Dr. M.J. Bazos, MD, Patient Handout
8 Year Old Anticipatory Guidance

• Supervise the child's activities with peers. Be a role model for the child by having a healthy lifestyle.
• Ensure that the child gets adequate sleep. For children 6-10 years of age, the suggested bedtime is 8-9 PM.
• Encourage regular physical activity.
• Limit television watching to an average of one hour per day of appropriate programs.
• Supervise the child's personal care and hygiene.
• Counsel the child about avoiding the use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. Ensure that the child's school curriculum includes information about substance abuse.
• Reinforce important safety considerations. Anticipate that the child may make errors in judgment because he is trying to imitate peers. Anticipate providing less direct supervision.
• Ensure that the child wears a seat belt in the car at all times.
• Reinforce with the child safety rules for swimming pools. Teach the child how to swim. Ensure that swimming pools in the child's community, in his apartment complex, or at his home have a four-sided fence with a self-closing, self-latching gate. Children should be supervised by an adult whenever they are in or around water.
• Ensure that the child puts on sunscreen before he goes outside for long periods of time. Sunscreens should have at least a Sun Protection Factor (SPF)of 15.
• Continue to keep the child's environment free of smoke. Test smoke detectors to ensure that they work properly. Change batteries yearly. Reinforce with the child safety rules for the home, including what to do when home alone. Discuss visitors, not tying up the telephone for long periods of time, and what to do in case of fire or other emergencies. Conduct fire drills at home.
• Lock up poisons, matches, and electrical tools. Ensure that guns, if in the home, are locked up and that ammunition is stored separately. Reinforce the child's knowledge of neighborhood safety rules. Reinforce with the child safety rules for bicycles, including use of proper traffic signals. Ensure that the child always wears a helmet when riding a bicycle. Ensure that the child is supervised before and after school in a safe environment. Reinforce with the child safety rules for interacting with strangers (e.g. answering the telephone or the door or never getting into a stranger's car). Ensure that the child's school curriculum includes information on how to deal with strangers.
• Reinforce sports safety with the child, including the need to wear protective sports gear such as a mouth guard or a face protector.
• Do not allow the child to operate a power lawn mower or motorized farm equipment.