Kids will be kids, and accidents happen, but certain activities carry more risk than others. Injury is still the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and unfortunately, many of these are preventable.
We spoke to pediatricians who are also parents about things they’d never let their children do because of the heightened risk of injury or death, and how to make sure your child is as safe as possible.
Ride in the front before they turn 13
Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of unintentional injury and death in the U.S., per the CDC. Children should always be in the backseat with the proper restraints, the experts note.
“This means using the appropriate size and type of restraints — whether that’s a car seat, booster seat, seatbelt — for their age, height and weight,” Dr. Brent Kaziny, medical director of emergency management at Texas Children’s Hospital, tells TODAY.com.
While it may be obvious to buckle up younger children, parents also need to be vigilant about school-aged children and preteens, the experts say.
Even if a child seems large enough to ride in the passenger seat, stick to this hard and fast rule. “My kids will not ride in the front seat before the age of 13, which is the recommended age that kids can move to the front,” Dr. Katie Lockwood, a primary care pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, tells TODAY.com.
Read more: Today
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