Quicksilver turns two-years-old next month.
Not to be morbid, but I was curious to see what the most common, preventable causes-of-death for that age group is:
Accidents are the single biggest cause of death for two-year-olds being listed as the cause of 36% of all deaths in that age-group. Non-transportation causes were more than twice as likely as transportation-related causes.
Drowning in swimming pools accounts for about 1/3 of all non-transportation accidental deaths of that age group with drowning-in-total accounting for 60% of the non-transportation accidental deaths.
17% of NT-accidents were from fire and choking/inhalation of objects (usually food). Many 2-year-olds are very oral; everything goes into their mouth.
Other than accidents, the next biggest preventable cause-of-death in two-year-olds was homicides/assault at 9.3% of all deaths in that cohort. That is an astounding number!
I didn't learn to swim until I was twenty. I didn't want my kids to be potential anchor inspectors like me. We took them swimming every chance we could. We read a book about how to water proof them (mid 80's). They learned to roll face up and float about the time they learned to walk. All of them could swim very early on. There are a million hazards. Sheltering them was a sure way to have them fall victim to one. Inoculation of a sort.
ReplyDeleteIt is tough for toddlers to float head-up. They have large heads for their body size.
ReplyDeleteOne of my buddies lost a niece that way. "Grandma" was watching her and she "just took her eyes off her for a minute".
The homicide/assault percentage is likely a result of too many single-parent households (i.e., single mothers) with terrible taste in boyfriends.
ReplyDeleteThere are many animal species where the new adult male kills off all the young sired by another male. So there seems to be two components to this behavior in humans. One is just bad character and decedent culture. The other may be a species/genetic predisposition.
In the eyes of some, it comes down to competition for the mother's attention and time. Some low-life-scum make the logical jump "If I could just get rid of the little rotter..."
DeleteThat, and shaken-baby falls into the death-by-assault category. It is difficult to be patient with your own child (sometimes). Without the ties of family, lack-of-patience probably kicks in sooner.
decadent, not decedent
DeleteI was hyper-aware of the dangers of drowning to tots when mine were that age back in the eighties. Saved them a couple times. They might not have had a much fun as they could have but they didn't drown either.
ReplyDeleteThe page didn't load for me; it says I have to request access.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious what the total number is - if the overall number is small, the percentages are less significant than they first appear.
Jonathan
It is supposed to route you through a sign-in. I will throw together some absolute numbers and post as a separate blog post
ReplyDelete"Head up" as in holding it out of the water means you sink without actively paddling; "head back" as in letting that heavy hunk of bone and brain flop back into the water while face up means you float without getting tired paddling.
ReplyDeleteAside: as a kid being ignored by the adults at a pool-party, when I LOUDLY pointed out that a child was five feet down standing on the bottom of the pool pointing up at her father ... things got exciting. Teach your kids to drown-proof, folks. Kid was OK, dad immediately jumped in fully clothed. Whew.
We had a near-fatal drowning at my parent's cottage.
DeleteAfter that, there had to be one adult in a chair watching for each kid in the water. No phones. No books. If you had to go pee, the kid came out of the water until you came back.
Interestingly, I didn't see SIDS listed as a cause.
ReplyDeleteSIDS would probably get filed as W75 (Accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed) which was 0.2% of deaths. That also includes sleeping in your parents bed and having them roll over on top of you and playing with plastic bags and getting your head stuck out of the slats.
DeleteIf I recall, most SIDS occurred in kids younger than 2. A typical case would have them at the pre-crawling stage and they would "bulldoze" into a corner into a pile of blankets. Unable to go in reverse or roll over, they would suffocate.
Most of the major causes of pediatric death can be ameliorated if not outright prevented by simply keeping an eye on them at all times. Not an easy task but part of being a responsible parent.
ReplyDelete