10 Tips: Kids/Travel/Winter Activities/Snow Country/Safety

January 28, 2009

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Tags: helmets, hot tub, ice skating, jacuzzi, Outdoor Recreation, ski school, skiing, sledding, snow, snowmobile, tubing, winter, winter driving

It’s wintertime in snow country, time for dashing through the snow, gliding on the ice, schussing down the slopes and other invigorating and exciting cold weather activities. But such activities have something else in common: sometimes, they can be the first leg of a run that ends at the Emergency Room.

Here are some safety tips you may not be familiar with: 

1. Helmets. Helmets. Helmets. Wearing helmets is mandatory for children on most ski slopes. But safety experts recommend them for all activities that may result in head trauma – snowboarding, snowmobiling, ice skating and sledding, for example.

2. Have children use up-to-date equipment. Hand-me-downs may not be safe. Equipment keeps improving and should be specific for the sport, age and size of the child. Sources of safety information on popular winter sports are available on the web. See the list below.

3. Check recommended minimum ages for safe participation in each sport. It is 16 years for operating a snowmobile, 6 years for riding on one. Snowboarders should be at least 10 years old. Most children can start learning how to ski at the age of 3, ice skating at the age of 2. 

4. Get professional instruction. Teaching your toddler to ski if you, the parents, are skiers may seem like a slam-dunk (no-brainer?). Statistics show otherwise. Professional lessons reduce accidents. Most instructors devote the first lesson to the do’s and don’t’s of safety issues. 

5. Keep small children close at hand. In snow country, there are unexpected hazards, especially for families unaccustomed to snow. Children are injured by slipping on the ice – sometimes on their first step out of the car – or by not knowing how to get out of the way of skiers or snowmobilers. Avoid walking at the bottom of slopes. Snow banks may be fun to jump into or slam into with a sled, but the banks may cover rocks, branches or fences.

6. Dress children for safety as well as well as for warmth. Thick gloves protect against scrapes from inevitable falls. Wearing bright colors make children more visible.  Avoid long scarves and dangling drawstrings, which can get caught up in branches or ski tow equipment.  Also, tie up long hair. Non-slip soles reduce falls. Covering the ears is essential for warmth but substantially muffles sound. This can be a safety issue. Snow banks also muffle sound.

7. Be wary of snowmobiles. These vehicles are becoming more popular and bigger and faster. In the U.S., each year, ERs see about 13,000 people (and about 100 die) with snowmobile-related injuries; 10% are children younger than 15 years. Children are injured when vehicles crash or fall through ice or children fall off them. Snowmobiles are also very noisy. Prolonged exposure can cause hearing loss.

8.  Sledding is not an innocuous activity. In one recent year there were 45,000 visits to ERs by children between 5 and 14 years of age for injuries involving sleds, snow discs, snow tubes, and toboggans. Head injuries are common when children ride belly down and head first and hitch sleds to moving vehicles. They should sit or lay on their backs, with feet pointing downhill.  Wooden sleds that can be steered are the safest; they are more controllable and slower. Plastic tubes and disks are too fast for small children. Avoid steep hills, ice, rocks, trees, and cars.

9. Allow kids to use hot tubs only when you’re reasonably sure that the tubs are well maintained. (Many winter resorts have them and kids love them.) Even optimally maintained tubs increase chances of skin infections. High water temperatures allow disease-causing bacteria to multiply. Keep children out when they have open skin sores (and hope others parents do the same). They should keep their heads above water. Limit stays to fifteen minutes to prevent body temperatures to rise to unhealthy levels. Keep infants out.

10. Prepare yourself for winter driving. Winter vacations may require driving on rural and hilly roads and on snow and ice, a challenge for drivers living in urban areas or in the Sun Belt. Avoid night driving. Stay on main roads. Carry cell phones and global positioning devices. Check emergency telephone numbers, weather and road conditions. Pack warm clothes even for short rides (from your hotel to a restaurant, for example) in case cars get stuck in the snow. 

      American Academy of Pediatrics:
     http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/decwintertips.cfm

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Tags: helmets, hot tub, ice skating, jacuzzi, Outdoor Recreation, ski school, skiing, sledding, snow, snowmobile, tubing, winter, winter driving