Play It Safe on Halloween!

Halloween is right around the corner, and our ghosts and ghouls are brimming with excitement about trick-or-treating!

What are some ways you can keep your little pumpkins safe this Hallows’ Eve? Check out some safety tips below.

- Never allow your child to trick-or-treat alone. Always walk in groups and have a responsible adult with your group.

- Use reflective tape on your costumes and shoes so drivers see your children.

- Always face away from traffic. Use sidewalks when possible, or stay on the far edge of the road when sidewalks are not available.

- Only allow your children to eat packaged candy from stores. Avoid homemade goods. Inspect all your children’s candy before they eat it.

- Do not walk near decorative luminaries with an open flame. Your child’s costume could catch fire.

- Ensure your kids’ costumes are not too long to avoid tripping and that their shoes are comfortable so they don’t get blisters from walking around so much.

- Stay close to home. Try to trick-or-treat at your neighbors houses. Avoid unfamiliar neighborhoods.

- When someone opens the door for your trick-or-treaters, make sure they know to stay on the porch. Never let your child go inside someone’s house.

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Keeping It Clean…Organizing Your Kid’s Toys

Both of our kids have fall birthdays and each birthday means new TOYS! This delights our kids to no end…and if I am honest, it makes this stay-at-home mom happy, too, because it means new toys to enjoy with the kiddos.

All the new birthday toys have prompted us to clean out our playroom and “toy stash,” and it’s coming at a perfect time since the holidays are right around the corner. It seems like such an overwhelming task to accomplish, but with these tips below, I think it will go smoothly this year!

- Use clear bins to house similar toys. Cars go with cars, dolls go with dolls, etc. This will make finding toys and cleaning them up much easier.

- Avoid duplicate toys. Children do not need two stacking rings or two musical keyboards. Consider donating duplicate toys to goodwill. This will help you declutter your toy areas

- Always put toy bins at eye-level and within reach of the kids. This way, they can find the toys they are looking for easily, and they can also put the bins away when they are done playing. This will teach your children the importance of cleaning up after themselves.

- Consider using photo or pictures to label bins when your kids are younger. Pictures will help small children know where to put certain toys when it is time to clean up. When your kids are older and can read, use labels with words to mark your bins. This will help them to learn how to spell new words while keeping your play areas tidy.

- When organizing your toys, think about what your kids play with the most often. Put those toys out in your play areas and when you sense your child is tiring of them, put them back in a closet or in storage and bring out different toys. Rotating your toys will make old toys feel new again.

- Consider donating the toys not used very often to charity or goodwill. This is an excellent way to instill the spirit of giving to your children.

Good luck cleaning out your toys this year. Here’s to staying organized the rest of the year and into 2011! I'm off to a good start...I just put all my daughter's Barbie gear in clear bins with labels. It's funny how the small things in life can make you feel accomplished!

Sleep Positioners- Read This Warning

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are urging parents and caregivers to stop using sleep positioners.

A sleep positioner is a product used to keep babies on their backs while sleeping. These products are marketed as an aid to help with food digestion and reflux, ease colic, and prevent flat head syndrome. Sleep positioners are also marketed as a way to help reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death syndrome (SIDS) by keeping babies on their backs.

There have been more than 12 reports over the past 13 years of infants (between the ages of one and four months old) who have died when they suffocated in a sleep positioner. In some of these instances, the babies died when they became trapped between the sleep positioner and the side of the crib or bassinet.

"In most instances, these products provide no real benefit and the risk of harm when they are used is significantly greater," said FDA deputy commissioner Joshua Sharfstein.

Parents need to remember that the safest way to put a baby to sleep in a crib is for the crib to only have a mattress and a tight-fitting sheet. Also, babies should always be placed on their backs.

According to these organizations, parents should stop using sleep positioners or any device to hold an infant on his or her back or side for sleep. These are unnecessary and can pose a suffocation risk to your baby.

For more information on the CPSC and the FDA’s warning, please click here.

We at Pure and Honest Kids like to try to stay abreast on safety issues involving children's products. As we continue to learn more about this issue, we will share it with our readers.