Beware the Worries 'Bout the Wrong Stuff

According to Christine Barnes, the author of the Paranoid Parents Guide, parents are most worried about their children falling victim to the following five perils:

1 - Kidnapping

2 - School Snipers

3 - Terrorists

4 - Dangerous Strangers

5 - Drugs

These are all nasty perils to be sure, and when we hear of someone falling victim to them, it's shocking, albeit relatively uncommon compared to the actual top five causes of accidental injury and death for young people:

1 - Car Crashes

2 - Homicide (normally committed by a person who knows the child, and not a stranger)

3 - Abuse of some kind

4 - Suicide

5 - Drowning

So, what's a worried parent to do? It's pretty boring, so you sure you want to know? Ok, you asked. It's seatbelts and helmets. Yup, that same old dull stuff that we've heard about for so many years.

Still the number one way to accidentally injure or kill a child (worldwide) is to transport them recklessly in a car. Another is to set them hurling down a street, sidewalk, ice covered pond, snow cover hill or vacant lot without a helmet for when they fall. Yes, falls are still the accidental injury that emergency rooms see most often for all age groups.

National stories of kidnappings and terror attacks can leave us gripped with fear, and a debilitating sense of helplessness about how to protect our families. They're tragic and sensational, but by no means the perils that our kids face on a normal daily basis. We're not helpless to protect them from their most common perils. We can use good sense and the easily accessible tools that we've been given:

Put 'em in the back seat, buckle 'em up, know what they're doing, know where they're going, put the Blackberry or cell phone down and really listen to what they're saying, make 'em wear their helmet (just like you do, RIGHT?), and help them to be observant. You have way more power than you think.

Be safe.