Spooktacular safety; Halloween reminders and tips for parents

Good morning, everybody. Welcome back to Real Milwaukee. Having a good time over here with Sarah. Okay, so Halloween is almost here, but before you go pounding the pavement for trick or treating, there are some safety tips to keep in mind for the big day. That's right. And Sarah Rushford from Ebenezer Child Care Centers is joining us now live as a child expert. I think you have a thing or two when it comes to Halloween. Just a few things. Yes. Making sure the kids can have fun, but can do so in a way that's, you know, safe and all of that. So we got to start with costumes. I think for a lot of kids, they start thinking about this in like July. Totally. Well, they're putting it out literally in July at the start, so the kids are not sure what to go into it. But what's really important for families and the viewers at home to know is picking out the proper costume. Although our kiddos are all like, I want that. But there's some things that we need to keep in mind. Sure. The first thing that we want to keep in mind is tripping hazards. Okay. You know, the things that have long capes. What about the little girls that get that dress the fairy dress that's like dragging all over right you don't want your little one tripping and falling and doing all that kind of stuff the other thing to keep in mind are these bad boys now i know i've talked about this in the past and i might be dating myself but there used to be a time in the 80s when we had full plastic masks with a pin prick for eye holes and there was like nothing to breathe they've enhanced a little bit but still even this kind of mask isn't exactly the greatest because the eyes are not fully it's kind of closed off a little bit and the nose can be kind of closed off too okay so i would advise families to pick more like these soft options right where the full face is breathable even look at this cute little guy this is a cute little pumpkin and you just add there's no mask right you can add the little top i love baby halloween isn't it cute and then for like this time of year that'll be more warm to be in as opposed to some other costumes and and donovan to your point the other thing that we want to keep in mind is especially the little ladies who want their fairy princesses and stuff and although we love rob and he's really good with the forecast wisconsin's unpredictable right and sometimes it may not be 75 degrees it might be 40 and raining yep so you have this but also another alternative nick is going with something like where you can have a costume that you can kind of layer with the longer sleeves and then you can do something fun like this gloves right a little kiddie thing but also to avoid masks all together use face paint oh that's like like the paint right so you can paint yeah on those things so that you can keep your kiddo warm and safe but at the same time you know having fun and being creative with these, like or something like this that's more colorful Yeah, exactly. And that's a really great point. You are highlighting exactly what we want our kids to be wearing on Halloween, right? This bright, beautiful yellow. This black, especially with a lot of municipalities that are having nighttime trick-or-treat. You want bright colors so that not only can you spot them, but what about all the traffic? Especially in a high-traffic area, you want vehicles and other people to see the little kiddos running to and from the houses. So you want to stay in line with these brighter colors. And a lot of communities in our area, too, don't have sidewalks. No, they don't. Oh, good point. My neighborhood doesn't. Yeah, you're right. That's a very good point. So they're in the streets. So you want to make sure. Do you recommend those? Maybe, like, they can be kind of a cool accessory as a necklace or bracelet for kiddos. Yeah. Except that they're really for safety reasons as well. Yeah, so we've got the little glow sticks. And then what about these? You can even get them where the little necklace is. Nice. So they don't even lose them all together. Oh, fair. Dollar store. You can get these things from the Dollar Tree. Even like little, like tiny little flashlights, too, are a really great alternative to help keep them safe while they're trick-or-treating in the nighttime or when it's getting dusk out. You want to keep them safe so everybody can see them. I think I'd throw an AirTag on my kid if I had one. Oh, that's smart. Yeah. Crack on my phone. Because they are running ahead of you to go to the next house. Little Johnny is at everybody's house. They sure are. I need to make sure I see little Johnny wherever he is. I have something for your backpack. Very true, very true. Okay, so we got to talk about pumpkin carving. Which I did for the first time like five years ago. Believe it or not. What? I was a grown man when I first. No, we never carved as a kid. So this will be my second time talking about this. Okay. Awesome. The first time five years ago. Okay, well, Donovan, I'm going to introduce you to something really cool and fun. Let's hear it. Oh, I love this. Okay, so did you carve your pumpkin with like a knife and like having the patterns? Okay, can we unpack this? How am I supposed to go through with this little, like, get out? Let's just say you're going to be hours long. That's going to be gross. The good news is if you give this to a kid and expect them to carve that, eight hours. Right, right. The technology, you'll be good for a while. They won't be using technology. But the frustration for both mom and kiddo is going to be to the nth degree. It's like carving a high sculptor with a butter knife. Get out of here. I know. Now, the good thing about these, they're not sharp. They're safe for a kid, okay? So if you are really into the old school, you want to be creative and do whatever. But that's not necessary, okay? Okay, sure. Donovan, I have this really cool thing. Yes, ma'am. Amazon. It's a pumpkin carving kit. You know what this is? This is specific for pumpkins. They're cookie cutters. Okay. Just for pumpkins. Can we cut it apart? Yeah. Stab it in there? You want to just like, you want to try it? Will you walk me through this? Yeah, so you're going to just, you're going to put, that's the sharp side. You're going to, this is really easy, Nick. So you're going to take this mallet. I'll hold the pumpkin for you. Okay. Take the mallet. And now you're going to pound it in. Just pound it in there. It's going to go in. Pound hard. Now you can let go of your hand. Okay. No, you're going to keep it on there. Oh, okay. Sorry. Because you want the whole thing to go through. Oh, that's what I'm glad. I will say, though, you've got to, well, I don't want to get a finger done. I don't want to, like, this is a lot of work as well. Don't even get over here. Okay. All right. Nick, you didn't make a dent. What are you doing? I made a dent. Okay, you didn't. I'm making sure. Yep, that's the hard side. We're not weightlifting at the WAC. Yep, just go ahead. Pound that buddy in there. It's hard. Don't be shy. There you go. Now keep pounding. Go, Don. Go. There you go. And now it's going to come through on the other side here. I'm going to, like, stick my finger. Oh, you got it. There you go. Look at it. And we got our hard for you. Right? hard for you yeah so you can't be shy with it but yeah and then you have like it just pounds out and then the really cool thing is the kit does come with the different cookie cutters so you can see what kind of design out the mouth and the eyes and stuff like that also when you were carving your pumpkin yes how long did it take you to take the innards out it was a good little minute did you use like a spoon i used a spoon with my former co-anchor yeah and yeah at work This was, like, at a work segment because I had never done it before, so they were teaching me. Okay. In any case, yes, we had a huge spoon. Okay. I'm going to change your life. Check this bad boy. Yes, ma'am. This thing cleaned. Did you see how clean this thing is? Oh, it looks great. Within minutes, it cleaned the inside of that pumpkin. Sarah, it took us a little minute. It came with this kit. Okay. See, we were missing that. Yeah. Yeah. This actually looks like a high-quality. It is. Like, this is good. This is legit. and it just cleaned the bad boy out and it's less frustration and for those of us who are not good and honestly think about with knives you're trying to carve this stuff out i know i've cut myself in the past and we want to keep everybody safe the adults and the kids so this is a great alternative love it amazon you can get these really easy i think it was less than 20 bucks for the whole kit oh nice and they clean oh you're year after year after year corn squash anything oh Yeah, yeah, that's a great idea. And then mindful of your pumpkins. Don't use regular flammable candles. You want to use tea-light candles to avoid flames. Where can folks find you or some of your advice and tips if they need a tip? Absolutely, EbenezerChildcare.com. We have seven locations. We're always growing our family, not only with children and families, but also with staff. So come check us out. And one last thing for a reminder of tips. After that trick-or-treating, you want to go through the kiddo's candy. you want to look for not only the choking hazards right for small children these type of candies are choking hazards but what about when you pull this out and it's unwrapped oh sadly we're still in a day where you can't you want to trash out the things that are unwrapped and not so make sure you go through and don't forget your candy tax for going through that pulling out the favorites there it is right so don't forget that's one of the pleasures exactly exactly thank you you're very welcome all right well coming up next we're going to check back in with brian cramp he's eating good at marcus beater