That's Fit

So what are your plans for Labor Day? Frankly, the holiday sneaked up on me this year. What with back-to-school and work deadlines and other things I have on my mind, I completely forgot about it. My son and I will find something fun to do, though. We'll probably visit with family and maybe go to the BMX track (my son's favorite activity).

When making your Labor Day plans, keep health in mind. Some ideas:

• When grilling for your Labor Day BBQ, choose leaner cuts of meat and grill plenty of vegetables. You can also grill some fruits (peaches, plums, pineapple) for dessert. Remember to keep grilling safety in mind, too.
  
• Skip the chips and mayo-laden salads. Instead offer more healthful choices like veggie trays, yummy mixed green salads, and fruit salad.
• Plan some active time with family and friends. You can set up a volleyball net in the backyard, hold a basketball competition, or swim. Kids would also enjoy relay races and active games like red light, green light.
  
• Go on a Labor Day outing. Hike along a nature trail, bike on a rail trail, or visit a nearby beach (and don't just lay around -- swim and be active).

With the start of school just around the corner, it might be time for that annual trip to buy a new backpack for your child. Parent Center has put together a list of tips to help you choose the right backpack, and also to teach your child how to properly use his backpack, to avoid injury.

Some of the tips I found the most helpful and enlightening:

• Backpack loads should be no more than 15-20% off a child's body weight. The means if your kiddo weighs 45 pounds, her lunch, books, and goodies should never add up to more than 9 pounds. That doesn't seem like much, especially on library day!
• Teach your child to bend for his backpack with his knees, to protect from back injury.
• Pack the heavy items toward the middle of the pack, and teach kids to use both shoulder straps.

You can read the full list of backpack safety items on Parent Center, before you head out on your shopping trip.

Recently, a friend of mine hosted a pool party for her neighbors. She was thoroughly surprised when several neighbors just sent their children unattended. While some of the kids were older, strong swimmers and probably would have been fine, my friend sent them back home and asked them to come back with a parent. That's one of her pool rules. She has a toddler and can't supervise everyone's children. So, if your kids are going to swim in her pool, you need to supervise them. Some of her neighbors weren't too pleased. I, on the other hand, think it's a perfectly reasonable rule.

Caution must be used when swimming. Simple measures and rules are the difference between a fun, summer activity and people getting hurt. In 2007, US medical professionals treated nearly 172,000 swimming-related injuries. Many of which could have been prevented. To prevent pool injuries, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons offers the following tips:

• Never swim alone or allow others to swim alone.
• Supervise children at all times.
• Don't swim if you feel tired, cold, or overheated.
• Never dive in shallow water. (Inspect pools before diving, so you're well aware of the depth.)
• Only one person at a time on the diving board.
• Don't run on the diving board.
• Dive off the end of the board, and don't bounce more than once.
• Always make room for the next diver by swimming away from the board after hitting the water.

Does your child have a sandbox? If so, do you worry much about what's in it? You know, aside from making sure the cat didn't use it for a litterbox, of course. Even if there's only sand in there, you might want to look into what kind of sand it is.

According to a recent post at Green Daily, many sandboxes are filled with quarried quartz rocks and contains silica, all of which can give off dangerous dust. The State of California even requires a label on any sand that contains crystalline silica because it can cause lung problems.

There are sources for safe sand, however, like the cleverly titled Safe Sand Company. Their feldspathic sand is safety approved by ASTM (USA), Corporate and Consumer Affairs Canada and EN-71 (Europe), and is supposed to be great for building sandcastles.

Ah, summer. That means no jam-packed backpacks in my house. No lunches stuffed into packs with all the other gear necessary for school. No bags sent home overflowing with folders and papers and all sorts of things, like library books, we try so hard not to lose. Nope, my kids' backpacks are sitting on a shelf in our laundry room in all of their sedentary glory. Before long, though -- about six weeks here in my city -- school will begin again, which means the backpacks will be out in full force.

Don't pack them until they're heavy, says the U.S. National Safety Council. Loaded backpacks can strain young backs and shoulders, causing pain and injury. Instead, check your child's bag each day and remove any items that aren't needed -- that would be rocks for my guys who like to collect and store them in hidden compartments. Also, make sure your kids use both straps to distribute the load evenly. Not sure you're doing everything the right way? Here are five warning signs your kids' packs are too heavy.

• A difference in posture when wearing the backpack.
• Significant difficulty in putting the backpack on or taking it off.
• Complaints of pain or discomfort when the backpack is on.
• Red marks on the skin from the backpack straps.
• Feelings of numbness or a tingling sensation, especially in the back or shoulders.

If you've been elected to host this year's 4th of July party, you have only a few days left to get everything prepared. Sure, people will probably show up with some food and drinks of their own, but let's face it, it's incumbent upon you to make sure everyone's well fed.

As you endeavor to fulfill that obligation -- and while you rethink making the offer of having the party at your place -- there are steps you should also take to make sure your party is safe. Great ... just one more thing to worry about, right? No at all, because we've already got you covered. A tip of the hat to the folks over at HealthCentral.com for coming up with the following list of grilling do's and don'ts:

1. Be organized
2. Gauge your fuel
3. Direct grilling is a high heat cooking method
4. Keep it clean
5. Keep it lubricated
6. Turn, don't stab
7. Know when to baste
8. Keep it covered
9. Give it a rest
10. Never desert your post

I have to be honest, tips 4 and 5 make me wonder exactly what goes on at a HealthCentral barbecue. Nevertheless, you can also find tips on their site on how to keep your 4th of July party safe and fun for people with allergies. To find out more, click here (lubrication not required).

With summer comes swing sets. So get those kids outdoors for some fresh air and physical activity -- let them slide, swing, jump, and climb. Just make sure they're safe as they scoot up and down and all around. Don't know where to begin? The U.S. National Safety Council offers these tips for securing your back yard play things.

• Make sure your equipment is very sturdy.
• Look for sets that can be changed or upgraded to accommodate your child's growth.
• Secure the legs of the set in below-ground concrete. Got anchors that came with the set? Keep them below ground.
  
• Make sure all cables are taut. Cap any screws or bolts.
• Be sure your slide has no more than a 30-degree slope. Your slide must have tall sides to prevent falls, and an area at the bottom where children can regain balance and sit upright.
• Avoid sets with "S" hooks or parts that can pinch, cut, or crush small fingers.
  
• Avoid rings that are less than five inches or greater than 10 inches in diameter.
• Equipment should not be higher than eight feet tall.
  
• Be careful with metal equipment. It can lead to burns when used in hot weather.

I don't know what it is about my parents and so many people from their generation, but they never, ever wear their seatbelt. I'm not sure what my mother''s excuse is, but I know my father fears that it my trap him in the car if it were to ever plunge into a river. Yeah ... and the chances of that happening are what, Dad?

Amazingly, even today many people don't wear their seatbelt, but for a reason far different than taking an unexpected nosedive into a body of water. What is that reason? Airbags. Men's Health reports that one in five men don't wear their seatbelt because they think airbags make them unnecessary. Ooooh, how very wrong they are. In fact, not wearing a seatbelt can actually turn your airbag into a lethal weapon.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh found that the incidence of spine and neck injury was 70 percent higher for drivers who did not buckle up. No big surprise there, but as the Men's Health article states, many of these injuries occur because the unbuckled driver is propelled headfirst into an airbag that's traveling back at them at 200mph. The results of such an impact, as you'd imagine, can be quite devastating.

So, Mom, Dad, if you're reading this ... buckle up, will you please?

When you're a parent, it's normal to worry about your kids. Summertime brings a whole new set of worries that we don't need to think about in the colder months -- bugs, wildlife, campfires, pools, lakes, bikes, and so on. We all want to keep our kids safe, but yet don't want to keep them from enjoying the warm summer weather.

CNN has a great article on what parents worry about in the summertime. Some of those things -- such as sun safety -- we really do need to be concerned about. Other worries, such as West Nile Virus, can be put on the back burner. That's not to say that you shouldn't be informed about them, but they don't need to be stressed over every time your child leaves the house.

What kinds of things do you worry about in the summertime?

When my girls decided they were happier sharing a bedroom than having their own, we decided to invest in a bunk bed. I take comfort in its sturdiness and safety railings, but health experts say that -- despite regulation changes that have made them safer -- bunk beds are still a common cause of childhood injury.

The most common reason for bunk bed injuries, obviously, is falls. Researchers found that boys get hurt more often than girls. The most common injuries are cuts, bruises, and bone fractures, most often to the head and neck. They also found that over 93% of falls happen at home.

However, researchers discovered something interesting. Young adults -- age 18 to 21 -- are particularly at risk for bunk bed injuries when away from home (dorms, military facilities, etc.), so the risk doesn't end with childhood. That said, kids under the age of 6 make up half of all bunk bed injuries, so keep those little ones off the top bunk. Visit CBS News for more on bunk bed safety.

On May 21, I wrote about a rape that occurred in a neighborhood in my city. A young woman, 36, with a husband and two small children, was running near her home on a usually well-populated trail at 6:30 AM when a man brutally attacked and sexually assaulted her. The police are calling it one of the worst attacks they've ever seen.

Since my last post, law enforcement officers have been hunting down lead after lead. The community is rallying -- watch this video for proof -- and it's become more clear than ever that right here in Gainesville, Florida, bad things happen, which means we all must look out for our own safety. We must not get comfortable and forget what happened in this case, because just as we do, we may become victims ourselves.

In the spirit of exercise and safety, I offer you these crime prevention exercise tips, featured on a website created to inform area residents about the ongoing investigation regarding this horrible crime.

Breastfeeding isn't always easy in the beginning. Poor latch can lead to sore and cracked nipples, which -- until they heal -- can make nursing even more difficult. Mom's may be tempted to reach for a soothing cream to ease their pain, but the FDA recently put out a warning that babies can be harmed by the ingredients in Mommy's Bliss Nipple Cream.

The chemicals in the cream, which infants can be exposed to during breastfeeding, can cause respiratory distress, vomiting, or diarrhea. Though the company no longer sells the cream, moms may still have it in their homes. The FDA recommends throwing it away. In addition, if your baby has experienced (or is experiencing) any difficulty from this cream, contact your doctor right away and call FDA's MedWatch at 1-800-332-1088.

I don't know about you, but I get really tired of hearing these kinds of stories, both as a mother and as a consumer. It's commonsense that a cream used for breastfeeding shouldn't contain harmful chemicals. In fact, the cream itself is advertised as "all natural" and there's no mention of these two ingredients on the company's website. The company claims there have been no reports of injury; hopefully, that's the truth.

There are few feelings that can compare with walking barefoot through the grass on a warm, summer day. I don't know about you, but as a kid I shunned shoes as much as possible -- as a matter of fact, I'm still barefoot a good deal of the time.

While it's fun to go around barefoot, it can also be dangerous. The American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons has released a series of barefoot safety tips that any sandal shunner should take the time to read. Check out our gallery for all the tips (and explanations, so you can sound wicked smart when you tell your barefoot friends what to do!).

Whenever I see field-tripping kids at the zoo or other event with giant name tags on, my stranger-danger alarm always goes off. After all, when an adult knows their name, kids are less likely to be cautious. Many schools now send their kids with tags that only contain the school name, or sometimes the kids wear school t-shirts, which also makes them easier to spot in a crowd.

A mom of three developed an ingenious way for educators or parents to reconnect with wandering children, the Safety Tat. This temporary tattoo goes on the child's arm and includes a parent's cell phone number. If a child gets separated from their family, they can find the nearest helpful adult and be quickly located.

Think you're doing everything you can to keep your child safe on outings? Take this safety quiz to make sure.