Parents are being reminded about simple steps to keep their little ones safe as part of Child Safety Week.
Durham County Council’s Public Health team is working with the One Point Service, The council’s road safety team, the Health Visiting Service and County Durham Fire and Rescue to organise activities across the county.
A range of activities will be taking place at Durham County Council’s children’s centres next week (June 1 to 7) with the theme of this year’s awareness campaign being ‘Tea Time Terrors.’ Sessions will highlight the typical types of accidents which occur at this time of day as families rush home from school and nursery, prepare for a bath and cook tea.
Child Safety Week is an annual campaign which is run by the Child Accident Prevention Trust whose statistics show accidents account for three child deaths every week in the UK with over 2,000 hospital admissions as a result and most accidents occurring at home.
Sessions taking place during the week aim to help families understand the risks in the home as well as the consequences of not preparing for little ones growing up and developing-  learning to walk and crawling being examples. Parents will also be shown simple tricks to highlight how quickly accidents can be prevented.
Nichola Pitt, children’s centre leader, said: “Small changes can make a big impact. The safety of our children is paramount and over the past year we have provided a number of training courses for parents about safety and first aid as well as play and learning activities which focused on sun, road and toy safety.”
Activities will take place in centres across the County next week led by staff, many of whom have been trained by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
For more information on what is happening in your local children’s centre log on to: http://www.surestartcountydurham.org/pages/activities.aspx