As a parent or any caregiver, this is one of our main concerns for our children. Children need to feel safe. Often we can get caught up with everything else going on around us, that we sometimes forget to keep up with the new safety standards with equipment and laws. I have included a few resources for you to check out to make it easier for you to stay informed.
I want to start with child car seat information and regulations, as per PA state guidelines. We all have places to go with our children. As difficult as this may sound, the leading cause of death in children under the age of 14 occur in vehicle collisions. If you’ve had children, you know how tricky those car seats really are to install properly and get to the recommended level of being securely fastened. 
(I will admit, my husband and I didn’t exactly use kind words while trying to do this ourselves!) To make your life easier, and your child’s life safer (as you cannot always rely on careless, aggressive, or distracted drivers that may be out on the road the same time you are), why not have a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician do the hard work for you? Safe Kids Worldwide provides this FREE program where they not only install the car seat for you, but also give you additional information on passenger safety and answer any questions you may have. This program is available at select locations, and you can find a car seat check location through Just Drive PA’s website to make an appointment for this. Save yourself the time and trouble, and let the pros do the job!
I’ve also included material from Global Life Insurance, which discusses various safety issues from bus safety, helmet usage, household hazards, guns, safe eating, safe sleeping, and amusement park and playground safety. I liked this info for it includes all aspects of safety nicely organized (not trying to turn this into an insurance commercial or anything!). Although all of these safety topics are equally important, I personally want to focus in on household safety and ‘stranger danger’ right now.
There is information out there from places such as One Step Ahead, which not only provides
all kinds of information on guidelines from “child proofing” your house, it also has items available for purchase for your baby and child. Babies R Us provides a similar wealth of information about keeping your little one safe. Most hospitals these days give a ton of resources when discharging after childbirth, please take the time to review them! Don’t be afraid to seek help from your pediatrician about ANYTHING at any time- it’s better to be safe, than sorry, right? Other resources, such as WebMD can be helpful, especially for new parents, regarding guidelines and “checklists” on baby and child equipment.
Another safety matter that I find anywhere (and with my own child), is being concerned about strangers. We have to watch our kids like a hawk these days, especially in crowded places, and young children are naturally so innocent and trusting of others. Sometimes when we’re out in public, whether it be the playground, family fun centers, or even the grocery store, we can get easily distracted by other factors (i.e, attending to the other sibling, cell phones, unexpectedly seeing someone we know, etc.) and may have to take our eyes off of our children. The next thing we know, our child either got hurt somehow or they quickly ran off somewhere. Gently teaching your child early as possible at home about how to react in certain situations in public is extremely important! 
Kristi Porter’s book, Stranger Danger – How to Talk to Kids About Strangers is highly rated, and can assist you, as the adult, on this topic without scaring your little one. There are also a variety of children’s books about being safe in public places available too. Spending just a few moments each day talking to your child about any safety topic can be very beneficial for you and your child!
