This past week was National Childhood Injury Prevention Week but it is something that should be on the top of all of our minds aside from the first week of September. 

It is not always easy to keep your kids safe from injury. The major reasons of childhood injury, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, are motor vehicle crashes, suffocation, drowning, poisoning, burns and falls. 

Though child injury rates have dropped 29 percent in the last decade, injury is still the leading the cause of death for children and teens, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the American Society for the Positive Care of Children, injuries are the leading cause of death of children and teens in the U.S. Other statistics reveal that 56,000 children are injured every day in the nation. Falls are found to the most common cause of non-fatal injuries for children up to 19 years old, according to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Those falls also lead to 8,000 visits to emergency rooms every day. 

There are ways you can keep children safe. For instance, the ASPCC recommends you make sure children wear safety helmets when they are riding bicycles. Also, check to make sure the helmet fits them and isn’t worn out. Also, get your kids signed up for swimming lessons. It is never too early in a child’s life nor too late for them to learn water safety. Keep medicine out of children’s reach and also place locks on medicine cabinets to keep them from getting to bottles, even the ones with child proof caps. Make sure children are secured in car seats when they are smaller and if they’ve grown past that stage, make sure they buckle up.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state child injury is predictable and preventable but it is also one of the most under-recognized public health problems facing the nation today.

Help keep the trend of children’s deaths from injury decreasing by following the steps to keep them safe. For more tips and help, check out americanspcc.org, cdc.gov/safechild or https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/pediatric.