Parents urged to put safety at top of Santa's list this Christmas

Doctor offers advice about bikes, e-scooters, helmets, and phones for older children — and the risk of choking hazards in toys for toddlers 

Lifestyle medicine physician Kate McCann says she cringes when she sees youngsters out on bikes, scooters, or roller-blades with no helmets on — and Santy might need a reminder to include one. iStock

Parents are being advised to put safety concerns at the top of the list when buying Christmas gifts including avoiding e-scooters for teens and toys with detachable parts for young children.

Kate McCann, a lifestyle medicine physician, said that every year doctors witness the fallout in January from inappropriate gifts given to loved ones. 

Dr McCann welcomed the focus this month on highlighting risks from e-scooters, saying helmets are another concern.  

“Every year, Santa might bring a scooter, he brings the roller-blades, he brings the bikes, and he forgets the helmet to go with it,” she said.

I see kids out with their new bike or new scooter with no helmet and inside I cringe a bit. 

She urged anyone doing Christmas shopping or writing letters to Santa to consider this carefully.

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding about the benefits of a helmet,” she said. 

“It actually protects the face more than anything else.”

Toilet-roll holder test

Checking age limits on toys is also important, she advised, especially for toddlers at risk of choking.

“The hack for that is to use a toilet-paper tube,” she advised. “Any piece of the toy that fits into a toilet-paper tube means they should be over three to have it.”

Dr McCann, with Emdoc Health, echoed HSE advice against giving amber teething jewellery to infants.

“They are a choking hazard as the beads can come loose,” she warned, adding the string is also a strangulation risk.

“I don’t know how many paediatric advisory notices have been issued about this over the last 10 or 15 years but they are still a trend.”

Phone safety 

Mobile phones for younger children is also a trend doctors are worried about.

Dr McCann is involved with the Government’s Keeping Childhood Smartphone Free campaign and urged shoppers to keep this in mind.

Safe and affordable cooking 

Meanwhile, a Safefood survey shows 90% of people will eat turkey on Christmas day but one in five are worried about the cost of food.

It has published a Christmas dinner food planner online so people can plan exact amounts and avoid expensive food waste.

The website also shares turkey leftover recipes to ensure this big-ticket item is fully used up.

It also published a turkey cooking time calculator in order to ensure they are fully cooked.

Trish Twohig, director of food safety at Safefood, said: “I would also recommend that people use a meat thermometer this year to check the thickest part of the turkey has reached 75C.

“This is the foolproof way of knowing it’s fully cooked and safe to eat.”