Child Psychology - Injury and Accidents - Research Paper Example

Parents should ensure that whenever their child stays unattended, the surrounding must be accident proof or the child must wear proper gear and safety devices for protection (Erica, para 7). Daycares should provide children with safe play areas. Common causes for injuries in children Children are naturally prone to accidents as they are immature to assess or understand the risk factors of certain actions (Van As, para 7). Children below six years have more accidents than children who are older.

Though a younger child gets hurt easily but the injury is usually not that serious but with older children, the injuries sometimes turn fatal. In children of every age group, the common accidents and related injuries differ. For a toddler, a common type of accident is that with the highchair (Highchair Accidents) whereas an older child could be mostly injured from a fall while playing, skating or climbing. Usually the injuries that are caused due to fall while playing or running are harmless and an attempt to prevent them would mean keeping children shackled.

But the injuries that are caused in road accidents, fights, physical abuse or assault and adult carelessness like shutting the door without noticing the child’s finger caught in between, could be serious but could also be prevented with a little discretion and care. Head injury in children Children should be allowed to have free play but it also means letting a child try out new things which might expose him to certain dangers of getting hurt. A child needs to play outdoor games that are most important for his physical and mental well being.

But children get injured more while playing outdoor games like riding bicycle, snowboarding (Erica) and playing football (Elango), to name a few. In such games children tend to outrun one another and eventually meet with accidents. It has been seen that in most of the cases where children got hurt while playing, they suffered head injury which ranged from slight to severe cases of damage. Generally, older children rarely get hurt on the head if they fall while playing. Children below 4 years cannot instinctively save their head by trying to stop their fall with hands and legs and hence land on their head.

However, unless the fall is severe, the hurt is never really a bad one. If children get hurt suddenly, like being hit with a ball without expecting it or crashing against another vehicle while cycling, it might hurt in vulnerable areas of the head and create a bad injury. When a child goes out to ride bicycle or play something like football the parent or the caregiver as well as the coach has to see that the child is wearing a helmet and the protective devices in the proper manner as mentioned by the sports authority for safety purposes (Elango, para 3).

Small children or toddlers are often put in their highchairs during feeding. It is dangerous to leave the child unattended even for a fraction of a second if the chair has not got proper safety features. In most of the cases when the child tried to stand on the chair, the chair tipped over. A child could suffer severe skull injury as a result of the fall. Parents should use highchairs with safety equipments like adjustable belts, locking mechanism and crotch strap to restrict the child’s movement in the chair (Highchair Accidents, para 4).

Recommendations One cannot stop children from getting hurt, but one can