Family Friendly Holidays Not Always Safe

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Lilli Botwright enjoying the sun!
Lilli Botwright enjoying the sun!
A survey has found that 45.8% of parents felt they had to be more safety conscious on a holiday with young children than they would be at home.

In addition, almost a quarter of the parents said that they had been on family holidays where no basic safety equipment or features were provided.

The 350 parents polled were asked to rank holiday safety features in order of importance. Enclosed swimming pools topped the list, followed by enclosed play spaces, stairgates, lifeguards, electric plug socket covers and baby monitors. Yet, of the holidays that parents had been on with young children, only 45.7% had enclosed swimming pools, 28.7% had stairgates and only 16.1% had electric plug socket covers.

Callum Butler buried in the sand!
Child safety will be put in the spotlight by the Child Accident and Prevention Trust (CAPT) during Child Safety Week running from 23 to 29 June 2008. While the emphasis of the CAPT campaign is on safety in and around the home, specialist travel company Tots to Travel wants to encourage parents to also be aware of the safety hazards they might face on holiday with young children.

'Most holiday properties are not designed with young children in mind. Parents go to great lengths to make their homes child-proof but the same precautions aren't usually in place on a holiday,' explains Wendy Shand, of Tots to Travel. 'This makes it incredibly hard for parents - who are usually in dire need of a real break - to actually relax. We've invested in CAPT training to ensure that all of our properties are vetted and kitted out with child safety in mind, but not all holidays companies have done the same.'

Safety tips for parents travelling with young children:

Bullet Call your holiday company and find out what safety features they have in place. Forewarned is forearmed.
Bullet If the pool is unenclosed, request a room that doesn't open directly onto it.
Bullet Ask whether you can hire stairgates or a playpen.
Bullet Take your own baby monitors and be sure to get an international travel adaptor.
Bullet Take a roll of masking tape to stick over unused electric plug sockets.
Bullet Ensure your children wear buoyancy aids at all times when in the pool area.
Bullet Take a travel first aid kit with you.
Bullet Opt for babysitting rather than baby listening services.

June 2008

Survey by TotsToTravel

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