Summer Safety Guidefridayschildmontessori.com

Summer officially begins on the 1st of December but most of us have probably been feeling the

heat a bit already, especially here on the Gold Coast.

But the start of December really does start a new season off – the big focus on The Season To Be Jolly seems to emphasis this.

School and preschool holidays are just around the corner, along with

Christmas and New Year celebrations (and yes, contrary to what your children might secretly

believe, the teachers here at Friday’s Child Montessori don’t spend the time when preschool

isn’t open in the cupboards waiting for the next session!).

We hope everyone has a great summer and we hope so see all

our friends back again next year, if they’re not heading off to the next

stage at primary school.

To help make sure that everyone has a great summer, we’ve

compiled a list of safety tips to make sure everyone makes it

through the hot holiday season in one piece.

Hazard: Sunburn

Symptoms: Hot reddish-pink skins, especially on skins that were paler to start with (people with darker skins can take on a redder tone but don’t burn quite as readily as those with Scottish and Irish ancestors). The skin feels hot and tender and probably a bit painful and swollen.

Prevention: Slip, slop, slap, wrap. In other words, cover up with long, light loose clothing; use sunscreen with a high SPF (30+ is recommended); wear a hat that protects the back of the neck as well as the face and use polarised sunglasses.

Treatment: Cool the skin with cold water – a cold bath or shower often goes a long way to help.

Aloe vera is a magnificent herbal remedy for soothing burns of all sorts as well as sunburn, so either use a cream based on aloe vera or, if you have an aloe vera plant, snap off a leaf and scrape up the clear gel to apply to the burnt site.

You can also try the remedy from the Southern USA, where you

make up a very strong brew of black tea and add it to a cool or

cold bath, teabags and all.

The tannins in the tea seem to do something helpful. If your child (or you) experiences blistering, chills or fever after a bad sunburn, see

the doctor immediately.

Hazard: Heat stroke (aka sunstroke)

Symptoms: Hot, flushed and dry skin, headaches, blurry vision, higher than normal body temperature, sometimes seizures and unconsciousness.

Prevention: Avoid long periods in areas with high temperatures – this can be indoors if the windows are shut and the air-conditioning doesn’t work or isn’t provided.

Treatment: Call an ambulance even if you only suspect heat stroke, as it can kill. The human body has more defences for dealing with extreme cold than it does extreme heat.

Put the sufferer in the shade and keep them as cool as possible with

ice packs and (gently!) spraying them

with cold water.

Hazard: Prickly heat (aka heat rash)

Symptoms: It doesn’t happen to every child, but some children have a sort of rash where their sweat glands form little red bumps, usually in folds of the skin (e.g. armpits, inside of the elbow, back of the knee, in the butt crack). Your child feels really itchy.

Prevention: Make sure that your child wears cool, loose clothing and stays cool if he/she is prone to heat rash.

Be careful that your attempts at covering up your child with long sleeves and long pants doesn’t produce this problem – look to the traditional garb of the Middle East and similar for guidelines. Think cotton, loose and flowing.

Treatment: Change into light clothing. Apply a cold compress and maybe some calamine lotion.

Severe cases may need topical steroid cream and/or medical attention. The rash should go away in a few days. If it doesn’t, see your doctor.

Hazard: Sea swimming rash

Symptoms: Tingling and itching on the bits of skin underneath a swimming cossie after swimming in the sea. It can show up a couple of hours after swimming in the sea and can last for weeks.

Prevention: This is difficult, as the itch is caused by the stings of the juvenile forms of certain sea anemones and tiny jellyfish.

The only way to be certain to avoid it is to stay out of the sea – and who wants to do that when you live on the Gold Coast?

Treatment: Get the cossie off and take a shower. Wash the cossie very thoroughly after soaking it in vinegar or alcohol. Soothe the pain with icepacks and/or calamine lotion.

If the reaction is severe, with symptoms like headaches, chills, fever, pain/burning on urination, itchy eyes or vomiting, see the

doctor.

Hazard: Jellyfish stings

Symptoms: Pain and stinging in mild cases; nausea, vomiting, chills, drowsiness and breathing difficulties.

Prevention: Never touch a jellyfish or even part of a jellyfish. Avoid swimming in the sea if jellyfish are common or have been sighted. Learn to identify box jellyfish so you can avoid them.

Treatment: If you even suspect a box jellyfish, wash the area thoroughly in vinegar to neutralise the toxins. Keep the vinegar on the skin for half an hour before trying to scrape the stingers off with a blunt edge (side of a credit card, blunt knife from the picnic set, the edge of a ruler, a stout piece of cardboard such as the cover of a new paperback).

Reapply vinegar. Call an ambulance if the reaction is severe and/or you suspect box jellyfish. Also call the ambulance if the sting is extensive. One common folk first-aid treatment for jellyfish stings is to urinate on it, but this has been “mythbusted”.

Warm water and/or vinegar is just as good, especially the vinegar, and there’s nothing in pee that helps east the sting. Use icepacks to soothe the pain and take paracetamol.

Hazard: Bee and wasp stings

Symptoms: You can see a bee sting in the site; wasps don’t leave their stings behind and can be hanging around trying to sting. In both cases, pain and swelling are clear symptoms.

Prevention: Wear shoes when outdoors, especially around areas with lots of flowers (clover attracts bees, so discourage these pretty flowers from growing in your lawn). Stay away from bee hives and wasp nests.

Treatment: Scrape out the bee sting without squeezing it, which injects more venom. Use the side of a credit card, the edge of a piece of paper, a blunt knife, etc.

Swat the wasp if it’s still hanging about. Apply a paste of Baking soda for Bees (B and B) and apply Vinegar for “Vasps”.

Soothe pain with an ice pack. If the person stung has an allergy, call an ambulance. Also call an ambulance for extensive stinging (if someone’s jumped onto a wasp nest, for example) or if your child is stung on the face, throat or private parts.

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Fridays Child Montessori

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