The title says it all. Safe Child Dangerous World is a unique compilation of information designed to aid parents, grandparents and other caregivers in keeping children out of harm's way. All sixteen chapters are devoted to teaching safety concepts to young children and their families. There isn't a day that passes where we're not confronted with screaming headlines about pointless, preventable injuries to and death of young children and, in some instances, whole families. As I am writing this, a glaring headline from the U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) dated September 19, 2013, states that "more than a third of children under age 13 who died in passenger vehicle crashes in 2011 were not in car seats or wearing seat belts". That's right! 2011 and more than one out of three caregiver/drivers failed to recognize the dangers inherent in failing to use seat restraints for children and themselves. Multiply these needless tragedies by countless others -- children being suffocated in their parent's cars, drowning in unsecured home swimming pools, being kidnapped in malls, playgrounds and other public places, being molested by people they trusted, being bullied by their peers --and you can begin to grasp the scope of this life-saving handbook. Safe Child Dangerous World will get your child through minor scrapes and major disasters. Part I - Avoiding Danger in Public Places - teaches your child how to be safe in malls, parks, playgrounds, crossing streets, riding bicycles, getting to and from school, etc. It provides vital information about water safety, automobile safety and handling summer outdoor threats. Part II - Dangers in the Home - teaches children what to do in hazardous situations--fire, carbon monoxide leaks, choking...and instructs kids on proper eating habits and safe behavior in the home. Part III - Personal Dangers - discusses Internet safety, how to prevent your child from being bullied and how to empower your child. The chapter on bullying takes a different approach than most discussions on the subject. It focuses less on the bully and places greater emphasis on making your child bullyproof. The chapter on Empowering Your Child reinforces the chapter on bullying and adds a new dimension. Each chapter has a section titled In The Reading Room, where children of different types of families tell stories to your kids about how to be safe and smart in a multitude of situations. In the section addressed to parents, grandparents and other caregivers, life-saving advice and recommendations support and enhance the information offered in the children's stories. This handbook is not meant to be read in one or two sittings. It should be treated like an instruction manual or reference guide, kept handy to be read and reread. The appendix contains questions for your kids to answer on each chapter. Accidents happen, but the number and severity can be dramatically reduced by giving your child, grandchild, niece or nephew the skills and knowledge to survive. As it says in the preface to Safe Child Dangerous World, "It's truly better to be safe than sorry."
About the Author: I was born in the Bronx in 1936 to loving parents: a stay-at-home mother and a father who made his living driving a taxi. When my father could no longer handle the cold New York winters, just as World War II ended, we relocated to Long Beach, California. We lived in a converted garage because all the apartments were occupied by returning servicemen. I graduated high school in 1953 and went to work for the Navy Department. In 1954 I came to New York for a vacation and never left. I met my husband Mike as we crossed paths on a staircase in my cousin's house in Brooklyn - love at first sight. We married in November of 1955. I was nineteen when we married, had three children by 29 and was widowed at age 31when my husband died of pneumonia. We had been active in local politics and after his death I continued in that endeavor. I ran for a seat on the New York City Council representing the Borough of Brooklyn and won. Four years later I lost a race for Borough President of Brooklyn. I was appointed by then Mayor Abraham Beame to an administrative position in a city housing agency and stayed on for thirteen years, running several major housing programs. Subsequently, I managed residential housing in the private sector, including a highly successful high rise housing complex, Waterside Plaza. In 2002 I retired to my home in Sag Harbor, Long Island. I attended Brooklyn College and completed the course work toward a Masters in Sociology. From 1997 through 2001, I taught classes at the Real Estate Institute of New York University as an Adjunct Assistant Professor. Much of the course material on housing management and safety issues was incorporated into Safe Child Dangerous World. After retiring I wrote a play, a novel and several short stories for kids. The inspiration for Safe Child Dangerous World came from living with my granddaughter since she was born in 2008. When she was about 3 1/2, I started teaching her safety rules: hold on to the banister, sit still when you eat, don't put non-food items in your mouth, etc. We progressed to outdoor safety, bullying and more. Our discussions--and my background in security and safety--led to the creation of what was going to be a skinny little book for kids. After much research, plus observance of the devastating incidents and accidents happening all around us, I wound up with 16 chapters of vital information on how to keep children safe in in today's frantic-paced, distracted and frequently hostile environment.