Health & Safety Hazards for Preschoolers

Originally published 08 March 2009.

Preschool-age children are so exciting to watch exploring their environment. As toddlers they finally gained some mastery of basic physical abilities and can now move on with confidence to learn new things. Unfortunately, new skills and a sense of invulnerability and confidence create a number of safety hazards! Here are five situations that preschoolers can find themselves in, and ways in which their care-giving adults can minimize the risks so their children can develop healthily in every area.

• Preschoolers have learned that they can run and jump and be active. They have not yet learned to discern limits, and so may decide to jump off of something too high or run into areas that may be unprotected, such as parking lots. Set ground rules against dangerous areas as well as consequences for breaking them. Talk to the children about what is real and pretend, and that what they see done on television or comic books does not mean that it's okay for them. If you are able to influence the design of play areas, be sure that they are placed well away from dangerous areas and are developmentally appropriate - meaning, play equipment that is proper for a child of their age and abilities. Safety documents such as SAFE outline ways in which you can make an environment a safer place through supervision, appropriate play areas, looking out for falls, and properly dealing with equipment. Parents and teachers should be consistent in working together to support the rules of the home and classroom, and need to support each other in carrying out consequences for rules broken.
• Preschoolers have not yet fully developed the area of their brain that helps them control their emotions. This means that if they are angry or upset they may lash out physically against others. Teach and model some anger management tools like taking deep breaths or counting to ten. When you see a preschooler getting angry, help them walk through the steps to resolve the problem in a healthy way. Help them name their feelings so that they are able to recognize them in the future. Curriculum is available for classrooms and families to help children develop healthy social and emotional lives. Many school policies require fully rounded attention to this area in the classroom as well. Parents and teachers should be in respectful communication regarding the emotions of a preschooler, as emotions can be aggravated by stress at home and school, and other factors such as blood sugar level that may need a physician's input. Like the teamwork needed in supporting class and home rules and consequences, parents and teachers should work together to consistently reflect healthy emotion management.
  
• Preschoolers are at the age where they are beginning to learn how to do things that are a little more dangerous and require supervision, such as cutting with scissors or helping in the kitchen. Making an environment as safe as possible for those kind of situations allow the best way for the child to learn without getting hurt. Provide age-appropriate safety scissors for use only at specific times, and set ground rules such as 'only cut paper from this drawer unless asking first'. In areas like the kitchen, provide a work space away from the stove for the preschooler to sit and help. Have unbreakable bowls and utensils for them to use and give the child tasks that fit what they are able to accomplish. Always pay attention to what your child is doing when they are using potentially dangerous tools. Because children in the preschool range may be at a wide range of skill levels, it could be helpful for teachers (or parents) to send a quick note when a preschooler has successfully explored and used a new tool for the first time. Teachers can also invite parents to come work with their children during projects in which new tools are introduced, and work together to communicate and enforce safety rules for those new skills.
• Preschoolers are just beginning the process of understanding sequence. This means that many times they can not remember the entire sequence of "first do this, then do that; finally, do that other thing." Their brains are still developing the neuron processes to understand that sometimes certain things must happen before (or after) other things in order to create the desired effect. Many of our health and safety routines, such as a school's fire drill policy or how to brush teeth, depend upon sequential actions, making practice and direct teaching essential for this age level. Make directions simple and focus on rules that open the way to other rules. (In the case of fire drills, for example, the rule of 'no talking' allows the teacher or fire fighter opportunity to provide other rules as needed.) Teach preschoolers how to think in sequence with fun activities such as making a sandwich (bread first, peanut butter on the bread, jam on the bread, top bread last), and remember that it will take time and repetition to help their brains develop into independent thinking. Parents and teachers can work together with preschoolers during drop-off and pick-up times by going through sequential routines. Parents can help children understand sequence in a school setting by talking with their child about their day using words such as "before" and "after", "first" and "next". Teachers can help children understand sequence in a home setting by talking with students about their afternoons and evenings at home and the process of getting prepared for the school day.
• Along with not understanding sequence, preschoolers are just beginning to understand cause-and-effect. They may not understand the danger of leaving toys in the middle of the pathway until they have run and tripped over them. Adults should keep an eye out on the environment and teach the children how to be neat and to identify problem areas. Preschoolers may also be unaware of basic health concerns like spreading germs, another cause-and-effect scenario. Teach preschoolers about good health practices and hand washing, finding ways to make it fun. Most school policies give teachers guidelines on how to implement this in the classroom and school setting. Parents can teach children to cover their mouths when sneezing and coughing, sing with the child as they wash hands for dinner, and model good health behaviors. Through communication with one another, acknowledgment of the rules both at home and school, and through role modeling both home and classroom standards of cleanliness, parents and teachers work together to keep the environment safe.