EVERYTHING
FOR YOUR FAMILY
Family News
|
||||
|
FAST FACT: Watch the relatives According to the Polly Klaas Foundation, most children are kidnapped by a relative (49%) or an acquaintance of the victim (27%). Kidnapping by a stranger occurs 24% of the time. Information: www.pollyklaas.org. Avoid poisons Keep your children safe from harm The first item of business for a family with children inside the house is to post the Home Safety Council’s poison control hotline number by the phone. It is: 800.222.1222. National Poison Prevention Week is March 20-26, but every day should be a vigilant one. According to the council, a majority of American homes with children report medicines within reach of little hands. And more than half report leaving household chemicals from bleach to pesticides in full view. The council says that 90% of all suspected poisonings occur in the home. The nonprofit reports that more than 80% of American homes leave children at risk of poison dangers by not securing dangerous items. “Poisonings are the second-leading cause of home injury-related death in America, and children under the age of 6 suffer the highest rate of poison exposures,” says Home Safety Council President Meri-K Appy. “Safe storage and use, coupled with an adult’s watchful eye, should become standard practice.” Among its recommendations: • Take a slow walk through common rooms to identify potentially harmful products. • All potentially dangerous products should have child-resistant closure, be locked up if possible, and stored in high places. • Always keep original labels on product containers. Labels often give important first-aid information. • If medicine has expired, flush the remaining liquid or pills down the toilet rather than leaving them in a garbage can. The council’s website is: www.homesaftycouncil.org. No sunburn As weather warms, a sun warning One of the most important pieces of information that new moms and mothers of young children need to know is that sun damage most affects preteens. For a number of reasons – skin is more susceptible, children get many times more sun exposure than adults – the damage in terms of sunburn and overexposure is most acute in the young years, even though damage such as skin cancer often doesn’t turn up until someone is 40 or 50. Some facts from the Sun Safety Alliance, which preaches “block the sun, not the fun:” 1-in-5 Americans can expect to develop some form of skin cancer in their lifetime, especially those who have experienced serious childhood sunburn. As much as 80% of a person’s lifetime sun exposure is estimated to occur before age 18. The dangers of harmful UV radiation are present in both summer and winter. As the organization urges in one of its print ads: “You wouldn’t send your child out to play in the snow without boots. So don’t sent them out in the sun without proper protection.” Ways to be diligent: • Apply sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB rays when outside. • Adults should use sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher; children should use SPF 30 or higher. • Apply sunscreen every two hours and after swimming, perspiring, or toweling off. • Wear UV protective sunglasses. • Wear a hat with a wide brim. • Be particularly vigilant about big sunburn areas, such as the nose and the back of the neck. The nonprofit is dedicated to reducing the incidence of skin cancer in America. For more information: www.SunSafetyAlliance.org Additional references: American Academy of Dermatology, www.aad.org/PressReleases/newstudy.html Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/healthtopics/skin_cancer/guidelines /facts.htm Folic acid Moms-to-be, add this to your diet Though a week in January is celebrated each year as Folic Acid Awareness Week, year-round the March of Dimes reminds mothers-to-be to add folic acid to their diet – before starting a family. If all women of childbearing age took 400 micrograms of folic acid daily - before and during pregnancy - it could help prevent up to as much as 70% of pregnancies affected by neural tube defects (NTDs), serious birth defects of the brain and spine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since 1995, the March of Dimes and the CDC have recommended that all women of childbearing age take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily, before conception and continuing into the early months of pregnancy. NTDs occur in the first few weeks after conception, often before a woman knows she’s pregnant and affects about 3,000 pregnancies annually. Unfortunately, only one-third of women take a multivitamin containing the B vitamin folic acid daily, according to a Gallup survey conducted for the March of Dimes and the CDC. “Folic acid is the most important vitamin women can take to help prevent birth defects of the brain and spine, and it’s most important they take it BEFORE they get pregnant,” says Janis Biermann, March of Dimes vice president of education and health. “Folic acid has been proven to be the most effective and reliable method to prevent spina bifida and anencephaly,” said Dr. Jose Cordero, director of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. Sex ed Should schools…or shouldn’t they? Sex education and public schools. Should they or shouldn’t they? Absent widespread public discourse about the often-taboo subject, a survey released this year provides some surprising answers. Some 78% of Californians polled – including 74% of Latinos and 66% of those who identify themselves as evangelical Christians – prefer sex education programs that also teach children about obtaining and using contraceptives. That is the finding by the Public Policy Institute of California. “One explanation for the strong support,” notes the report, “(is that) residents believe deterrence works. Most say sex education in schools is at least somewhat effective in helping teens avoid pregnancy (62%) and sexually transmitted diseases (71%).” Of those polled, 75% say sex education is a very important part of school curriculum and about the same number favor government funding for programs that provide teens with birth control options. Survey director Mark Baldassare said that response across “ideological and political” lines indicates that most Californians believe sex education works in properly educating students. Some 68% say their local school districts should require programs in middle and high schools (but not before). The survey was based on telephone interviews with 2,504 California adult residents last November and December. The PPIC website is at www.ppic.org and go to: “Special Survey on Population.” FAMILY NEWS BITES FESTIVAL OF CHILDREN RECEIVES $125,000 The Festival of Children Foundation has received a $125,000 grant from Wilmington Trust to support its efforts. In addition to offering resources, support and grants to more than 120 youth serving organizations, the foundation also puts on the Festival of Children event, a month-long celebration held annually in September at South Coast Plaza. The Wilmington Trust grant represents the largest single contribution received by the nonprofit organization since its inception in September 2002. CHOC RECEIVES LITERACY AWARD Children’s Hospital of Orange County has been named the 2006 recipient of the “Celebrate Literacy” award by the Orange County Reading Association. The award recognizes groups and individuals who have made significant literacy contributions. CHOC was recognized for its efforts in promoting early literacy in children at its clinic, where children age 6 months to 6 years are given a new book after each well-child visit. FOUNDATION RAISES MONEY TO PROTECT KIDS The Joyful Child Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in memory of Samantha Runnion, raised more than $100,000 at its first gala fundraiser. The funds will be used to support the foundation’s programs to protect children from child abuse and abduction. MATER DEI HOLDS RAFFLE FOR HOME Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana is holding a raffle for a $1 million home in Costa Mesa’s Half Moon Lane community, which will be raffled April 29. Tickets are on sale for $200 each, with all proceeds going to the Monarch Legacy Endowment, a fund that will support need-based financial aid and enhance faculty and staff salaries. Information: 866.962.8373 or www.mdhomeraffle.org – Reported and compiled by OC Family Magazine staff |
||||
RSS Subscribe
Digg This ArticleSEARCH THE SITE
