Many children will be trick-or-treating tonight and tomorrow night.  Here are a few reminders of safety for us all.

1)  Stay in groups.  Never go trick-or-treating alone. 
2)  Teach children to never enter a home without prior permission from their parents.
3)  Teach your children to never approach a vehicle unless they have their parent or guardian.
4)  Carry a flashlight or glow stick and wear reflective clothing.
5)  Never go up to a home that is not well lit.
6)  If possible, go with your children.  If not, go in groups or see if your child can tag along with another parent.
7)  Consider attending fall …read more

I got an email that was floating around and didn’t pay much attention to it.  Then it hit my local news.  The story, turns out, is true.  This isn’t one of those crazy emails that no one knows if it is true.  This lady has been contacted by our police and our local news.  Also, her sister-in-law lives here and also vouches for the incident.  Please take care and go everywhere in pairs.  Take the time to read this and don’t pass it up.

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We talk all the time about safety issues with our kids. But have you ever thought about how safe you are in the car? We would never dream of putting our kids in the car without making sure they are safe. Let me ask you a quesiton. How often do you lean your seat back? There was a great article at Slate.com on the dangers of adults reclining their seat. Guess I will try to sleep upright for a while. Keeping yourself safe from injury is the thriftiest way to save money in …read more

I received an email from Toys-R-Us that wanted to reassure me about the toys at Toys-R-Us and the safety recalls that have occured. I thought you would like to read it as I thought it sounded very sincere.

September 12, 2007Dear Valued Guest,
As a father of five children, I understand the concerns parents have about product safety. And, as the CEO of the world’s largest toy and baby products retailer, I can assure you that nothing is more important to our company than the safety of children. It is at the heart of who we are as …read more

Last night I got home at 9:30 from my trip to see my parents.  I brought in our suitcases, but left the rest of the stuff in my van.  The thought came to me, Maybe I should start locking our van.  Someone could steal the carseats and they cost $150 each.  I hate living like a paranoid person.  I intended to lock the van, but got so busy doing other stuff that I forgot. 
This morning I was getting in the van to go to church and noticed my glove compartment open with stuff hanging out of it and the things from my …read more

 
I was traveling home late the other night and it was so hard to stay awake.  I know we’ve all been in this position before, so I thought I’d offer some tips.
 1.  Keep the car cool.  Avoid turning on the heat.  If it’s hot outside, turn on the air conditioning and turn the vents straight toward your face.
 2.  Turn on the radio.  Turn it up loud and sing to it.  Try to sing loudly and get into the music. 
 3.  Eat something.  When my husband used to travel home from his evening job, he would pop some popcorn before he left …read more

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I thought I would bring up an uncomfortable topic today that will save you money without even trying.  I was the unfortunate host of an unwanted visitor on Monday morning.  The intruder was startled off when they realized that someone was still in the house asleep.  Without going in to any more details, nothing was taken and no one was hurt, thank the Lord above!
But the moral of the story is to be diligent about locking your doors.  I am usually pretty anal about this due to the town that I grew up in but I had left the garage …read more

    
A few weeks ago I posted about the Top 10 Worst Toys.  A toy safety report released by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group reports that there are more toys that you should avoid.   
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, almost 73,000 children under the age of 5 were treated in emergency rooms for toy-related injuries in 2005.  Out of those, 20 children died!!!!  That’s 20 deaths that could have been prevented.
The “Trouble in Toyland” report warns parents of toys with choking hazards, powerful magnetic parts, lead, and strangulation hazards.  Prior to this list I did not realize that …read more