Child Safety Tips For The Holidays

 

HOLIDAYS

It’s the holiday season again, a time when we enjoy festive meals with family and friends, deck our halls with colorful decorations and listen to squeals of delight as our children open their brightly-wrapped presents. To help ensure your kids have fun and stay safe this holiday, here are a few tips to remember.

Hard Facts about Holiday Safety

• In 2012, 3,270 children 19 and under were seen in emergency rooms for injuries caused by nonelectric holiday decorations, like broken ornaments.
• In 2012, an estimated 192,000 children were treated in an emergency room for a toy-related injury.
• That same year, an estimated 136,314 children ages 19 and under were injured due to a fire or burn.

Top Tips about Holiday Safety

1. Make sure your tree has plenty of water by checking it regularly. Natural trees look beautiful and smell great, but if they’re not watered regularly, needles can dry out and pose a potential fire hazard.
2. Keep lit holiday candles at least 12 inches away from anything that can burn, and don’t forget to blow them out when you leave the room or before you go to sleep.
3. Consider your child’s age when purchasing a toy or game this holiday season. It’s worth a second to read the instructions to make sure the gift is just right.
4. Keep a special eye on small pieces, including button batteries that may be included in electronic toys. While these kinds of games are great for older kids, they can pose a potential danger for younger, curious siblings.
5. Prevent burns from hot holiday food or liquid spills, simply use the back burner of your stove and turn pot handles away from the edge.
6. Move the ornaments that are breakable or have metal hooks towards the top of the tree. That makes room at the bottom for the ones that are safer for young kids. 

Learn More

Learn more about holiday safety tips to keep you and your kids safe. 

Smart Toys Could Put Your Kids Safety At Risk This Christmas

Davey WinderSenior Contributor 

Cybersecurity

I report and analyse breaking cybersecurity and privacy stories

Smart toys could represent a stranger danger risk to children, new report finds.

New research suggests that children could be at risk from security flaws in smart toys this holiday season. An investigation by U.K. consumer advice organization Which? has revealed that toys purchased from major retailers could potentially allow a stranger to communicate with your child. The organization bought seven 'smart' toys and handed them over to the NCC Group, a specialist security lab, for testing. Some of the toys put to the test were aimed at children as young as three years old, according to Which? Yet they contained "various concerning issues that could potentially put children at risk," the report finds.

What stranger danger risks were found in the tested toys?

The smart toys were handed over to the NCC Group for lab testing, with a security assessment that focused on exploitable and design-based technical issues that were specific to the use of the toys by children themselves. It also investigated the confidentiality and integrity of any personal data captured by the toys.

"Across all seven toys, we found 20 noteworthy issues," the NCC Group said in a blog post. Perhaps the most serious of these was the lack of any secure authentication, such as a PIN code, for Bluetooth connectivity. Two of them in this category were karaoke toys, enabling anyone within a range of about 10 meters (10 feet) to connect anonymously and stream audio to the toy. It's worth bearing in mind that while the communication is one-way, the child would not be able to talk back, the stranger danger of someone being able to send messages like this cannot be stressed enough. "Imagine a scenario where someone connects to the toy and streams instructional or manipulative messages to a child," the NCC Group report stated, "such as asking them to go out to the front garden, as a precursor to an abduction attempt."

Today In: Innovation

A pair of toy walkie-talkies that were tested also proved to be problematical. Again, there was no mutual authentication between the handsets. This time, though, the effective communication range was 150 meters (492 feet), meaning an attacker could be across the street or even on the other side of the park, for example. As long as they had purchased their own set of the toys, they would be able to engage in two-way conversations. The real-world playing out of this exploit is further restricted by the fact that to exploit the communication vulnerability, the attacker would need to pair the devices within a 30-second window of the child's set being switched on and paired. An unlikely scenario, I admit, but would you be happy taking any chances when it's your kids that are at risk?

Further details of the toys tested can be found in the Which? report, along with responses from the manufacturers.

What do security experts say about the smart toy risk?

"Today’s news that children’s karaoke and walkie-talkie toys, popular Christmas gifts and commonplace in children’s bedrooms, are hackable, enabling nearby strangers to potentially talk to children through them, or capture data from the devices, is incredibly concerning," David Emm, cybersecurity expert and principal security researcher at Kaspersky, said. Emm suggested "something stronger than a voluntary code of practice" is required when it comes to the protection of children.

"Children’s toys are often neglected with regards to the security conversation," Boris Cipot, a senior security engineer at Synopsys, said. "Before ordering a new smart device this holiday season for your child, or any family member for that matter, take into account the security impact the device can have and make security a part of your purchasing decision," Cipot said.

Given that research last year found that 90% of consumer Internet of Things (IoT) vendors didn't let security researchers report vulnerabilities, I can't say that I'm altogether surprised by the findings of the NCC Group testing. Shocked, as a parent and grandparent, but not surprised. Which? has a smart toy safety checklist for parents that details the things to be aware of before buying a connected toy for your children this holiday season. I heartily recommend you check it out before splashing your cash.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has also just published advice for consumers regarding the questions that should be asked before buying internet-connected toys. The FTC recommends that consumers properly understand the smart toy’s feature set as well as both what information it will collect and how that data will be used.

Are your kids’ toys safe?

When shopping this holiday, keep guidelines in mind.

By Dayton Children's Hospital

You are probably already swamped with toy advertisements this holiday season. Toys are supposed to be fun and help with appropriate development, but knowing the safety of the toys you buy your kids is extremely important. Each year, scores of kids are treated in hospital emergency departments for toy-related injuries.

For safety, manufacturers follow certain guidelines and label most new toys for specific age groups. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) closely monitors and regulates toys. Any toys made in or imported into the United States after 1995 must comply with CPSC standards. But perhaps the most important thing a parent can do is to supervise play.

Here are some general guidelines to keep in mind when shopping for toys:

• Toys made of fabric should be labeled as flame resistant or flame retardant.

• Stuffed toys should be washable.

• Painted toys should be covered with lead-free paint.

• Art materials should say nontoxic.

• Crayons and paints should say ASTM D-4236 on the package, which means that they’ve been evaluated by the American Society for Testing and Materials.

• Avoid older or hand-me-down toys. They may not meet current safety standards or have become hazardous through play.

• Read labels for age appropriateness and check the guidelines published by the CPSC or other groups. Age levels for toys are determined by safety factors, not intelligence or maturity.

After you’ve purchased safe toys, make sure kids know how to use them. Playing with your kids teaches them how to play safely while having fun.

To keep toys safe at home, parents should:

• Teach kids to put toys away.

• Check toys regularly to make sure that they aren’t broken or unusable:

• Wooden toys shouldn’t have splinters.

• Bikes and outdoor toys shouldn’t have rust.

• Stuffed toys shouldn’t have broken seams or exposed removable parts.

• Throw away or repair broken toys right away.

• Store outdoor toys when they’re not in use so that they are not exposed to rain or snow.

• Keep toys clean. Read the manufacturer’s directions as some plastic toys can be cleaned in the dishwasher. Another option is to mix antibacterial soap or a mild dishwashing detergent with hot water in a spray bottle and use it to clean toys, rinsing them afterward.

If you find an unsafe toy, check the CPSC website for the latest information about toy recalls or call their hot line at 800-638-CPSC (2772) to report a toy you think is unsafe. If you have any doubt about a toy’s safety, err on the side of caution and do not allow your child to play with it.

This look at a children’s health or safety issue comes from Dayton Children’s Hospital.

Email: newsroom@childrensdayton.org.