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Foods To Avoid Packing In Your Kid’s Lunchbox

The Most Dangerous Foods Not To Pack In Your Child’s Lunchbox

We are all concerned about our child’s safety at school and as a result spend countless hours checking the school’s history, researching their teachers, looking for ways to keep our kids safe from bullying, and restricting their devices. But could what you’re sending your kids to school with also be dangerous in its own way? What you are packing in your child’s lunchbox could have potentially fatal consequences.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the most dangerous food that you shouldn’t be giving your child to take to school.

Leftovers

Convenience reigns supreme when packing your child’s lunchbox and so leftovers are often the go-to choice for your kid’s lunchbox. There is also nothing more frustrating than sending your child off to school with food, only for a half-eaten sandwich or uneaten yogurt to return. Avoid simply repacking these food items for the next day. Food that has sat sweltering in your child’s bag or locker all day could be warm and no longer safe to eat.

In contrast, certain foods, like soups, need to be served hot as bacteria can start to develop if hot foods sit cold for too long. If you are going to give your child hot foods to take to school, ensure they are placed in an insulated container to retain their heat.

Meat and eggs

While a ham and cheese sandwich or egg mayo roll may provide your child with a healthy dose of substance for the day, these foods could be harboring dangerous bacteria. Meat, eggs, and perishable items should not be kept outside of the refrigerator for more than two hours at a time. Thus, leaving these foods in your kid’s bag until lunchtime could be a risky move. Processed meats also include lots of additives like sodium, colorings, and unhealthy fats, so they aren’t the best choice for your child in any case!

Nuts

While nuts provide a delicious and healthy snack for your child, they could pose a danger to others. Kids like to share and swap out goodies from their lunchbox, and putting nuts in your kid’s lunchbox, could spell disaster for another. One of the most common, and potentially fatal, food allergies in the world is peanuts. Severe responses to a peanut allergy include anaphylaxis shock which causes the airways to constrict, leading to shock and even death.

While your child may not have this reaction, there could be others in the class that do,es and putting peanuts or a peanut butter sandwich in your child’s lunchbox could have disastrous consequences. You can also always speak to the teacher to ensure that there are no known nut allergies in the class before you unknowingly send your kid off to school with nuts. Or keep them for yourself and enjoy them as a snack while playing at an online casino NZ has to offer.

Fruits with seeds and pips

Fruits with medium-sized seeds and pips present choking hazards for children, so rather opt for other healthy snacks that aren’t dangerous.

Some fruits to stay away from include cherries and whole grapes. Grapes and cherries should always be cut in half lengthways to prevent them from getting stuck in smaller throats, and cherries should have the pips removed. 

Essential First Aid For Parents And Teachers

Basic First Aid Techniques Every Teacher And Parent Should Know

Are you a new parent or looking at schools to send your precious bundle too? First Aid Training is an essential basic skill that every parent and grandparent should have. In addition, it’s important to ensure that anyone who is going to be guarding your child, be that an au-pair, childminder, or teacher, has the same skills.

Knowledge of pediatric first aid will help you to respond effectively and efficiently in trying situations. Here are some of the basic skills that you will learn in a pediatric first aid course and when chatting to your child’s new teachers, its important to ensure they too have acquired these skills:

Determining a need for First Aid

The very first skill you need to learn is how to determine when a child needs first aid. You will look at the severity of different injuries and situations to help you determine how seriously your child is hurt when the need arises. You will also learn how and who to call for assistance when in need and what you can do while you wait for help to arise.

Attending to vital situations

The second thing you will learn is how to attend to vital situations. These include potentially fatal situations where the immediate response from a parent or teacher can save your child’s life. This includes what to do if your child faints or loses consciousness, or how to assist a child that is choking or drowning. You will also learn how to monitor your child’s breathing, including identifying the signs and symptoms of problems like asthma, croup, Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, parents and teachers also need to know what to do in the case of a heart arrest and how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR on a child.

Dealing with other emergencies

When your child is at school, or even at home, there are a variety of potential emergencies that could occur. Learning how to attend to these emergencies is an important part of pediatric first aid. These emergencies could include fever and convulsions, burns and scalds, electrocution, poisoning or food allergies, fractures, sprains, bruises, head injuries, and bleeding wounds.

In order to deal with some of these emergencies every parent and teacher should know how to correctly apply bandages, how to use an EpiPen, how to handle heat exhaustion and dehydration, and what to do in the case of common bites and stings, particularly with relevant knowledge of any endemic dangerous insects or snakes prevalent in your environment. This knowledge is like mega casino bonuses, it can be life-changing!

Speaking to your child’s teachers about first aid

First Aid Training is a legal requirement for many schools and teachers around the world, however, before enrolling your child or signing on a new caregiver, it’s important to have an open and honest conversation with any guardian about the level of training they have. Always discuss the amount and the degree of training a teacher has and don’t be afraid of asking to see valid accreditation and certificates that provide proof of this training.

 

Keeping Your Child Safe Around Water

Teaching Your Child To Swim Safely

Having a child that can swim safely helps to greatly reduce the risk of drowning and takes a lot of worries away from your life as a parent. And while learning to swim can be exciting and fun for a child, it can be a stressful anxiety-driven experience for parents. So just how can you introduce your child to the water in a fun, but safe way? Let’s take a closer look:

Invest in formal lessons

When teaching a child to swim, its important to invest informal lessons. Accredited teachers will have all the necessary safety protocols in place and follow strict guidelines enforced upon them by the local authorities. Good swim schools will have firm safety rules in place which they go over with children and their parents before each lesson. These rules provide a solid grounding for understanding the dangers of water and reinforcing in children when they should or shouldn’t approach the water.

Start off young

While babies can go into the water from birth, they can’t regulate their body temperature yet so tend to get cold very quickly. Babies can be introduced to the water from as young as four months old, but most swimming instructors prefer to take them from the age of six months. At this age, they will also be more resilient to any infections that they could pick up in the pool.

Prior to this, you can start to introduce water to your child by pouring a small warm cup of water over their head during bath time. This will get your child used to the feeling of water over their face. This experience should always be done in a calm and positive manner. If your child responds negatively then it is best to give it a rest as you could end up creating a phobia in your child.

Make water fun

One of the hampers to teaching your kid to swim can actually be your child. Some children are afraid of water, scared of the teacher, or simply don’t want to swim. If this is the case, it's important to make water fun. Start off slow, just allowing your child to dip their toes in the water when visiting a park, or have the water run over their head, before introducing their whole body to the pool. You can also make bath time a fun environment through the introduction of toys and bubbles. Perhaps you can even let your children were their goggles and armbands in the bath or the shower? Getting a child more familiar with water will help make the learning to swim process easier and more manageable.

Children should always be encouraged to splash in the pool as this also helps them get used to the resistance of water, however, this too needs to be done in a controlled manner so that you do not confuse distress with having fun. It’s also a good idea not to waste too much water, as this can lead to bad habits.

Watch them at all times

Children are very curious and can end up putting themselves in potentially dangerous situations unknowingly. Kids should always be watched around water, even shallow rivers and streams could lead to drowning. Rather keep them inside when you want to find out more about having fun without any risks.  At home, pool covers are a good investment, as are fences that keep your kids away from the pool in the first place.

The Common Signs Of Childhood Bullying

How To Know If Your Child Is Being Bullied

Most childhood bullying occurs in a school environment, removed from the safety of the home. As a result, it can be difficult to determine when your child is being bullied, the extend of the bullying and when you as a parent need to step in. Here are some tell-tale signs that could indicate your child is being bullied:

A Reluctance To Go To School

While most children won’t want to go to school on occasion, a consistent reluctance to go to school could be a sign your child is being bullied. Children that simply refuse to get up in the morning, give recurring excuses for staying at home or request early pick-ups often, could be the victims of bullying. This is particularly evident on a Monday morning.

In this case, your child is not simply tired from a week of work but has enjoyed a safe environment over the weekend, and Monday brings with it a sense of dread. Force your child to go to school, especially as a teenager, and they may cut class or skip it altogether. If this is the case its important to check in regularly with the teacher to monitor attendance.

A sudden change of friends

While swapping and changing friends in school is common, if your child suddenly drops their entire friendship group or has a reluctance to see a certain person, this could indicate bullying. This is particularly common amongst teenage girls. Connecting with other parents and having an open stream of communication will allow you to pick up on whether these changes are just part of a natural cycle or if something is amiss.

A Lack Of Interaction

Children that are being bullied, can tend to withdraw into themselves. They may not be their talkative selves or will spend extended periods in their room. Any interaction can annoy these children, causing them to become quick to anger, especially with other siblings.

Children who are being bullied could also start to become preoccupied with devices, choosing to withdraw into a virtual world. This can be particularly dangerous as it may be online where most of the bullying occurs and becoming obsessed with their devices will perpetuate the problem. Simply taking these devices away is often not the answer to cyberbullying as this can lead to your child feeling even more alone and isolated. The internet is a great space and you can sign up here for fun, but it may not always be a good place for children. Keep tabs on what they browse and who they talk to.

Torn Or Lost Clothes

While bruises and broken bones are some of the most obvious signs of bullying, some of the physical signs may not be as obvious. With young boys, it's not uncommon for them to come home with mud on their face, with a lost shoe, a scrape on the knee, or a torn shirt, but if this becomes more and more frequent it could be a sign that they are being physically bullied.

Always be wary if your child simply cannot explain these incidents as this could mean they are being bullied on the playground at recess.

Understanding The Basics Of Day Care Safety

Signs A Day Care Is A Safe Environment For Your Child

There are so many factors to consider when looking into the ideal daycare for your child. You want somewhere close to home, that is affordable, and that your child will love, but you also need an environment that is as safe and secure as possible.

Here are some signs that your chosen day care will provide a safe environment for your precious bundle of joy:

Licensed And Certified

Always ensure that your daycare of choice is licensed and certified by the local authorities, that their certificates are up to date and prominently displayed. This means that the establishment is adhering to essential safety protocols. Also, check the accreditations of each of the teachers and facilitators that will be looking after your children, and if they have first aid training or security training. Be sure to check how long ago these qualifications were done to ensure that they know the latest ways of doing things and that their knowledge is being refreshed on a regular basis.

You can also check these licenses with the local authorities and see if there has ever been any relapse or black marks against them, like a case of reported abuse.

Formalized Procedures

Ask your daycare about their formal procedures for dealing with emergencies, including injuries and fire drills. Are these procedures clearly detailed in the facility and on hand for all staff to easily access?

Also, check with the teachers and educators that they are knowledgeable about what these procedures are. You can also check to see if your daycare has a specific health consultant or doctor on call should the need arise.

Childproofing

One of the most important things to look at is if the spaces have been adequately childproofed. Are windows out of the reach of little hands? Do the outlets have covers over them? Are any stairs blocked off by gates? Are any small objects that could present a choking hazard put out of reach? Are any pools or ponds covered and fenced off?

Are medical and cleaning supplies kept locked away? Can they access a computer unsupervised? Are adult activities like online pokies NZ not readily accessible? These are all things that you need to think of when childproofing your house, and the same principles need to apply at your chosen daycare.

The Number Of Teachers

To ensure a safe environment always, it's important that there aren’t too many children per caregiver. As a guideline, you should look at a daycare that has no more than four infants or toddlers under the age of 2 years old per caregiver. For children older than 2 but younger than 3, no more than 6 children per caregiver is recommended, and for children between 3 and 6, no more than 9 kids per teacher is the recommendation.

Your children will also be safest in an environment that has consistent caregivers. You don’t want a place with a high staff turnover or where the teachers operate on a casual basis as this means they are also trying to learn the environment while keeping an eye on your child.