5 Summer Activities ER Doctors Wouldn't Let Their Own Kids Do

Summer is hopefully a season for kids to spend lots of time playing outside, enjoying pools, parks, beaches, trails and other outdoor spaces.

When engaging in outdoor fun, especially with little ones, accidents and injuries are bound to happen occasionally. Many of these incidents are minor — thank goodness — but some can be quite serious.

We asked emergency room doctors which summertime activities they wouldn’t want their own kids participating in. Below, they share their recommendations and offer tips on what caregivers can do to help keep their families safe and prevent hospital visits ― and what they should never let kids do in summer, or any other time of year.

1. Swim or be near water without careful supervision.

Drowning is the leading cause of death for kids ages 1 to 4 and the second leading cause of accidental death for kids ages 5 to 14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even when a drowning incident is non-fatal, it can still lead to serious health consequences such as brain damage or permanent disability. So it makes sense that ER doctors are especially vigilant when it comes to kids and water safety.

“I’ll never let my kids go to pools or any body of water alone,” Dr. Nkeiru Orajiaka, an emergency medicine pediatrician in Columbus, Ohio, told HuffPost. “Drowning can happen within seconds, and kids should never swim alone, because they can drown. There should always be a designated water watcher whenever kids are around any body of water. Home pools should always have fences.”

If there are multiple adults present, it’s a good idea to change water watchers — i.e. the person giving their undivided attention to the swimmers — every 15 minutes or so. The National Drowning Prevention