Our Safe Kids Virginia team offers the following quick tips to keep kids of all ages safe at home, on the road and anywhere they may go.

5 bike safety tips

Make sure your child wears a properly fitted helmet when biking, skating or riding a scooter.
Check that their bike is the appropriate size and in good working order.
Teach your kids the rules of the road, including using proper hand signals and understanding traffic signs.
Have your kids dress in bright colors and use lights/reflectors to help them be seen while biking.
Tell them to ride on the sidewalk if they can. If that’s not an option, they should ride in the same direction as traffic and as far to the right as possible.

Select the right car seat for your child’s weight, height and age.
Keep kids in rear-facing car seats as long as possible, until they’ve outgrown the seat by height or weight.
Teach kids to buckle up every time they’re in a vehicle and set a good example by using your safety belt too.
Install your children’s car seats according to the manufacturer’s directions.
A properly installed car seat should not move more than one inch when tugged.

Install smoke detectors on each level of your home and in all sleeping areas. Test the alarms monthly and replace the batteries routinely.
Create a fire escape plan with two ways out of every room. Discuss as a family.
Install carbon monoxide alarms and test them monthly. If you suspect carbon monoxide in your home, leave immediately.
Install window guards and safety gates on stairs to prevent falls.
Save the Virginia Poison Center number – 1-800-222-1222 – on your cell phone and post it in your home so you can call quickly if needed.

Place babies on their backs to sleep until they are a year old.
Make sure baby’s sleep space includes a firm mattress and fitted sheet.
Remove everything else from the sleep environment, including pillows, blankets, stuffed animals and crib bumpers.
Dress your baby in appropriate sleep clothing for the temperature in the room so they don’t require blankets which could block their airway or make them too hot while sleeping.
Keep your baby in your room, but not in your bed, to sleep for the first year of life.

Make sure an adult is watching children at all times and stay within arm’s reach of young children when they’re in water.
Enroll your children in survival swim lessons and learn CPR.
Install fences at least four feet high around all four sides of home pools, so children aren’t able to access them from inside the home.
Teach children that open water has currents, undertow and uneven surfaces that make swimming more difficult than in pools.
Require children to wear life jackets.