PRESCHOOL CHILD (3 YEARS AND OLDER)

1. Your child should practice bicycle, skating and skateboard safety. A bicycle helmet is a must when riding bicycles and doing other dangerous sports.
2. Again, trampolines are dangerous. We discourage their use. If one is used anyway, a perimeter net must be in place to insure safety.
3. Firearm safety mentioned previously is very important.
4. Children should not ride on motorized machinery with parents. These include lawn tractors, lawn mowers, all-terrain vehicles, farm vehicles, industrial equipment and other like machinery. Severe injury may result.
5. Listening to loud music, especially with earphones, can permanently damage your child’s hearing. You should monitor your child’s earphone volumes.
6. Promoting a healthy lifestyle for children involves a balanced approach to diet, exercise, and overall wellness. Start by encouraging the maintenance of a healthy body weight to prevent obesity, which is associated with numerous long-term health issues. This can be achieved by guiding your child to make smart food choices, such as avoiding sugary drinks and snacks, and moderating salt intake. Encourage them to consume a diet rich in unprocessed foods, including plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, to ensure they get the nutrients they need. Remember, children can only eat what you buy. Physical activity is equally important in fostering health. Encourage your child to participate in regular exercise, whether through sports teams or informal play. Unstructured playtime outdoors is not only beneficial for physical health but also for mental well-being and social development. Children who participate in athletics are rarely obese. By embedding these habits into daily routines, you’ll help your child build a strong foundation for lifelong health.
7. This is the age that a new risk appears in childhood: communication technology. This includes television, movies, the Internet, social media and cell phones. Some of the dangers of these communication modalities with young children involve physical danger in connecting child predators to your child’s physical location, legal dangers (such as sexting), social dangers (such as cyber-bullying and the disclosure of personal information) and moral danger such as the viewing of pornography. Please see the teenage accident prevention section that follows for a detailed description of these dangers. Early exposure of young children to media is most unwise.
8. We find that many parents are providing their elementary school aged children with cell phones and unfiltered Internet access at around 10 to 12 years of age or even earlier. We would encourage a cell phone purchase no earlier than entrance into the 7th grade or preferably much later. The possession of a cell phone results in relational independence that young children are not ready for. Children need interactions with others to be supervised by their parents for their own protection and instruction.
9. Unsupervised Internet access should not be allowed until much later than the 7th grade. Internet access should be tightly supervised at this age. A school aged child doesn’t have the maturity to resist the natural curiosity of social and sexual exploration that is fundamental to all of us in the human race. Secondly, they don’t know how to behave in the supercharged social situations that are played out on the Internet with pre-teens and teenagers. Elementary aged children are not mature enough to engage in Internet social media sites. Thus, Facebook, X (Twitter), TikTok and Instagram sites are not appropriate for this age.
10. Pornography: Damaging explicit pornography is only one click away from your young child. The viewing of pornography does great harm to your child’s innocence. Pornographic images are disturbing, and yet irresistible to young children as they are searching for sexual information and stimulation. The pornographic industry portrays sex in ways that exploit women and distort normal human sexual relationships which should be built on love, trust and legal commitments. The porn industry seeks to hook your 11 year old child on this content, insuring an ever-widening business income over time. Internet filtering services are a good idea for families, but unfortunately the pornography industry seeks to bypass the filtering process. It takes vigilance and the ability to say “no” to the use of the Internet, to protect your children from porn.
11. The Internet poses significant dangers for children when it comes to online predators. These predators often use deceptive techniques to identify their next victims, typically by frequenting spaces where young users interact. Children are especially vulnerable to their attacks due to their trusting nature and innocence. One common tactic employed by child predators is grooming—a manipulative process designed to gain the victim’s trust before committing abuse. Parents and guardians must remain vigilant and not assume individuals who appear “nice” online can be trusted. Online predators often disguise themselves as fellow young users to mislead children. To safeguard your child, it is crucial to keep them off the Internet, especially social media and chat sites which can help protect them. If an online activity is necessary for tasks such as school projects, it is advisable for parents to participate actively online, ensuring safe browsing and research practices.
12. Encourage your children to engage in off-line activities instead that foster healthy social development. Activities like play dates on playgrounds, team sports, and supervised social gatherings, such as birthday parties, help form strong friendships and support their growth in a safe and age-appropriate environment.