Tips to Keep Your Kids Safe This Fall

Fall is a great time to be a kid. The temperatures drop, so it is much more comfortable to be outside playing. However, the days are so much shorter, which means that many children are outside playing after dark.

Here are some tips to keep your children safe this fall. 

You should always dress your children in bright-colored clothing. Visibility can get harder, especially as the days get shorter, so you should do what you can to make sure that your children can be seen when they are outside playing. This is especially true for those who love to play near the road and those in rural areas where hunting is common. 

Dress your children appropriately. Fall can be a hard time to dress your children. It may be chilly in the morning, heat up, and get cold again. For this reason, your children should always have a sweatshirt or a coat. Dressing in layers is always a good idea to keep your children from getting too hot or cold when they are outside playing.

Make sure that you pay attention when your children play in leaf piles. We all love to play in leaf piles, but the truth is that it can be quite dangerous. They can hide bugs and critters in them. You may even rake up something that is sharp and could cut your children when they jump in.

You may have also seen those videos where children get in leaf piles, and nobody knows that they are there. Though they were meant as jokes, the truth is that someone could easily drive over your children while they are hiding in the pile of leaves, especially if it is close to your driveway or the road!

Be ready for fall and winter colds, by stocking up on essentials. Many parents give their children extra vitamin C in order to keep them healthy over the fall and winter. You should also make sure that you have plenty of electrolyte drinks and cold medication on hand when your children come up sick. You don't want to have to make a last-minute run to the store when your children come home from school sick.

Because of this, you also need to make hand washing an important part of your family's day. Handwashing is the best way to keep everyone healthy, so make sure that you wash your hands often. Being a good example is the best way to show your children how important it is.

Make sure that everyone washes their hands before they eat. They should also wash up after petting or touching any animals, as well as after they go to the bathroom. If they are around sick people, they should wash up also.

You also want to check the temperatures of hot soups and drinks before you serve them. Fall and winter are great times to have a big bowl of soup. However, burns happen when children try to heat soup up themselves. They may drop the bowl on them while trying to get it out of the microwave. They may also burn their tongue if it is too hot. 

The same goes for hot chocolate. There is no better way to warm up than by having some hot cocoa. However, many people get too impatient and end up burning themselves with it!

If you want your children to be safe, it is a good idea to dress them in bright clothing, as well as give them plenty of layers. This way they can take off and put on layers as needed so that they stay warm but don't sweat! Leaf piles can also be dangerous, so it is important that you keep an eye out when your children are playing in them! 

This is also a time for colds, so make sure that you have the essentials on hand. However, you should also talk about washing hands in order to keep your children as safe as possible.

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Previously published on Medium and/or Newsbreak.