Summer means one thing - vacation! Having fun while traveling is important, but planning ahead to ensure safe travels should be a top priority for all parents.
If your vacation includes a stay at a relative or friend's, make sure you talk to your host about the possibility of installing age-appropriate safety devices such as cabinet locks or outlet covers to prevent injuries to your kids. This is especially true when visiting people whose children have already grown or those without children, as safety devices may be out-of-date or nonexistent.
When traveling by car, always bring your child safety seat or booster seat for your child.
When traveling by airplane, Safe Kids strongly recommends using a child safety seat. Infants and toddlers are safest in an approved child safety seat with a harness, in case of turbulence. A child who rides in a child safety seat on the ground should ride in that child safety seat on a plane. While most child safety seats fit on standard airplane seats, make sure your child safety seat is labeled "certified for use in motor vehicles and aircraft."
Children who have outgrown child safety seats should sit directly on the airplane seat and, like all passengers, keep the lap belt buckled across their thighs or hips. Booster seats cannot be used on airplanes, because they require shoulder belts and airplane seats have only lap belts.
Planning ahead also involves packing appropriate gear for your children. If they will be biking, riding a scooter, inline skating, skateboarding, etc, make sure to pack a helmet that is appropriate for the activity and fits them properly.
If you have a baby and the trip involves staying overnight, bring your own folding playpen if possible, rather than relying on borrowed cribs. In several surveys from 2001-2006, Safe Kids found many hotel-issued cribs to be defective, damaged or even recalled from the market. If you must use a hotel's crib, inspect it carefully for broken or missing parts and look up the model on www.Recalls.gov to make sure it isn't subject to any safety notices.
