If you have kids or are buying a gift for a child, safety should be top of mind this holiday season. Statistics from the Safe Kids Coalition show around 150 serious toy-related injuries and about 250 bicycle/power vehicle-related injuries happen each year in the heart of Illinois.

Dr. John Hafner works in the Emergency Department at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria. “We worry a lot about choking hazards with toddlers. There are too many toys to mention. Just use good common sense. If the object can fit into an old toilet paper roll, it’s a choking hazard for your kids,” he said.

Hafner suggested parents of kids under three go through the toy box several times a year, pull out broken toys that could be dangerous, and make sure all the small parts are removed. He said balloons are by far the biggest choking hazard for toddlers. “Balloons are bad. They always put them in their mouths. Often, a small piece can break off and trap in the airway and cause rapid suffocation,” he said.

According to the Safe Kids Coalition, kids between four and nine are most susceptible to getting hit in the face with toys that fire objects into the air. They’re also likely to have toys with long strings or antennae that can get wrapped around their necks and cause suffocation.

Amy Pace of Germantown Hills has strict safety standards in her house, but her son got into a scary situation while playing at a friend’s house. Her son, Reagan, was four at the time. “His face was solid red. He was wide eyed. I was scared, but in the moment, you just react,” said Amy. Reagan had gotten a stretchy rubber yo-yo wrapped around his neck to the point where he couldn’t breath. “He was trying to pull at it around his neck, and he couldn’t get it off.” Eventually, Amy successfully removed the toy.

Hafner has seen similar cases involving what he calls water yo-yos. He said they’re hard to regulate because they’re made overseas and usually are inexpensive. “The water yo-yos are just terrible. We need to just get rid of those.”

Older kids, in the ‘tween age group, tend to get in trouble with bicycles and power vehicles. Hafner believes pocket rocket miniature motorcycles and cars will be the biggest problem this holiday season. They’re low to the ground and can go about 12 miles an hour. He said it’s hard for cars to spot them, so kids get hit while riding them down the street. The fast speed can cause kids to get seriously injured if they crash.

Hafner said all kids are in danger of damaging their hearing with new toys. He said if a toy seems loud to you, it could be doing irreversible damage to your growing child. According to the Safe Kids Coalition, toys shouldn’t be louder than 90 decibels—or the ring on your phone.

For a list of warnings on specific toys this holiday season, go to www.cpsc.gov.  TPW