Child Safety Week News Article – Part 1

What is Child Safety Week?

Child safety week is 1st-7th of June and its aim is to raise awareness of risks to children having accidents and preventing these from happening. The week is run by Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) and the theme of this year is to raise awareness of children being burned or scalds because most of these accidents are completely and easily avoidable.

Children are now more likely to be burned more than ever. This is because of the current pandemic of coronavirus; children are being advised to stay indoors and not go out to see friends, go to school and not even go to their favourite parks. Why does this mean that children are more likely to be burnt? This is because they are more than likely than ever to stay indoors and unfortunately that means more chance of being scalds by hot drinks such as coffee, tea and many other drinks that us adults drink to give us some Captain C (Caffeine).

What can I do to make a difference in my own home if I live with children?

A hot drink can seriously scald a baby or a young child permanently. Many parents take precautions when they have children such as safety gates and other essential safety precautions. But did you know that scalds of children with hot drinks is one of the top accidents to happen to children?  That’s why it is important that we take extra precautions when we lay down our hot beverages like coffee and tea. Common places where we lay down our hot drinks are places like low down coffee tables, high kitchen work surfaces and dining tables. You may think putting hot drinks on surfaces like these are safe but Dr Rachel Jenner, Consultant Paediatrician Emergency Medicine, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital; said this “Children can often reach further than their parents expect, so make sure ‘out of reach’ really is a safe place.”

In our next article you can read and explore the vast amount of ways that you can share the awareness of child safety week with social media. This will include website links, first aid advice, logos, fact sheets and a parent’s pack.

What is Mental Health Awareness Week?

This week between the 18th-24th of May marks mental health awareness week. The week’s purpose is to endorse the use of self-care for yourself, others around you and to promote more knowledge on mental health. This will help beat the taboo of socialising and create awareness of mental health that is impacting on millions of people. Mental health is important now more than ever with the effect of coronavirus; which makes it essential we know how to look after ourselves and people around us who are struggling.

What is Mental Health?

Mental health is about:

  • How you feel about yourself
  • How happy you are
  • How much you believe you can overcome challenges
  • How you interact or not with other people

People sometimes feel positive, unsure, negative but it is important to know that it is okay to feel that way. A lot of the time people are worried about how they feel in themselves and believe that that is not okay. It is important to understand that it is okay to feel sad, happy, angry etc because that is life; you have ups and downs inevitably in life, but it is how you deal with these emotions that is important.

Mental health may start to be a problem if a lot of thoughts are becoming more negative and making an effect on daily life.

Who is affected by Mental Health?

Everyone is affected by mental health children, teenagers, adults and the elderly. You can be affected by mental health at any time of your life which makes it important that we know how to successfully manage it when we and others around us are impacted. Nobody chooses to have physical health problems, like nobody chooses to have mental health problems. In this similarity there are lots of mental health issues just like you would have physical health problems. Different mental health problems such as schizophrenia, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, panic attacks; there are so many that you can be affected by in any shape or form in your lifetime.

What can I do to help myself? Because you are number 1!

  • Exercise- Walking, running, dancing, football, rugby there is an activity for you to release stress and anxiety that you face in your life.
  • Talk- Talking about your problems to someone is a game changer this could be to friends, family, colleagues and anyone else you feel you can trust. This does not have to be a full in-depth conversation but sometimes even a quick chat about how you feel can make a big difference.
  • Eating- There is a strong link between mental health and eating correctly. This does not mean just eating the greens but making sure you are eating quality meals to get yourself through the day.
  • Try something new- Doing the same thing over and over is called “playing it safe” and it can lead to complacently. You may feel you can’t do something new but when you do it feels great!

What can I do to help other people?

There are tons of information online that can help and maybe you can even recommend some of the information we have above. Here is a link to some information:

What if I am trying to help my child with their mental health problems?

Being young is not easy, there are so many new things that your child is being introduced to at such a young age. Your child can be affected by any of these things such as bullying, underage drinking, drug usage, social media influence, cyber bullying but the list is endless. Are you worried about your child? Follow this link for more information:  

How can I make a difference?

There are hundreds of different charities that you can interact with to change lives. Getting involved includes fundraising, campaigning, volunteering and being a member of a charity. They want to hear from you because the more support that they get the more knowledge of mental health will be spread. Check out here how you can get involved:

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