Keeping Kids Safe around Electricity
By Sally Jeun
Southern California Edison
A child’s natural curiosity and sense of adventure can fuel learning, but it can also lead to dangerous situations and injuries when it comes to electricity.
According to the Electrical Safety Foundation International, 2,400 children in the US are treated for injuries caused by electrical outlets each year and nearly a third of parents with young children do not have their outlets childproofed.
Southern California Edison has some tips on how to keep kids safe around electricity :
1. Talk to your kids in a way that is simple and easy to understand. In your home, electricity runs the lights, television, toaster and more. Electricity is a form of energy that travels through wires from power plants all the way into your home. Electricity can also flow through bodies, water and other materials that can cause a shock or fire hazard.
2. Go over house rules to help kids stay safe around electricity.
… Never put fingers or objects in electrical outlets and make sure to childproof them.
… Keep and use electrical appliances away from water.
… Dry your hands thoroughly before reaching for anything powered by electricity.
… Grasp the plug, not the cord, to remove a power cord from an outlet.
… Play far away from trees that are touching or near power lines.
… Always ask an adult when you need to use something that needs electricity.
3. Use interactive videos, games and activities to teach electrical safety. SCE offers videos and games that engage kids while they learn about electrical safety. Your local library or bookstores are also great resources for children’s books that explain and illustrate how electricity works. You can also use this home inspection activity with your child to review how to use electricity safely in your home.
For more tips and resources on electrical safety for kids of all ages, parents and teachers, visit: sce.e-smartonline.net .
New York: New York unveiled a major public campaign to fight Islamophobia, stressing the equal rights of the city's hundreds of thousands of Muslims.
The campaign, launched in the wake of a Manhattan bomb attack blamed on a radicalized Afghan-American, initially will use social media to spread the message under the hashtag #IAmMuslimNYC.
“Now more than ever, it is important for every New Yorker to stand united as one city and reject hate and violence,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement.
“We will not tolerate discrimination or violence of any kind and we will not rest until all New Yorkers, including our Muslim brothers and sisters, are treated with the dignity they deserve.”
The campaign begins Tuesday, just 10 days after bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami exploded a device in Chelsea, a fashionable Manhattan neighborhood, injuring 29 people.
Investigators say a handwritten manual recovered after his arrest lauded Al-Qaeda leaders including Osama bin Laden, and criticized US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
New York's campaign comes amid growing fears among the country's Muslims of a backlash over militant attacks, both in the United States and abroad, in the context of the anti-Muslim rhetoric embraced by Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
Among the recent acts of violence against Muslims in New York was the August fatal shooting of an imam and his assistant, execution-style, near their mosque in the borough of Queens.
New York is planning workshops beginning next month to give city employees and public and private employers a better understanding of Islam.
A marketing campaign using all media is in the works for around mid-2017, when de Blasio's reelection campaign should be in full swing.
Since his first campaign in 2013, the New York mayor has promoted a multiracial and inclusive approach.
Before his election, he promised two school days off for Muslim holidays, on a par with Christian and Jewish holidays. That pledge has been in force since the start of the school year in 2015.
