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

• Be a role model for the child by having a healthy lifestyle.
• Ensure that the child gets adequate sleep. For children through 5 years of age, the suggested bedtime is 7-8 PM.; for those ages 6-10, it is 8-9 PM. Encourage regular physical activity.
• Limit television watching to an average of one hour per day of appropriate programs (this also includes video or computer games). Watch the programs together and discuss them.
• Establish and enforce consistent, explicit, and firm rules for safe behavior.
• Ensure that the child wears a seat belt in the car at all times.
• Teach the child about 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 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 near water.
• Continue to put sunscreen on the child before he goes outside to play or swim. Continue to keep the child's environment free of smoke. Test smoke detectors to ensure that they work properly, Change batteries yearly.
• Teach the child about safety rules for the home. 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. A trigger lock is an additional important precaution.
• Teach the child about safety rules for getting to and from school. Teach pedestrian and neighborhood safety skills. Teach the child about safety rules for bicycles. Teach the correct signals for traffic safety (e.g., right turn, left turn, and stop).
• Ensure that the child always wears a helmet when riding a bicycle.
• Discuss playground safety with the child. Ensure that the child is supervised before and after school in a safe environment.
• Choose caregivers carefully. Discuss with them their attitudes about and behavior in relation to discipline. Prohibit corporal punishment.
• Teach the child about 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.