Child Safety Week launched to reduce accident numbers

Child Safety Week officially launches today (June 5) in a bid to reduce the number of young people killed, disabled or seriously injured in accidents.

The week is an initiative by the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT), with new research revealing nearly three quarters (71%) of Scottish parents feeling under too much pressure to be ‘perfect parents’.

Meanwhile nearly one in three are unwilling to admit to an accident or near miss for fear of being judged.

Pressure from other parents’ posts on Facebook and Instagram just adds to the upset for parents, with nearly half (45%) feeling they are not good enough parents.

Young parents are most vulnerable to social media pressures to be perfect (85%), with almost half (46%) not wanting other people to know about their child having an accident.

And while nearly three quarters (71%) of Scottish parents worry about their child having an accident, two in five (37%) would not want to admit it, if they were the only parent who appeared not to know about a risk to their child.

One parent has bravely decided to speak out. George Asan’s two year-old daughter Francesca died in 2016 after a button battery she swallowed became lodged in her throat and burned through, causing devastating internal bleeding.

George is supporting Child Safety Week, which launches today, to highlight the real risks to children and the simple things that families can do to stop their children suffering a serious accident.

He said: “It is very hard for me to talk about losing Francesca, but I hope that by talking about Francesca’s death it will encourage other families to talk about accidents and ask questions about what they can do to stop them happening to their own children.”

Katrina Phillips, chief executive at CAPT, has spent the last decade campaigning for the reduction of serious childhood accidents. She has an advisory role to government on home and road safety and is passionate about equipping parents with the knowledge and skills to make informed judgements about their child’s safety.

She said: “We want to see children leading active, healthy lives, safe from the disabling effects of serious accidents.

“CAPT understands that experimenting and risk-taking are part of growing up, so we have never advocated ‘wrapping children in cotton wool’ and we hope that Child Safety Week will encourage more parents to avoid unnecessary risks and openly share their stories without fear of judgement.”