Accidents are the number one health risk for children in Germany. The majority of accidents involving children under the age of 6 occur in the home – where parents and children actually feel safest. Reason enough for parents to inform themselves sufficiently about dangers and avoidance strategies. Every year in Germany, nearly 1.7 million children under the age of 15 are injured in an accident to the extent that they require medical attention. Around 200,000 children are admitted to hospital each year because of an accident, almost 40 percent of whom are children under the age of five. And: accidents are the most common cause of death among children – in Germany, more children die from accidents than from infectious diseases and cancer combined. This makes accidents among the highest health risks for children.
Causes of accidents
53% of accidents in the home environment involve children under 6 years of age. For infants and toddlers in particular, accidents at home pose the greatest risk: they fall off the changing table or down the stairs, scald themselves with hot liquids, or – most dramatically – drown in the bathtub or garden pond. Preschool children have accidents at home, in their leisure time, but also in kindergarten and on the road. Traffic accidents top the list of fatal accidents after the first year of life. Younger children are mainly affected as passengers in cars. After school age, they are in danger as pedestrians or cyclists.
Avoid accidents
Young parents are often not fully aware of the risks of accidents. Physical abilities of children are not properly assessed, sources of danger for the little ones are not recognized. Many parents are not aware that children in the first two years of life can drown in even the smallest puddles because they cannot lift their heads under their own power.
- Especially for infants and toddlers, parents and caregivers have a very special responsibility. Necessary, in addition to careful supervision, a safe and child-friendly home and the right “first aid” in case of an accident.
- Later, a conscious and age-appropriate safety education and exercise promotion are other important measures to prevent childhood accidents.
Increased awareness of accident sources can prevent many child accidents: It is estimated that at least 60 percent of all child accidents are preventable through simple safety measures!
Safety tips in infancy
- Do not drink hot drinks when breastfeeding yourself
- When changing diapers always keep one hand on the child
- Pay attention to a healthy sleep environment
- Consider dangers from pets
- In the car child strapped into seat shell in the back seat against the direction of travel to transport
Safety tips at crawling age
- Put away small ingestible objects
- Secure sockets
- Do not let cables or cords hang down
- Put away medicines, cigarettes, alcohol
- Lock away cleaning products
- Not in the bathtub without supervision
Safety tips at the age of learning to walk
- Secure stairs with stair guards
- Anchor shelves and cabinets
- Secure stove or use rear hotplates
- Clear away electrical appliances
- Install window latches
- Do not use baby walkers
Safety tips for the toddler age
- Secure bunk beds
- Remove poisonous plants
- Cover pond, stream, rain barrel
- Always wear a helmet on the bike
- Install smoke detectors
Encourage movement helps prevent accidents
A variety of movement experiences promote child safety. Therefore, parents should support motor development through movement games, gymnastics exercises, trips to nature or the playground. In this way, the child learns to maintain balance, refine coordination, train strength and endurance, and react appropriately to risks – in short, the risks of accidents decrease through movement training.
