Staying Vigilant | LMAC FreeStyle Collage No. 125

Safety and children. Safe Kids Worldwide reports that this issue is a parent's primary concern given that over a million of them worldwide lose a child due to preventable injury every year.¹

You may ask what is a "preventable accident" and why is this number so high? A preventable accident is any incident or situation that could have been avoided had the person involved taken alternate measures or precautions or acted differently.

The reason preventable accidents are so high is that children as so active at a young age indoors and outdoors that it only takes a second of not paying attention for a situation to arise. Parents aren't fully aware of the numerous ways that children can be placed at risk and how to keep them safe from tragedies such as drownings, car crashes, fires and falls.

I've heard numerous individuals over the years state that this topic is sensitive. And the reason is that some situations are unavoidable and can't be predicted.

When my children were toddlers, sections inside the home were inaccessible without supervision. This includes the kitchen and restrooms. The reason is that in the kitchen, lower cabinets contained cleaning supplies and heavy cooking utensils that could injure. Security gates were put in place. Cabinet locks were applied.

A sad topic on the devastation to children exists in the actions of adults themselves by way of neglect and abuse. This topic is heartbreaking and tragic, and I won't address it in-depth here due to the nature of these horrendous acts. These actions are indeed at the forefront of domestic problems facing families. I feel that not enough is being done to address these issues before, during, and after they occur.

However, preventable injuries to children such as drownings and other outdoor accidents that occur in which adults have failed to monitor children are continuing to occur.

I remember once our family took a trip to the beach. My four-year-old niece ended up being lost. I was tending to my own children, so I didn't notice what happened. Luckily, she was discovered by another adult beachgoer who was kind enough to escort her to safety and into the hands of a security guard. Imagine what would have happened if she wandered off into the water.

It was a scary episode that I never forgot. It reinforced my safety awareness.

Also according to Safe Children Worldwide, drowning is the leading cause of injury-related death among children ages 1-4. And it's the third leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children 19 and under.¹

Did you know that in the U.S, nearly 5.6 million children are treated for injuries in emergency departments every year? These are often serious injuries that can affect these children for a lifetime. ¹ Not only that, but many injuries can devastate families and drain their resources after injury in care that may turn long term.

What proven ways have you used to avoid preventable accidents in young children?

For my current collage theme, I chose a beach scene from the LMAC database, the #LIL, to illustrate the situation. A toddler was supposed to be playing on the playground equipment. However, he wanders off toward the water after seeing something that interests him. It's an all too familiar scene.

The playground equipment, a child, and adults busy with exercise round out the other images. Below are my procedures in which I utilized Canva, my design program, to blend the different type images.

Beginning with a blank, white canvas. I added layers of elements in accordance with my upgraded Annual Pro Membership. Included in that membership are tools to draw, animate, filter, colorize, remove backgrounds, detach sections of images from their backgrounds, resize, duplicate, and reposition items. At one point, I've made use of all these tools that user friendly to apply.

I set out below the images I uploaded into Canva and included in my collage, several of which were retrieved from the #LIL. Thanks so much #LIL contributors.

^{LMAC Round 229 Beach landscape - Seashell on beach ~ Boy climbing into portal ~ Array of flowers ~ Brown water landscape background ~ People engaging in yoga on beach - Contributed to the #LIL by @agmoore ~ Children's playground from "Hertzel Park" in Holon - Contributed to the #LIL by @alex2alex ~ PlaygroundEqup-Blue-TelAviv - Contributed to the #LIL by @alex2alex ~ PlaygroundEqup-Peach-TelAviv - Contributed to the #LIL by @alex2alex.}