I distinctly remember being at a waterpark when I was about 10 years old and witnessing a man next to us start to go into diabetic shock. My mother, always prepared for diabetic situations because of my grandfather, handed him a Snickers Bar and two peppermint candies. He immediately took them and his children unwrapped them quickly and put them into his mouth.
My mother may have saved his life that day because she had the necessary “medication” he needed. However, I also remember that his wife and an ambulance came because he had been in the sun too long and …read more

I admit that I love cleaning my house to a shine and I love doing it with products that I know clean, including products that I know can be toxic. On the flip-side, I know there are plenty of products that are much better for my household than my Clorox Bleach. Here are six that are non-toxic and two that you will need to be careful with.
1. Baking soda: gritty for scrubbing and reacts with water, vinegar or lemon by fizzing. Speed up cleaning.
2. Borax: disinfects, bleaches, deodorizes. Toxic.
3. White Vinegar: disinfects and breaks up dirt. Choose white vinegar.
4. …read more

The daughters of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen are both safe after being in a car accident Friday, December 12.
Sam and Lola were in an SUV with the nanny, who was driving. Four cars were involved in the accident. Sources say they were both in their car seats and were protected.
 US Magazine

It’s important to have your kids memorize not only your home phone number but also your cell phone number in case you get into a tricky situation. If you are flying or driving you may need them to know how to communicate this information with the police or adults who are helping.
Unfortunately, for young kids or for special needs children like mine,  this just might not be possible.
When traveling, be sure to create a tag listing …read more

My favorite part of decorating for Christmas is the holiday lights. We have, in my opinion, a gorgeous tree and a beautiful outside with a bungalow front porch and entry.
However, with little ones, I also know that I have to be very careful with the electricity because of the fire hazards and the electrical shock risks that can happen if I am not careful.
Home Safety Council has plenty of safety tips for you and your family during this time of the year. They recommend taking the following precautions when putting up decorations:

Inspect holiday lights and extension cords before decorating.
Check …read more

Flu and cold season is about to start and it’s time to take stock of your family’s medicine cabinet, so when a need arises we don’t go rushing to the drugstore or mistakenly using old medications. Out with the old, in with the new!
1. Get rid of expired medicines. Check for missing original labels, and missing expiration dates. Discard them and everything older than six months. Check your first aid kit and see what gels (burn; antibiotic) need throwing away as well. As parent to allergic kids, I make sure the Epipen (epinephrine injector) for my children is not …read more

September is Baby Safety Awareness Month, and plenty of bloggers have posted about ways to keeping young children and babies safe around the house. Since it’s already half of the month, boy do I have some catching up to do! My 8-month old is beginning to crawl so I really need to get some baby-proofing done.
Family Resource has a 30-day checklist to making sure the house is safe. Definitely high on the checklist are fire safety, safe cribs/playpens and strollers. One of my to-do is enrolling in a CPR/First Aid class, which I know is a life-saver.
But my …read more

When my son broke out in hives on Thursday, I thought he was allergic to soy which I had given him earlier that day. But then he registered a 100.8 deg F temperature.
The pediatrician said the rashes and fever might be caused by a virus, so we’re sort of quarantined for the next few days. And then today, my sister asked me if my son has a simple viral fever, or a roseola.
A what? ROSEOLA is an extremely common but mild infection that affects children under 2. Symptoms include a rash that develops after fever has subsided. Well, …read more

Swimmer’s ear (also called otitis externa) is an painful infection that happens when water gets trapped in the ear canal and it swells and becomes infected with bacteria or fungus. It frequently occurs in children and teenagers but both boys and girls are equally affected.
How do you know if your child has a swimmer’s ear? The most common symptom is severe pain, which becomes worse when the child tugs on the ear. Other symptoms include:

Swelling in your ear or lymph nodes in the neck.
Feeling of fullness or stuffiness in the ear.
Pus draining out of the ear.
Decreased or muffled …read more

When Alicia of Mental Health Notes showed me this video of a 6-year old saving a drowning friend, I realized how important it really is to teach our children water survival techniques. The American Red Cross wrote a comprehensive list of water safety tips for children, from pools, lakes and rivers, ocean, water parks, scuba diving and many other venues and activities. I’ll summarize some of them here.
Keeping Children Safe In, On, and Around the Water
Maintain constant supervision. Watch children around any water environment (pool, stream, lake, tub, toilet, bucket of water), no matter what skills your child …read more