8

Here are some tips for staying healthy and safe during camping or at a day camp.

Summer is here and it’s time to celebrate! Here's how we can enjoy some of our favourite summer activities safely.

​In my mind’s eye, teaching my just-turned-five-year-old nephew how to ride a bike would make for delightful memories resulting in his lifelong enjoyment of this popular activity. In reality, it was not. Here are some tried and true tips in teaching bike safety.

Walking my kids to school every day, even during the winter, has taught me to always be mindful of the temperature outside. However, when something is done daily, it becomes routine, and complacency can set in. This is how I learned about frostbite.

Jim and his wife always remind their friends how important it is to wear their lifejackets when they go out on the water.

A few years ago, they were out fishing in a Saskatchewan provincial park with another couple. Jim remembers asking his wife if she had caught a fish. That’s when he noticed that she appeared to be dozing off.
 

When our daughter Ruby was six months old, we enrolled in Red Cross lessons at our local pool. Those first few lessons were tough, with a crying unhappy baby but we stuck with it. Very quickly Ruby started to gain confidence, and with that a love of the water. She is so proud of every level she completes and looks forward to spending time at the pool each week. This past winter Ruby started synchronized swimming, and those Red Cross swimming lessons helped her pick up the choreography and strokes more quickly.  Those basic swimming skills are the foundation of all water activities like diving, snorkelling, paddle boarding, skim boarding and more. 
 

Swimming back to shore wasn’t exactly how the kayaking day trip was supposed to end. It was a warm, sunny day in July when Serge, his wife Carole and their youngest son, Xavier, decided to head out in their sea kayak to explore Skull Island, not too far from their cottage in southeastern New Brunswick. The water is usually relatively calm in the bay and warm, perfect for kayaking.
 

Ah August, when summer is in full bloom. It’s a beautiful time of year with hopefully plenty of sun and heat. It is also the time when you have to start thinking of autumn. For us, that means thinking of activities for our son, particularly swim lessons.