BURRILLVILLE – Bus Stop Kids school playground safety is very important this time of year. School has begun and with it, kids going outside to recess and daycare playground areas during nice weather days.
Hasbro Children’s Hospital and 4-Safety Organization requested that I create a series of playground safety coloring cartoons as part of my, “Seasons Of Safety,” coloring campaign for little kids with a distribution plan coordinated statewide. Nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut communities also received these playground safety coloring cartoons featured as coloring posters and coloring pages passed out to children and adults at safety events and fairs that also included the Warwick Mall during school vacations and spring breaks.
A problem occurring quite often with little kids is wearing clothing that has pull strings or ties on them. With summer coming to an end and cooler temperatures arriving in the near future, kids are going to be wearing light sweatshirts and most have hoods that come with pull strings threaded through a back-of-the-neck area hole in the fabric. These sweatshirts strings can become entangled on swings and become a chocking or bodily injury hazard. Some hooded heavy shirts and sweatshirts manufacturers are producing these clothing items with Velcro instead of pull strings for kids safety. If by chance, your kids are still wearing clothing with pull strings, an adult can choose to just cut and remove them to prevent unintentional injuries and chocking hazards while kids play and swing in grade school, daycare and public playgrounds.
A change of season is upon us and the weekly content featured here will reflect safety concerns related to children and the approaching new seasonal hazards over the coming months directly related to kids safety and their activities both inside and outdoors.
Jim Weicherding is a Burrillville resident, and the founder and creator of an award-winning traffic safety effort Seasons of Safety. Weicherding contributes kids’ coloring cartoons, which can be printed and used to help parents discuss safety issues with their children. He has a long list of police officers and firefighters in his family and has worked with law enforcement and firefighters in a creative public safety capacity for more than two decades. Jim was also appointed to Children Across America as their events and creative director for their child safety programs initiatives and outreach kids safety campaigns nationwide.
