hurt them badly or even kill them.

Accidents to children are not the same as accidents to adults. That's because children are not little adults. As they grow up, they don't just get bigger - they learn to do new things - exciting things like crawling, walking or riding a bicycle. They can take you by surprise. Suddenly they can do something for the first time and like any beginner, they may be clumsy.

Children do not behave like grown-ups either. They want to play they want to find out about the world. They do things for fun, like climbing trees or sliding down banisters.

Many accidents happen because children do not concentrate. They rush about and fall over their own feet. They dash into the road. They gobble food and choke.

It is difficult to prove that there is such a thing as an accident prone person, but everybody has a story about a child who's always needing stitches.

Some children are certainly more at a risk.

Boys appear to have more accidents than girls. It seems they get into more mischief! A lot of people say accidents are a normal part of growing up, of course everybody gets bumps and bruises and we all have scars from childhood on our knees but no-one needs to have a bad accident, bad enough to leave a child in hospital or worse.

Falls are the most common accident for children of all ages. Other accidents to children include cuts and bruises, burns and scalds, ingestion, inhalation, suffocation or poisoning and others such as drowning.

Newborn babies can't understand anything you say. By age a year they will know yes and no and be able to say a couple of words, but they are not going to understand if you tell them about safety. And they do not learn the lesson if they do have an accident. They might scald themselves by trying to drink daddy's hot tea one day, then do the same thing tomorrow.

Two year olds will not listen to a word you tell them. They'll just go off and do the opposite. At three children are old enough to start to learn. They can get to grips with some ideas like "Hot'' and "Sharp''. They can learn that the sidewalk is for people and the road is for cars.

A five year old can be told how to cross the road but can't be trusted to do so alone. At eight children can remember what they have been told and be sensible long enough to cross a quiet road safely. A 12 year old can tell how fast cars are going and cross in traffic.

Every family must work out its own way to be safe. There are three catch phrases to remember.

1. Think safety. Try to have safety in mind every time you think of children, have you sought a safe pram or stroller or one simple to match your colour scheme? Is it safe to put an extra child in the back seat of a car? Is that toy with the tiny pieces right for your two year old? You need to be on the ball in order to keep your children safe.

2. Know your child/children. Know their bodies and the things they can do.

Know their minds how much they can learn and understand. What sort of child/children are they? Good as gold who listen and do as you say or cheeky and won't take any notice! This will help you work out what are the right safety measures for your home.

3. Plan ahead. Get started with safety before accidents are ready to happen.

If its something in the house, sort it out while baby is tiny. Get get that stair fixed, carpet fixed or that window catch repaired. If it is something to buy, have one in plenty of time. Get a baby car seat for baby's first car ride. Get a stair gate before baby can crawl upstairs.

If you know your children -- what they can do and what they like to do for fun -- you can tell what sort of accident to expect.

VALERIE CHEAPE Health Visitor.

HEALTH HTH