For children and families, summer fun means being more active outdoors by playing sports and other recreational activities. But often, seemingly innocent summer activities can lead to accidents and injuries. In fact, over 2.6 million children yearly are seen in emergency departments for sports and recreation-related injuries, says the CDC.
While every summer sport and activity is different, there many safety standards that apply to all activities. Before your family heads out for summer fun, review these tips to ensure a happy, healthy, and safe summer.
Summer Safety Tips
Use Correct Equipment
For parents with kids playing sports, it’s important to have and use the correct equipment for their size and sport. Sports-related injuries can be reduced when kids wear the necessary safety gear each time they play.
Be Prepared
Accidents happen, but it’s still good to be prepared for unexpected injuries. Ensure your kids are sufficiently prepared for fun with warmups before all activities. Kids should also go at their pace. Competition is healthy, but it can also cause some kids to push themselves to be the best player.
At the beginning of the season and after nearly a year hiatus, my competitive swimming teenager injured her spleen while attempting to push herself to become a better, faster swimmer during practices. To reduce injury risks, encourage kids to build speed and endurance gradually.
Understand Limitations
Teach kids to listen to their bodies and notify an adult if they feel pain or discomfort during the activity. Some kids don’t like to sit out sports but, pushing through injuries or pain can increase the severity and keep them from participating even longer.
Stay Hydrated
Encourage kids to drink plenty of fluids and take breaks while participating in strenuous activities. Kids increase their dehydration and other heat illnesses risks when don’t drink enough water, especially during the summer. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests kids drink water before, during (every 20 minutes), and after activities to ensure optimal hydration.
Get Medically Covered
As a parent, we should ensure our family is fully protected. Because injury risks are high with outdoor activities, it’s important that your family is medically insured before participating in summer activities. Should an injury occur, additional coverage like Aflac accident insurance, can help cover high out-of-pocket medical costs and expenses so you and your family can concentrate on recovery – not bills.
Plan for Unexpected Expenses
Most families carefully budget their money throughout the year. Some even put a little aside for an upcoming vacation or the unexpected bill. But, what about unexpected medical expenses?
A common injury like a broken leg can cost over $4,700! A recent study showed only 38 percent of people had saved enough money to cover unexpected medical expenses, like an ER visit. High medical bills can cause financial hardships and the inability to pay for expenses like groceries or childcare. Aflac accident insurance can help cover out-of-pocket medical expenses like deductibles and copayments, as well as daily expenses FAST with Aflac’s new One Day PaySM promise.
Visit Aflac’s accident insurance page for more information on accident policies: http://clvr.li/1fmvzQH.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
25 responses to “Kids Summer Activities: Be Ready for Anything with Aflac”
I have often wondered if Aflac would work for me. It is definitely a great plan for families with children. I agree totally-be sure your kids have the right equipment and follow the rules for any sport they are involved in!
Fantastic tips – hydration is one of the biggest concerns I have with my boys every Summer. They run about so much and get so sweaty that I am sure they will shrivel up!
Accidents are the inevitable part of life! it is so important when taking out insurance to fully understand what is covered and what is not! My dad used to say one gets what they pay for and how true is that!
We have great health insurance, so we’re all set. Awesome tips.
These are great tips. Safety is important for any activity and we should really allocate some cash for unexpected expenses.
Unfortunately accidents happen every day but you do not want the fear of an accident to prevent you from enjoying life. It is always better to be prepared.
A lot of summer boo-boos can happen with kids. Kids get bored or they are just more active because they have more time so definitely a good list of safety tips!
We were just in Virginia Beach and it was HOT!! I kept reminding my Hubs to make sure he drank enough water to keep him hydrated.
I personally love Aflac and think they are great!
Being prepared with insurance is definitely a must! You never know what kind of things can come up so it’s nice to not have to worry.
Awesome tips! I feel like we sometimes get too excited about our summer activities we forgot to protect ourselves! Thanks for the reminder :)
I have Aflac coverage. They have been great! When they say in the commercial you get you check within days of your claim they are not kidding! Great tips especially the keep hydrated one.
Great to know. Thanks for sharing.
These are some great tips! Staying hydrated is so very important for everyone, even for adults!
Yes it is. But children become overheated and dehydrated a little easier because they don’t sweat as much as adults.
I think it would give a higher sense of security if the kids are insured as anything can happen during summer activities. It’s really important that they are properly equipped and prepared for the activities.
we also have great insurance, but agree these are great tips for mom with kids.
These are great tips…I really think that a lot of it has to do with preparation! You have to be ready to deal with any situation.
These are great tips for having a safe and healthy summer indeed for the kids. Aflac is an awesome company and you get great coverage with them. It is so important to teach our children to listen to their bodies so they don’t injure their self. I think it is truly important also to be prepared for an emergency because anything can happen. Thanks for sharing.
Really awesome tips! Great to know all of them just in time for summer! Love it!
Used to work in an ER and summer time was always busier with accidents for not only kids but adults too. Sometimes accidents will happen but some can be prevented with a little planning like these tips.
That’s not a bad plan at all in to have in place. The just in case peace of mind is well worth it! I’ll think about this for sure.
Because it’s summer my kids are doing lots of sports and these are all great tips to make sure they are safe and they are covered in case of emergency. Thanks!
Having sufficient and reliable insurance is so important. Thanks for sharing such great information…
We had a man talk to us about aflac at work and it seems like such a great thing to have. We signed up through my husband’s work right after that.