and getting your children off to school during the freezing winter months have in common? More than you may think! Not only are the elements the same – ice/snow/wind/cold, but the dangers and the precautions needed are really the same. Yet our expectations for how we dress our children are somehow very different. If your family is anything like mine, they look far from artic warriors when they head off to school but could be mistaken for Eskimos on the slopes.

The vast majority of schools in Massachusetts have fairly strict guidelines for outdoor activities that our children are expected to follow at school. Use this to your advantage and expect them to follow these rules all the time, even at home or when walking to school. So, if the children are expected to wear certain clothing at school before being allowed outside, require the same at home or on the slopes. And, if its too cold for outdoor recess, than its likely too cold to build a snowman in the backyard!

Keep in mind that not all accidents are many variables are out of our control. At the same time, paying attention to the areas we can control will not only reduce the chance of preventable injury but maximize your family’s fun.

1. For sports requiring special equipment, be sure the equipment is well made and fits your child properly. Many outdoor stores do carry a full line of equipment, including used equipment, and can help you outfit your child properly. You may also want to check out the Consumer Product Safety Commission web site (www.cpsc.gov) to be sure any equipment you are considering has not been recalled.
2. For any winter sport, including sledding, your children should wear a good ski helmet. We only have one brain and it is not as easy to fix as a broken arm. So, if your child won’t wear the helmet, don’t let him participate – the risk of injury is too high otherwise!
3. Don’t forget eye protection – not only from the snow or ice but the sun. Good eye goggles or sunglasses are crucial for winter sports safety and will minimize the risk of injury should your child fall in the snow or be hit with some snow/ice.
4. Keep an eye on the local weather and don’t underestimate the danger that extreme cold can cause. The windchill is the number to pay attention to – that is how cold it feels outside due to the blowing, arctic wind. The more below zero it feels, the faster the wind is blowing, the more dangerous it is to be outside.
5. Avoid the tempation to leave small children in a parked car for even a few minutes when it is very cold – it only takes 5 minutes of extreme cold to cause hypothermia or frostbite. Better to take your children with you than to leave them in a car unattended – even for a few minutes.
6. Dress your child in layers underneath the snow suit to lock in the heat. Thermal clothing is the best but medium weight cotton clothing will work fine as well. Long underwear, turtlenecks and thermal socks are all essential for most outdoor winter sports. If your child gets too warm, she can always remove a layer.
7. Finally, don’t forget the hat – most of our heat is lost from our heads so keep them covered!

Here’s to a fun and safe winter.

(Originally posted November 2003; Updated December 2009)

We have a special tradition this time of year our entire extended family has come to value. We call it “the Charity Pie” tradition.

Each year we make a small cash donation to a charity in the area who organizes meals for the homeless during the holidays. The charity works with a bakery and each donation is met with a pie as a way of saying “thank you for making someone else’s holiday a bit sweeter”. Continue Reading

Happy New Year! The arrival of a new year grants us another opportunity to tackle those issues we love to jot in our minds as important but somehow never quite accomplish as we had hoped. That’s the problem with most resolutions. They seem so daunting we basically freeze.

What does work is making small changes in our lives that carry a punch for a long term health impact. Small change, Big Results is a philosophy I’ve been advocating for a while now, and works! It works because it gives you a realistic place to start, builds a solid foundation to grow from, and helps you start on solid ground before building momentum in the cause you are trying to tackle.

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Last year’s record setting snowfall did little to curb our enthusiasm when this season’s first snowflakes fell in early November. With snow barely touching the ground, New Englanders of all ages rushed to find their winter clothes and prepare for endless outdoor adventures. Yards normally covered by grass instantly became white wonderlands adorned with ski tracks, sleds, and a myriad of snow people. And where there is outdoor fun there are always unexpected injuries.

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While decorating the house is at the core of what makes holiday gatherings so wonderful, the very items that bring the winter holidays to life also contain a great many dangers.

The following are holiday safety tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics to help you make the next few weeks as safe and fun as possible:

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Don’t tell this to my kids – but my favorite place to sled as a kid was a hill in the woods behind a friend’s house. And, my second favorite hill was at the high school, Senior Hill, which ended at the driveway entering the campus. Talk about violating just about every sledding rule there is! If I only knew then what I know now.

The statistics on injuries from sledding may surprise you. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated that 14,000 kids ages 5-15 were treated for sledding injuries in 1997. In 2003, the CPSC reported over 90,000 total ER visits for all sledding injuries with half occurring in people under 20 years of age. Luckily, most injuries are minor – cuts, sprains and strains, but fractures, dislocations, facial injuries and serious trauma to the head and spine do occur. And, the younger a child, the more they are at risk for the more serious types of injuries. Continue Reading

It started with such promise: unroll on flat ground, put in water, and Voila! instant backyard pool with hours of endless lounging and splashing fun. That was last summer’s dream. The reality was quite different. The pool never quite held its water, the pool top kept flying off and the ladder barely fit over the pool’s sides. “Lasted long it did not”, Yoda would say of our pool.

True backyard pools and whirlpool spas now have competition with these smaller, “temporary” pools as well as a variety of other backyard water toys: super soakers, sprinklers of all shapes and sizes, and slip n’ slides. And why not? Summer adventures at home are often the best kind to have. But buyers beware! Most of these toys are great fun but are not only expensive but dangerous. Injuries from these recreational toys span the spectrum from minor cuts and bruises to significant broken arms, necks and concussions. Continue Reading

The lazy days of summer are quickly approaching. Before long, carpools and homework will be a distant memory and we will fill our days with all sorts of outdoor adventures. Unfortunately, the very features that make the summer so wonderful can also be very dangerous, especially for children. Luckily, a bit of planning and a tad of common sense can keep your family safe without interfering with even an ounce of fun.

Fun in the sun and fun in motion are what makes the summer so spectacular and dangerous at the same time. You may be surprised to learn that the heat and the sun do not necessarily go hand in hand. We can burn in the shade and get dehydrated on a cloudy day. It is possible to get too much sun without intense heat and it is also possible to experience hot temperatures without a lot of sun. And, when they occur together, there is double the trouble. Continue Reading

Last year’s record setting snowfall did little to curb our enthusiasm when this season’s first snowflakes fell in early November. With snow barely touching the ground, New Englanders of all ages rushed to find their winter clothes and prepare for endless outdoor adventures. Yards normally covered by grass instantly became white wonderlands adorned with ski tracks, sleds, and a myriad of snow people. And where there is outdoor fun there are always unexpected injuries.

The totally accumulation of that first snow fall in November was only 1 to 2 inches yet kids found ways to sled, ski, build snow people and have snowball fights. The injuries we saw ranged from concussions due to sledding accidents, a sprained ankle from falling on an icy sidewalk, a broken arm sustained during a hockey, a bruised eye from a snowball fight, a few lacerations, and even some frostnip. Continue Reading

Have you seen the new Six Flags ad recently? Talk about a catchy way of getting us Metro-Westers out of our niche and heading west!

There is no doubt that amusement parks can be a great family outing and offer something for everyone – even non-ride people. At the same time, while it’s easy to assume that a clean-looking, well-run park is “safe”, statistics suggest otherwise. Safekids.org recently reported 6500 emergency room visits in 2001 for amusement park injuries in the United States – and the majority of those actually avoidable and due to families and attendants bending the posted rules. Equipment problems do occur but result in a small amount of injuries overall. Continue Reading