Wyatt Underwood on "The Safe Child Campaign"

Happy Halloween! Safety Tips for Trick-or-Treaters and Parents Halloween is an all-time favorite holiday of kids, young and old. The following are tried and true suggestions for making sure this fun-filled night stays happy and safe. Naturally, supervision is the primary way to make sure things stay safe and enjoyable. A responsible adult or teenager should always accompany groups of young, eager trick-or-treaters. Just like on playgrounds, adult supervision is key. While much of this Halloween safety advice falls handily into the “common sense” category, the following set of safety tips courtesy of the American Association of Pediatrics will at least confirm for mindful parents effective ways to ensure a safe and memorable holiday for all: ALL DRESSED UP Plan costumes that are bright and reflective. Make sure that shoes fit well and that costumes are short enough to prevent tripping, entanglement or contact with flame. Consider adding reflective tape or striping to costumes

Don't Waste Your Money on Trowelled-Down Bonded Loose-Fill Rubber So it seems newly created “bonded loose-fill” -- loose-fill rubber mulch adhered by polyurethane -- is gaining ground when it comes to surfacing playgrounds. While it’s ostensibly an inexpensive alternative to the standard poured-in-place, tile or mat systems, it doesn’t carry the same durability of these other, more time-tested surfaces. For playgrounds, bonded loose-fill may be an interesting, relatively inexpensive alternative to traditional loose-fill materials such as wood chips, sand or gravel. But there’s no way it can withstand regular, heavy foot traffic over time. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission broadly holds that surfaces around playground equipment should have at least 12 inches of “wood chips, mulch, sand, or pea gravel, or are mats made of safety-tested rubber or rubber-like materials.” This is to account for the amount of impact absorption necessary to reduce the risk of serious injury res

Indoor Playgrounds - Are They Safe? Well, it's that time of year again with school starting, summer is over, the weather is changing, and many of your children's activities are beginning to move indoors again. It's time for concerned parents to decide where your kids are going to be able to play safely. As it does every year, the number of children playing at the local indoor playground increases dramatically. With this increase in activity, comes an increase in our awareness of the safety of these indoor playgrounds; are they really the safest place for our children to be playing? There is no traffic to worry about, score one for the indoor playground. But are there other areas of concern that we may be overlooking? Here are a few areas of indoor playground safety you want to look at before you allow your child to participate. Indoor Playgrounds - Breeding Grounds for Bacteria? One huge issue of indoor mall playground safety is the enclosed environment itself. Within any e