Health and Safety Tips
Visit your pediatrician: During school years, your child should have a general check up each year. At these visits, you will
get the immunizations your child needs to start school,
have your child checked for exposure to lead and tuberculosis,
be able to talk to the doctor or nurse about any health, emotional, behavior or discipline concerns you may have, and
get a copy of the exam and shots to bring when you register for school and to give to the nurse at your child’s school.
What you can do at home
Teeth: By age 2-3, children should see a dentist, and should be brushing their teeth twice a day. (Young children usually need parents to help them brush well.)
Food: To help the brain and the body grow, try low-sugar snacks, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, milk and foods with calcium.
Habits: What children do in these early years (and what they see us as parents doing and eating), helps to shape their health habits for life. Two of the best things for children’s minds and bodies are to limit TV watching to no more than 1 or 2 hours per day, and do some sort of exercise regularly.
Make sure your child rides in the back seat and uses a car seat or booster seat.
Check all smoke detector batteries regularly. (A good rule is to change your batteries when you change your clocks in the fall and spring.)
Keep emergency numbers by the phone.
Keep all medicines, household cleaners and other poisonous materials out of children’s
reach.
Consider putting window guards on your windows above the first floor.
Make sure your child wears a helmet every time she/he rides a bike, rollerblades,
roller skates, or scooter.
Don’t let children cross the street alone.