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What did you forget to pack for your last trip, or your next one?

I always forget something. Once, it was a child’s duffel as we were heading to Cape Cod. Another time it was my youngest daughter’s ski parka as we were heading to a snow resort. Both were relatively easy fixes.

But Dr. Christina Johns, a Maryland pediatric emergency physician and spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, is often surprised by what parents have forgotten when their kids get sick or injured away from home. “And summer is injury season,” she notes.

They may not have the medications their kids are taking or the right dosages, especially important if the kids are not traveling with their parents. They may not know the child’s allergies.

They may not have simple over-the-counter medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen in children’s dosages. Did you know pediatricians no longer recommend Benadryl for allergic reactions? Cetirizine is the recommended treatment. You should also have Deet-based bug spray and tweezers in case you find a tick. (Babies as young as two months can have 30 percent Deet bug spray but they shouldn’t have sunscreen until they are six months old. Check for ticks every day!

“Just keep them out of the sun and in long pants, long sleeves and hats,” said Dr. Johns.

You wouldn’t think families would forget EpiPens if a child is severely allergic, but they do, Dr. Johns said.

Ditto for a good-fitting bike helmet that can prevent kids from ending up in the ER after a fall from a bike or scooter. On social media – MakeWalkingSafe and #MakeCyclingSafe – focus on the urgent need to improve safety for children as they walk and bike. Ride with the kids, preferably in a bike lane and wear bright colors. Teach by example that no one should text when crossing the street – at street corners, minding traffic signals and crosswalks. That’s especially key when you are vacationing somewhere new.

“Prevention is always better than treatment,” Johns suggests. That means you should know the signs if a child has had too much sun (their skin feels clammy, and they don’t feel well) and altitude sickness if you have gone from sea level to the mountains. Headache, nausea? Get to a lower altitude, she said, and “if you are worried, go seek treatment. A fire drill is better than a fire.”

That said, Johns suggests looking for the nearest children’s hospital or pediatric urgent care. “You have to remember children aren’t mini adults.”

What kind of sunscreen have you packed? For kids, it should be mineral based with zinc oxide and titanium oxide. Creams are better than sprays and they should be reapplied every two hours. “A sun burn is a burn, just like a burn from a stove,” she warned.

Check out the Parent’s Guide to Child Safety from Safe Kids Worldwide where you can also download the Family Safety Activity Book. For kids 5 to 8.

You likely will get your car checked before a long road trip. Is your child’s safety seat installed properly? You can find places to make sure based on your location here.

Who is watching the kids in the water or around the vacation rental?

“What is always notable for all of us is how easy it is to let your guard down, and then there’s the perfect storm of being in an unfamiliar environment,” said Johns. Keep kids away from sparklers, fireworks and lit grills where an errant charcoal briquette can burn a child walking barefoot.

Too often, tragedies occur because everyone assumes someone else is watching the kids. That’s why, the American Red Cross says, you should designate a water watcher whose sole responsibility is to supervise the kids for a designated time until the next person takes over. That goes for having young inquisitive children in a vacation rental where there aren’t necessarily outlet covers, safe balconies or child-proofed cabinets. Make sure everyone’s medications, gummies and cleaning supplies are out of reach.

At the pool or the beach, make sure the designated water watcher can rescue someone in distress or know to immediately alert someone nearby who can help. Do they know CPR? Have a working phone to call 9-1-1? Have a flotation device that can be used?

Most importantly, they shouldn’t be drinking, texting on their phone or reading. You can make a Water Watcher card and rotate the watchers every 15 minutes.

Even if there is a lifeguard, they can’t be watching everywhere at once and a drowning can happen in just seconds, soundlessly. Sixty-six percent of fatal drownings happen between May and August, Safe Kids Worldwide reports. More children ages 1 to 4 die from drowning than any other cause of death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And when families end up in the ER, Dr. Johns noted, inevitably it is because the adult in charge looked away briefly or thought someone else was watching the kids.

Did you know a car’s interior can heat up by 19 degrees or more in just 10 minutes? Young children are particularly at risk as their bodies heat up three to five times faster. That’s why you should never leave a child alone in a car, Safe Kids Worldwide urges. Make sure the doors are locked when no one is in the car, so a child doesn’t get in on their own. Keep a stuffed animal in your child’s car seat when it’s empty and move it to the front seat as a reminder when your child is in the back seat. Put your purse or phone in the back so you won’t “forget” your child, as tragically some have done when they get out of the car. Thirty-nine children die each year from being unattended in a car.

Please stay safe this summer!

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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The fourth edition of The Kid’s Guide to New York City and the third edition of The Kid’s Guide to Washington D.C. are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)

©2025 Eileen Ogintz. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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