In This Edtion

As we head into the long winter months, many of us will be heading to the mountains to do some skiing and snowboarding. This month’s issue of Kidsafe Newz provides some tips and strategies for making sure your family’s winter fun is also safe.

• Safety Tips:
• School Safety: Should your child take lessons?
• Community Safety: Tips for encouraging ski helmet use
• Statistics:The case for helmets
• One Opinion: Open to Discussion

School Safety: Should Your Child Take Lessons?

Most of us would agree that children pick up new skills faster than adults. For that reason, many parents, particularly those who know how to ski, may be tempted to teach their own children how to navigate the slopes.

While it may be personally rewarding, not to mention fun to teach your child how to ski, in reality, it’s probably better if you left the lessons to a qualified instructor.

Learning how to ski isn’t much different from learning how to participate in any other sport; a strong foundation in the basics is needed before you can send your child on their way down the mountain. Unfortunately, most parents don’t have the skills needed to teach these basic skills in the correct sequence and as a result, often find themselves frustrated with their child’s lack of progress.

Before enrolling your child for lessons, however, you should ask a few questions. First, ask about the schools instructor-to-student ratio. With smaller kids (under the age of 5), a smaller ratio of, say, 1:4, is best. This will allow the instructor to be as attentive as possible to each of the children. Older children who have the experience of being in a group setting through school will do fine in slightly larger groups, ideally, no more than 8 students per instructor.

You should also ask about the resort’s child-pick-up policy. What steps does the instructor take to ensure your child will remain with the instructor until the end of the lesson and that your child is released to right adult?

Next, ask about the instructor’s class management strategies. How do they ensure the class remains together during the duration of the lesson and how do they handle instances in which a child becomes separated from the group? Many ski schools have bibs for the students to wear which identifies them as ski school participants and the resort’s lift operators are instructed to now allow a child wearing a bib to board the ski lift unattended.

And remember, just because your child is in ski school doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to enjoy some time on the slopes with them. Plan some time to hit the slopes together after the lesson has finished. Your child will probably be anxious to show you what they have learned.

Community Safety: Tips for Encouraging Ski Helmet Use

It used to be that parents outfitting their kids for a season of skiing or snowboarding made sure they had three essential pieces of equipment: skis
(or snowboard), poles and boots. Recently, however, a fourth piece of equipment – the helmet – has surfaced which, while not essential to participating
in the sport can go a long way toward reducing the likelihood of serious injury.

Yet, despite the tremendous benefits of wearing a ski helmet, many kids will resist their parents’ urges to do so. Their reasons are as varied as their
personalities: the helmet doesn’t fit right, doesn’t feel right, doesn’t look cool, none of their friends wear one, the list goes on and on.

So, how does a parent settle this debate? Here are a few ways that may help parents convince their kids to strap on a helmet before hitting the slopes:

Start young. If this is the first winter your child is hitting the slopes, present the helmet as a requirement and not an option. By establishing
this habit from the beginning, your child will be more likely to maintain it in their teenaged years.

Let older kids personalize their helmet with stickers. If they are able to add their own touch to the helmet, they just might be more inclined to
wear it.

If you ski or snowboard, purchase a helmet for yourself. Setting an example to your child may make it easier for them to accept your decision that
they wear one as well.

It’s also important to remember that a helmet needs to fit properly in order to do its job. Therefore, it’s best to buy your child their own helmet rather
then relying on rental shops. While employees of ski rental shops should be trained in making sure everyone receives a proper fit, their inventories are
typically limited, particularly on weekends and holiday periods, making it quite possible that your child will end up with an ill-fitting helmet or no
helmet at all.

One final word, make sure your child knows that wearing a helmet does not make them invincible to injuries. The best advice comes from Jasper Shealy, PhD,
who has been studying ski and snowboard injuries for the last 30 years: “If you wear a helmet, ski or snowboard as if you’re not wearing one.”

Statistics: The Case for Helmets

The following statistics are from the National Ski Area Association (www.nsaa.org):

On average, 39 people have died in each of the last ten years from injuries sustained in skiing/snowboarding accidents.

The overall rate of reported alpine ski injuries has been fairly consistent over the last ten years with 2.6 reported injuries per 1,000 skier
visits.

These statistics come from a 1999 report released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (www.cpsc.gov):

For the year studied (1997) there were approximately 19,000 reported head injuries that were sustained while skiing or snowboarding.

Head injuries comprise approximately 14 percent of all skiing and snowboarding injuries.

Among children under the age of 15, head injuries account for 22 percent of all skiing and snowboarding injuries (4,950 for the year studied) in this age group.

In an effort to support the theory that helmets contribute to safety on the slopes, the CPSC make a thorough investigation of the reported injuries and
reached the following conclusions:

44% of the reported injuries could have been either prevented or reduced in severity had the skier been wearing a helmet.

Nearly 53% of the reported injuries by children under the age of 15 could have been either prevented or reduced in severity by the use of a helmet.

One Opinion - Open to Discussion: Staying Connected

I learned a very valuable lesson last winter.

We were on the last day of a week long ski strip to northern Vermont. The conditions were ideal; while it was a little on the cold side, the daily storms brought plenty of new snow and because it was Friday, the slopes were relatively empty.

We had the car all packed up for the 8 hour journey home, but before we hit the road, my 6 year-old daughter and I planned to take a few last runs. She had spent a good part of the week taking ski lessons and wanted to show me everything she learned.

As we headed out of our rented condo, we made plans to meet my husband and son shortly before noon. My husband asked if I wanted to take one of the two way radios with me. I declined because to be honest, I find those radios distracting; so many people use them, it’s sometimes hard to distinguish one voice from another. When I do carry one, I usually need to stop several times because I can never be sure if the voice I am hearing is someone looking for me. Since we were only going to be gone for about 90 minutes, I decided it wasn’t worth the effort.

Jennifer and I took the chair lift that gives skiers a choice between getting off mid-way up the mountain and staying on until the top. Typically, Jennifer and I get off at mid-station, but this time, she wanted to go all the way to the top. “I did it yesterday at my lesson,” she said. “I know the easy way to get down.” So, up to the top we went.

It’s been almost a year, yet I still don’t know exactly what happened. What I do remember is that about halfway down the mountain, Jennifer fell awkwardly. She wasn’t hurt, but she landed in a position that made it difficult for her to get up by herself. I skied over to help her up and in my haste to lift her, managed to get her skis entangled with mine. The next thing I know, we’re traveling down the mountain, twisted together like a pretzel.

I had a feeling something really bad was going to happen if we didn’t quickly disengage, so I tried to pass Jennifer under my legs. Bad idea. While I was successful in freeing her skis from mine, I found that my legs aren’t supposed to bend in the way I had asked them to. I now have a torn ACL to prove it! We waited nearly 45 minutes for help to arrive. That’s 45 minutes in single digit temperatures, on a lightly traveled ski trail, with a 6 year-old girl who was getting more frightened with every minute that went by.

Ski season is upon us again and while last year’s experience hasn’t softened my enthusiasm for hitting the slopes, I’ll be doing so with two new items this year: a knee brace and a two way radio!

This newsletter was created for Fingerprint America. All rights reserved. Reprint with permission only.