December 7, 1982 Page 9
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Pay attention to children’s ills
Family L ¡felines—
J U U L ftJ
This is the time of year when
flu, colds and other illnesses
hit!
Young children often display
so many symptoms of illness
that parents begin to pay only
slight attention to them. This
can be dangerous because some
symptoms may lead to nothing,
but others may lead to serious
sickness!
New parents panic and rush
to the doctor when something
unexpected seems wrong with
the first child. When a second
a r r iv e s , th e y a re m o re
e x p e r ie n c e d a n d h a n d le
illnesses better; but this attitude
may allow a small problem to
grow into a big one. If you are
in doubt or if your child has any
new symptoms—always play it
safe and call a doctor. It’s a
good idea to take a child’s
temperature before phoning
the doctor. Sometimes children
run a fever for no visible
reason. Most sick youngsters
run fevers higher than sick
adults. When the thermometer
reads above normal, you need
not panic but the doctor should
be consulted.
Situations and symptoms
other than body temperature
are best seen by a doctor to
prevent serious illness and
relieve you from worry. In the
case of accidents, many injuries
such as cuts or bruises are
o b v io u s . B ut c h ild re n
recovering from a fall may
com plain a b o u t dizziness,
headache, or appear sleepy.
Falls or severe jolts may cause
head injuries a doctor should
check. Any d ifficulty in
b r e a th in g , w h e e z in g , o r
choking should be checked
immediately as children tend to
worsen rapidly.
Vomiting and diarrhea often
occur at the beginning of
childhood diseases or as a
r e s p o n s e to e m o tio n a l
pressure. If it contines, it may
point to something seriously
wrong. In any case, vomiting or;
diarrhea remove large amounts
of water from a child’s system.
Fluids should be continuously
given to the child because loss
of body fluids seriously affects
other body functions.
Any symptoms that linger
are reason to call your doctor.
Stomach aches that last more
than an hour may be serious.
Frequent headaches should not
be treated with remedies from
th e m e d ic in e c a b in e ts .
Ear aches require specialized
attention. Aching muscle and
joint aches are not usually “just
growing pains” as parents once
thought. Any aching joints,
m uscles, o r u n e x p la in e d
swellings should be checked
right away.
Failure to thrive is a term
used to describe children who
tire easily and have little
appetite or interest in active
participating with toys or other
children. Healthy children have
bright eyes, shining hair, good
muscles and an active interest
in everything. Children who
are listless or otherwise do not
show a vigorous involvement
with life should be examined by
a doctor even though they do
not appear sick.
Gift idea exchange successful
from Pennie Albrandt, Lee Hamilton
and Doris Brackett
Power outage hints
Severe weather can cause a
power failure at any time of the
year, but energy experts are
predicting power outages may
-become more frequent, even
during periods of mild weather.
Yoii can avoid the difficulties
caused by a power outages by
being prepared.
In a major failure, the power
company will try to keep the
p u b lic in fo rm ed o f the
seriousness of the situation. A
battery-powered radio will
keep you posted. Although
telephone service is not usually
affected by power failure, it is
best not to jam the power
company switchboard with
inquiries. U se the phone only to
re p o rt a d a n g e ro u s or
emergency situation. Usually,
in mild weather, a loss of
electrical power means only
minor inconvenience.
If the power failure occurs at
night, your first problem is
providing light to avoid falls
and other mishaps. Every home
should have a flashlight or
battery-powered lantern in
proper working order. Every
home should also have a supply
of readily accessible matches to
light candles and kerosene
lanterns or lamps. A kerosene
lantern or lamp’s enclosed
flame is better than depending
on the unprotected flames of
candles.
As soon as you obtain a light.
or if it’s daytime, go through
your house arid disconnect the
appliances that run continously
or off-and-on automatically on
electricity, particularly those
that have heavy starting loads,
such as an air conditioner,
refrigerator or freezer. This will
help ensure that when the
power comes back on, lowered
voltage or power surges won’t
damage your equipment. When
the power goes off for any
length of time, temperature-
controlled appliances such as
refrigerators, freezers and air
conditioners, and automatic
on-off devices, such as pumps
that are being used at the time,
usually snap to the on position.
While the power is off, avoid
opening and closing and
r e f r ig e r a to r a n d f r e e z e r
unnecessarily. In a fully loaded
freezer, food may remain
frozen for as long as 36 to 48
hours (a half-full freezer
reduces the time to 24 hours).
The food will last almost as
long in a refrigerator, but each
opening of the door costs you
several hours worth of cold.
If you disconnect most of the
appliances with motors in your
household and leave on just a
few lamps to tell you when the
power has been restored, you
can then turn on each appliance
separately without overloading
vour fuses or circuit breakers.
Toys may be dangerous
Christmas is quickly approaching. A craft idea exchange sponsored by the Warm Springs extension service
December 1 afforded the opportunity to get some new ideas for Christmas gifts. The extension office still
has available many patterns and directions for crafts ranging from fabric boxes to wreaths being admired
here by Doris Miller (right). Phyllis Tohet signs up to receive the wreath pattern.
Spilyay Tymoo photo by Shewczyk
Approximately 50 women
participated in the Extension
Service Christmas Gift Idea
Exchange held last Thursday.
At the exchange samples,
instructions and recipes were
available for participants to
take. Ideas were presented for
gifts of different types that cost
from 15c to $8 to make.
Participants brought their
ideas and recipes to exchange
with each other, also.
P at Smith dem onstrated
how to make and decorate a
b a sic pie c ru s t. A few
A N EW DAY
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A N E W WAY
participants tried their hand at
this sometimes difficult task.
If you would like instruc
tions and recipes from the idea
exchange, or if you would like
to be on the Extension Home
Economics Newsletter mailing
list, call Pennie or Pat at 553-
1161, ext. 238.
There may still be as many as
180,000 stuffed plush mobile
toys on the market that may
continue to pose a strangula
tion hazard to infants. For this
reason the importer of the toys,
R. Dakin & Co. of San
Francisco, has redoubled its
efforts to remove the hazard
from consumers’ hands.
A m a jo rity o f D a k in
consumers were not aware of
the recall, according to the 1982
survey by the U.S. Consumer
Product Safety Commission.
Some who still owned the toy
were using it in a manner that
placed their children at risk.
An eleven month-old girl
and an eight month-old boy
strangled in the fall of 1979
when, in separate incidents,
each became entangled in the
elastic strings suspending the
toy from a crib bedpost. R.
D akin had u n d ertak en a
voluntary recall program in
1979-1980 to notify toy owners
of the potential hazard. Over
400,000 to y s w ere th e n
involved.
Involved in the recall are six
different models of stuffed toys
which are intended to be
suspended by means of three
elastic cords. The dangerous
toys are:
Hummbug Bee, Model 34-3645
Embo Elephant, Model 34-
1972
\
Jolly Polly Parrot, Model 34-
3462
Stanley Stork, Model 34-3652
Lucky Ladybug, Model 34-
3662
Duckswoop, Model 34-3666
Each toy is covered with
plush fabric and contains a
musical chime device. The R.
Dakin & Co. name appears on
a tag sewn on each animal.
T he stuffed t&ys were
imported from South Korea
and sold in the U.S. from
January 1976 through October
1979. They sold nationwide for
approximately $7 to $10.
For a full refund of the retail
purchase price and reimburse
ment of postage costs, parents
should return the animals to R.
Dakin & Co., 499 Point San
B rno B lvd., S o u th S an
Francisco, California 94080.
Those who want to keep the
to y s , should c u t o ff the
.three elastic cords.