Synopsis "Safe Child Dangerous World: A Family Survival Guide"
The title says it all. Safe Child Dangerous World is a unique compilation of information designed to aid parents, grandparents and other caregivers in keeping children out of harm's way. All sixteen chapters are devoted to teaching safety concepts to young children and their families. There isn't a day that passes where we're not confronted with screaming headlines about pointless, preventable injuries to and death of young children and, in some instances, whole families. As I am writing this, a glaring headline from the U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) dated September 19, 2013, states that "more than a third of children under age 13 who died in passenger vehicle crashes in 2011 were not in car seats or wearing seat belts". That's right! 2011 and more than one out of three caregiver/drivers failed to recognize the dangers inherent in failing to use seat restraints for children and themselves. Multiply these needless tragedies by countless others -- children being suffocated in their parent's cars, drowning in unsecured home swimming pools, being kidnapped in malls, playgrounds and other public places, being molested by people they trusted, being bullied by their peers --and you can begin to grasp the scope of this life-saving handbook. Safe Child Dangerous World will get your child through minor scrapes and major disasters. Part I - Avoiding Danger in Public Places - teaches your child how to be safe in malls, parks, playgrounds, crossing streets, riding bicycles, getting to and from school, etc. It provides vital information about water safety, automobile safety and handling summer outdoor threats. Part II - Dangers in the Home - teaches children what to do in hazardous situations--fire, carbon monoxide leaks, choking...and instructs kids on proper eating habits and safe behavior in the home. Part III - Personal Dangers - discusses Internet safety, how to prevent your child from being bullied and how to empower your child. The chapter on bullying takes a different approach than most discussions on the subject. It focuses less on the bully and places greater emphasis on making your child bullyproof. The chapter on Empowering Your Child reinforces the chapter on bullying and adds a new dimension. Each chapter has a section titled In The Reading Room, where children of different types of families tell stories to your kids about how to be safe and smart in a multitude of situations. In the section addressed to parents, grandparents and other caregivers, life-saving advice and recommendations support and enhance the information offered in the children's stories. This handbook is not meant to be read in one or two sittings. It should be treated like an instruction manual or reference guide, kept handy to be read and reread. The appendix contains questions for your kids to answer on each chapter. Accidents happen, but the number and severity can be dramatically reduced by giving your child, grandchild, niece or nephew the skills and knowledge to survive. As it says in the preface to Safe Child Dangerous World, "It's truly better to be safe than sorry."
