Cool Tips for Parents: Keep Kids Safe During Hot Weather

With temperatures soaring into the upper 80’s and 90’s across the state, the Council for Children & Families (CCF) would like to offer a few simple parent tips to help keep kids safe and cool during this unusually warm weather.

“We think this early summer preview is a great opportunity to help make parents and others aware that children’s regulatory systems are much more sensitive to heat than an adult’s.  Let’s make sure that we look out for each other and help make the most of this wonderful weather so that it is not marred by a preventable tragedy,” shares CCF executive director Joan Sharp.

Facts Every Parent Should Know:

• Heat exhaustion and heat stroke can occur rapidly in enclosed vehicles. Never leave your child unattended in a car. Children’s thermoregulatory systems warm three to five times faster than an adult’s.

• Always check to make sure all children leave the vehicle when you reach your destination. Don’t overlook sleeping infants.  (TIP: Keep your child’s toy or diaper bag in the front passenger seat to help remind you the child is on board).

• On a 93-degree day, the inside of a car can exceed 125° degrees Fahrenheit in as little as 20 minutes. The temperature inside of a car is hotter than outside temperatures, and can climb rapidly.

• Heat stroke can occur in a matter of minutes for young children and infants.  Keep children sufficiently hydrated and cool during the day.

• Cracking the windows enough to let in air is not an effective way to avoid the heat risks involved with leaving a child alone in a car on a hot day.

• Seek immediate emergency medical attention if you know or think that your child has been exposed to high temperatures by having been left in or accidentally trapped in a car.

• If your child gets locked inside a car, dial 9-1-1 or your local emergency number immediately.

• An open or screened window in homes can be a danger to children.  Falls from upper story windows related to the heat have been responsible for fatal child injuries in our state.  (TIP: Keep furniture away from windows, open windows from the top down if possible, and install child-safety window guards all help to prevent injury).

More Parent Resources and Journalist Information:

A free brochure on keeping children safe during the summer heat is available online from SAFE KIDS USA (http://www.usa.safekids.org/tier2_rl.cfm?folder_id=980 [1]) in partnership with General Motors (http://www.usa.safekids.org/tier3_cd.cfm?content_item_id=441&folder_id=362 [2])

Never Leave Your Child Alone Brochure:
English:  http://www.usa.safekids.org/content_documents/ACF37.pdf [3]
Spanish: http://www.usa.safekids.org/content_documents/ACF298.pdf [4]

2009 Children & Hypothermia Study:
A recent vehicle heat study by the Department of Geosciences at San Francisco State University: http://ggweather.com/heat/ [5] 

2009 Children & Hypothermia Fact Sheet:
English: http://ggweather.com/heat/fact_sheet%202009.pdf [6]
Spanish: http://ggweather.com/heat/ninovehiculo.pdf [7]

About the Council for Children & Families (CCF)

The Council for Children & Families was established in 1982 by the Washington State Legislature to promote programs, policies, practices and partnerships that strengthen community efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect. From parent support groups that reduce social isolation to programs that teach fathers about child development, CCF focuses on initiatives that strengthen families and encourage safe, nurturing home environments.

Additional support for these programs is provided through sales of the Washington State Heirloom Birth Certificate (http://www.ccf.wa.gov/support-council/heirloom-birth-certificate [8]) and the Keep Kids Safe special license plate (http://www.ccf.wa.gov/support-council/license-plate [9]).