Storing batteries like this is hazardous! Image via Wikimedia Commons
I bet you know that it's not a good idea to toss old batteries in the garbage & that you can recycle them (search for locations near you on Call2Recycle.ca). & when I say safety around batteries, you probably think about choking hazard or the dangers of kids or pets swallowing the small ones & having major health problems. Unfortunately there's one more thing to worry about: fire hazard. If you store your batteries together to bring a bunch of them to recycle later, the 9V batteries can short out & cause a fire, as David Miller's unlucky family discovered.
You don't have to stop recycling batteries or bring them in one at a time. There's a really simple solution: put electrical tape across the terminals. David tells the whole story & shows you exactly how to keep your batteries safe in the video below.
Please share this & the video below to your friends & family to let them know how to stay safe too.
I got an email from Health Canada today with a link to this page detailing a fairly exhaustive set of safety tips for Halloween. But reading through, it dawned on me that a lot of it is aimed at families with older children. Our four-year-old & one-year-old are a whole other kettle of fish! So I thought I'd share with you some of the things that we do to keep these two monkeys safe around Halloween.
1 Skip the candles. Burns from hot wax or fires caused by knocking over candles are a danger, whether you have kids or pets or none of the above. We use either LED 'tea lights' in our jack-o-lanterns, or bike lights. The bike lights are kinda cool, as they create a red glow & can be set to flash too.
2
Keep the costumes simple. Flowy costumes can catch fire or trip kids. Masks make it hard to see & walk. Now I love making things, especially costumes, so I have to reign in my tendencies to go overboard on the costumes for my kids. Luckily, having two children means I don't have the time to make them intricate outfits. The last few years Linnaeus has worn the practical two-piece costumes like the ones you get from Old Navy. He's been a bat, an elephant, & a fox. All of them left his face free so he could see & walk well. They were warm & toasty for the chilly damp trick-or-treating & watching fireworks. Plus they're durable to hand down to siblings, cousins, & friends or consign, & washable afterward.
3 Contain the kids. Traffic safety is a big thing on Halloween night. We're going to try something new this year now that we've got two walking children: a castle on wheels! Whaaa? Okay, let me go back a step. We're going to decorate our wagon to look like a castle for our little dragon & bat to ride in for the longer gaps between houses (a lot of people in our area don't give out treats, so there's more walking involved than some neighbourhoods) & crossing the streets. I picked up some glow-in-the-dark tape to add to the cardboard ramparts we'll attach on the outside of the wagon & we may tie on some bike lights as well, just for good measure.
4 Do the old switcheroo. My four-year-old is able to handle most types of candy that we'll probably encounter this Halloween, but I don't trust my one-year-old not to choke on small, chewy or hard sweets. I bought a bag of plain chocolate that I'll trade for some of the candy she won't be able to eat so she still gets to participate. I will see if my son wants to trade with his little sister too. Truth be told, they're both still young enough that I can get away with 'pruning' their supply of trick-or-treating candy, so I may make some of it disappear myself after they've gone to bed.
Have you got any further suggestions on Halloween safety for little kids? I'd love to see them in the comments below...
Today I found this on the street next to a bus stop as I was walking home from preschool pickup:
I know there's a needle pickup service & I'd heard to call 311 to sort it out. I googled it when I got home & found surprisingly little information online. After several minutes of scanning menus & several search attempts on the City of Vancouver website, I called 311 & was given another number to call. Seems like it should be easier to find this information, so I decided to get the word out by blogging.
I love my neighbourhood & wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the city. But it is a bit depressing that part of living here is finding used syringes on the street. Part of raising street-smart kids here is teaching them not to touch discarded needles. It's not something I see a lot--two in the past year, but before that I only saw one other at least five years before.
I think if we keep pushing for more harm reduction programs like supportive housing, needle exchanges & safe injection sites like Insite, this problem will get better. In the meantime, here's what to do when you find a discarded syringe.
Don't touch it or pick it up
Call the Needle Pickup Hotline: 604.657.6561
Describe exactly where the needle is located so it can be found easily
If you prefer to email, the Needle Pick-up Email is: needlevan@phs.ca
The Community Pick-up Van will be there to recover and dispose of it
safely. The hotline offers rapid needle recovery service 7 days a week,
20 hours a day, between 7am & 3am. This service also
provides needle disposal to SROs & non-profit organizations running
housing with their own internal needle exchanges.
I've put this number into my cel phone so I can call right away next time. Here's hoping you won't find a discarded syringe in your travels, but if you do, now you know who to call.
a lot of people seem to think cycling is physically difficult & possibly dangerous when pregnant
many people think cycling is a very risky activity & once pregnant, a mother must think of her fetus before herself, to the extent that they'll actually question her decision to ride a bike
there seems to be a belief that a fall would cause a miscarriage
the negative attitudes toward pregnant women cycling are cultural--in the Netherlands or Denmark, cycling is advised for pregnant women
It's that time again: Listicles. This week's topic was suggested by Amanda, of Lilahbility.
@NorthWestMommy I've got an idea for a future listicle. Have we ever done a list of things that are completely impractical? Could be fun...
— Amanda (@lilahbility) July 19, 2013
I'm a very practical gal. You can tell by my shoes: from May through September you'll find me in nothing but Birkenstocks. The rest of the year it's gumboots or runners. Sometimes flat boots. So I tend to gravitate toward things that are practical first, attractive second. Form follows function, right?
So this Listicle topic baffled me a bit. Trying to think of things I have that aren't practical didn't get me very far. Guess I could just criticize things I don't have that are impractical--there's definitely a lot of baby stuff out there that is so ridiculous. Then I looked to a dictionary definition for inspiration. Nope.
Then on Friday I head a guy who was apparently put out by having to move out of the way for a stroller to exit the bus when he was getting on. He told the woman with the toddler in the little folding stroller, "Teach the kid to walk!". I glared at him, but he didn't notice. Anger at women daring to take up space on the bus with their kid's stroller is so commonplace & so frustrating. I was sorely tempted to give this guy a piece of my mind, but instead, I'll blog about it.
Ten reasons not taking a stroller on transit is really impractical:
The bus rarely takes you to the door of your destination, you'll need to walk a few blocks. Doing that with a toddler is slooooow going.
Toddlers often won't walk more than a few blocks. Or they'll do fun things like run into traffic.
Shopping by transit, which is something that many of us do (shocking, I know), means lugging heavy bags which doesn't leave a hand free to cross streets holding your toddler.
Toddlers sometimes fall asleep when you're out. Ever tried carrying that dead weight more than ten metres?
Toddlers generally require a bag of paraphernalia to go with them: diapers, toys, extra clothes, food, water, potty seat, etc. Carrying that plus whatever you need on your outing is silly when a stroller basket will accommodate it without giving you back muscle spasms.
Carrying your child plus all the stuff you need to take along is heavy, sweaty work. In the summer? Not realistic.
Toddlers are wiggly & don't like to sit still on bus seats. Being belted into a stroller is much safer for them when (not if) the bus has to slam on the brakes.
When travelling with more than one child under age four or five, strapping them into a stroller is pretty much the only way to keep them safe & yourself sane.
Getting on & off a bus with a little person who has short little legs & only maybe a year's experience doing things like walking can be difficult.
I'm all for babywearing & I normally do this a lot on transit, because it is easier in some ways, but it's just not possible when very pregnant.
Do you or have you taken transit with a toddler? Did you ever get people criticizing you for having a toddler in a stroller on the bus?
Join
in the fun yourself--enter the link to your list here (click on the
Listicles button to the right), or just browse the many other entries on
Northwest Mommy.
I came across a great infographic by Urban Planner Holly Foxcroft including facts on cycling infrastructure & the proposed Point Grey Bike Corridor improvements connecting the Burrard Bridge, Kitsilano Beach & Jericho Beach area.
Please share this infographic far & wide! Tweet it, +1 it, Facebook it, StumbleUpon it, email it...
My blogger friend, Jen of Mama.Papa.Bubba, posted a video on Facebook yesterday that I found really interesting, talking about the Montessori perspective on a critical period in children's development, particularly pertaining to movement. Here's the video--it's quite interesting & only six & a half minutes long:
This video brought up some really interesting questions for me. Virginia Varga talks about avoiding constraining babies so that they can work on their motor skills. I definitely agree that we should avoid having babies in various containers too much (stroller, car seat, chair, swing) rather than being held. I also remember when Sprout was really little, I was encouraged by the public health nurse not to let him lie on his back on the floor all the time because he'd get a flat head. But he hated being on his tummy & couldn't sit up yet, so my compromise was strapping him in a baby seat/rocker thing or a swing. I wonder if that had any impact on him starting to walk at 17 months.
I'm not really second-guessing my decisions because, of course, temperament is a factor. Sprout's a physically cautious child, generally. He tends to wait until he knows how to do something, rather than just diving in & attempting it before he's ready to do it well. When he did start walking, he was quite steady on his feet--none of the toddling you tend to see with babies under a year who start walking.
The other thing I found interesting in the video is the idea of not constraining children during sleep: having a low bed near the floor so they can get up & be somewhat independent. We just took the front off Sprout's crib recently so he can do this. I see a little of the learned helplessness in him some mornings when he wakes up really early & just calls to us, rather than getting out & coming into our room. After being in a crib for two & a half years, he hasn't figured out that he can just come to us when he wakes up & needs a cuddle. He has, however realized that he can just get out when he doesn't feel like going to bed at night.
One argument for having children in a crib is so they don't get out & get into trouble in the middle of the night. Also, I'd say it's essential to have a safe place to put a baby or toddler when you're home alone with your child & you need a break or a shower or whatever. What do you do with your one-year-old when you need to take a shower or run downstairs to do the laundry if you have no safe form of containment? I was never organized enough to schedule all those things into naptime.
If you watched the video, what did you think? Do you think the decisions you made in terms of 'containing' your child made a difference in their development, or do you think temperament has more to do with it? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section...
This week I bought Sprout a Munchkin Funpack Harness. Since he's started running, I've thought that having him tied to me would be handy sometimes. When we're in a really busy place like the farmers' market or maybe when we do some travelling it could be useful.
I was somewhat conflicted about the idea before I bought one & I still feel a bit awkward about having my child on a leash like a dog. I tried it out just after we bought it when we walked home from the local park. Felt very self-conscious strapping him in & putting the leash loop around my wrist as we set off.
Sprout thought the backpack was pretty cool. Its capacity is only about 2L but that's enough to hold a few little toys or a water bottle & snack. He wasn't so keen on it the first time he ran off suddenly & came to the end of his tether, however.
While walking the four blocks home, I realized that because the lead is so short, I'd have to either keep up with him or risk the 'yoink' every time he got to the end of it. I don't want to use the leash to pull him back the way some people do with their dogs. However, I'm not sure he'll 'heel' like a well-trained dog would, staying within the four or five foot range of the leash. So I'm still chasing after him the way I would without the leash anyway.
I can see how it might be useful in a situation like paying at a till in a store or using a bank machine, where I have to concentrate on something else for a minute. Maybe for light hiking too, just in case he decides to wander off the trail. & of course for parents with more than one kid or multiples, I could see how this could be a sanity-preserver.
There's a part of me that really hates the idea of restraining my child this way. But if the alternative is for him to be strapped in the stroller instead, is that really better? (I am a big fan of babywearing, but the older he gets, the less he wants to be attached to me in the Beco or the ring sling, it seems. Also, my knees & feet get sore if I'm wearing him for long) Strollers are certainly more socially acceptable--I rarely see leashed children in public in Vancouver, but kids are strapped into strollers regularly until they're in elementary school, it seems.
What's your opinion? Would you or have you used a toddler leash?
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Psst... The Sprog now has a Facebook page! Head on over & click 'like' to get even more Sproggy goodness delivered to your feed. :)
I was recently looking through this list of 10 Surprising Safety Hazards on Parents.com & wondering: do we really need to be afraid of all these things? Some were really good tips, like keep your guests' purses & wallets out of baby's reach. We all know how much little kids like to rifle through a new bag & there are likely to be items inside that could pose a choking hazard or cause other injuries. The stats on pet-related injuries were striking as well: "About 100,000 children under age 10 are treated in hospital emergency
rooms every year for dog-bite-related injuries, according to the CDCP.
The majority of attacks happen in familiar places by a dog that belongs
to the victim's family or friend."
However, the second item on the list was latex balloons. I'm not saying they're okay for babies to play with, but the stats quoted don't really make me thing it's a very likely accident: "Since 1973, more than 110 children have choked to death when chewing on or blowing up latex balloons." That works out to two or three kids a year, compared to cited number that up to 900 suffocate in soft bedding annually. On the other hand, the amount of exposure to balloons versus pets or bedding is vastly different.
There are so many sources of fear & guilt about parenting these
days, often as a part of marketing a product to help you solve the
'problem' that you didn't know you had. I found it quite overwhelming
initially & had to fight the paranoia that books, marketers &
even other parents seem to want you to have. When it comes to safety,
I'm not going to say I'm against doing any babyproofing, but how much is
too much? I've seen ads for padded helmets for children learning to
walk or crawl--isn't this too much? What does that do to a child if
they're never allowed to take any risks? Do they learn if they're not
allowed to make mistakes that result in the occasional bump or bruise?
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