During the National Day holiday, many families choose to travel with their children. The children have fun and there is no room for carelessness in safety. On social platforms, "Internet celebrity projects" such as high-altitude swings and via ferrata rock climbing continue to hit the screen. Can young children play them? Is the "Guidelines for Children Taking High-Speed Rail Alone" circulating on the Internet really feasible? Are these "traveling remedies with children" such as vitamin B1 to repel mosquitoes and ginger slices to prevent motion sickness reliable?
Experience indoor children's play equipment and be alert to potential danger points. During the National Day holiday, major theme parks and indoor children's playgrounds attracted many tourists to experience it. How should parents prevent potential safety risks when taking their children to experience small indoor entertainment facilities?
At an indoor rock climbing gym in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, the reporter saw safety instructions posted in prominent locations inside the gym. Staff would explain and demonstrate the most basic rules and safe falling postures to first-time customers to avoid injuries.
In some indoor children's parks, the person in charge used dolls to demonstrate several danger points that are easily ignored by parents: when the merry-go-round rotates, children may put their hands into the gaps between the carousels out of curiosity, causing them to get stuck or even fractures and sprains; when playing on the trampoline , put your feet into the gap, and other children ran over and jumped up without paying attention, causing trampling injuries; some opening and closing parts and door gaps may pinch your hands if you are not careful; if you do not follow the sitting position on the slide or slide across the aisle, it is easy to lose your center of gravity and fall, or bump into other children.
Have you paid attention to the safety hazards when taking your children to outdoor amusement rides? In addition to indoor children's amusement projects, outdoor projects also attract a large number of parents to experience with their children during holidays. However, some dangerous cases have also exposed problems such as insufficient safety protection for children in some tourism projects.
In recent years, emerging outdoor "tourism projects" such as high-altitude swings, via ferrata climbing, cliff rafting, and jungle leaps have continued to become popular after being spread on social platforms, attracting many young people to experience them, and have become the "traffic password" of many scenic spots. However, behind the growth of traffic, some projects have not fully kept up with the protection of children's safety. During this summer vacation, in the Nanjiang Grand Canyon Scenic Area in Kaiyang, Guizhou, a child of about 10 years old and about 1.3 meters tall was trying to experience the "Canyon to Sky" via ferrata rock climbing project. He lost his hand due to lack of physical strength and fell from a high altitude and hit the cliff. Fortunately, he was grabbed by an adult tourist below, preventing more serious consequences. Regarding similar situations, staff at the scenic spot have said that they have become commonplace.
"Ferrada", also known as railway rock climbing, is a rock climbing sport that uses steel handrails, pedals, fixed cables and other equipment to travel on the rock wall. However, the reporter learned that there are currently no unified supervision rules for the "Via Lada" project in my country, and various scenic spots have different age, height and other requirements for experiencers.
Emerging entertainment projects iterate quickly, how to ensure safety? The reporter inquired about the new version of the "Safety Technical Regulations for Large Amusement Facilities" that will be implemented in March 2024 and found that it has made clear provisions on the safety performance and use management of outdoor recreational facilities such as cliff swings and high-altitude bungee jumping that have become popular recently. In addition to hardware and personnel management that must comply with national safety standards, the operating unit must also focus on whether the height, weight, and age of the experiencers meet the requirements before tourists ride. Experts said that due to the rapid iterative changes of some emerging entertainment projects, the formulation of relevant age admission standards is slightly lagging behind.
Song Changyao, director of the Department of Tourism Management at Beijing International Studies University, said that many Internet celebrity projects use thrills and excitement as a selling point to attract tourists. However, because they are new business types, they lack unified standards and regulations, and the requirements for participants are also lenient and strict. Some operators lack strict control over the age and height of tourists, and even allow minors to participate in projects that are not suitable for their physical and mental conditions. In fact, special equipment such as high-altitude swings and "via ferrata", or high-risk projects, pose certain risks to adults. For children, their judgment, emergency response and physical endurance are far from mature. Once an accident occurs, the consequences will be more serious. As a business entity, scenic spots should not only calculate traffic and revenue accounts, but also safety accounts. They should put the safety of tourists, especially children, first and strictly abide by it as a red line.
In addition, experts said that when some adult tourists experience Internet celebrity tourism projects, they often use "the courage to challenge" as an excuse, ignore safety instructions, and acquiesce in allowing young children to experience some dangerous projects without meeting the standards. These conceptual misunderstandings often lead to children's safety being easily threatened.
Whether it is indoors or outdoors, when taking your children to play amusement rides during the holidays, you must adhere to these safety bottom lines: First, check whether the height and age meet the standards. Don't force it if it's not up to standard, even if the merchant is accommodating. Choose a formal business location. Equipment must be registered and personnel must hold certificates to work. Listen to instructions while playing. Fasten your seat belts and safety bars, sit firmly and securely, and do not unlock safety devices without authorization. Parents, don’t take chances. Don’t think that “it’s okay to just play for a while”. If you feel unwell, don’t play exciting projects.
Can children ride the high-speed rail alone? Are there hosting services? During the National Day holiday, many tourists choose to take the high-speed rail with their children. Previously, the so-called "Guidelines for Children Riding High-Speed Rail Alone" had been circulated on social platforms. Can children ride the high-speed rail alone? In response to related issues, as well as parents' concerns about "whether there are discounted tickets for children" and whether there is "child care services" on the train, the reporter interviewed railway department staff.
Wang Linna, deputy secretary of the Party Branch of the Passenger Transport Workshop of Beijing West Railway Station, said that the passenger regulations of the China Railway Group clearly stipulate that except for students who commute to school on daily trains and children who have been specially approved by the railway transportation enterprise and confirmed to be monitored during the journey, minors under the age of 14 must in principle travel with adults. Among them, children under 6 years old need to check in with adults to get on the train; children under 14 years old with children's discount tickets can enter the station by themselves, but they should travel with adult passengers. If the passenger has declared that the child is traveling alone, the railway department has the right to refuse the child to travel alone.
According to reports, in accordance with relevant regulations of the railway department, children who are traveling with adults and are over 6 years old and under 14 years old can purchase child discount tickets; those over 14 years old should purchase full-price tickets. Each ticket-holding adult passenger can bring one child under the age of 6 who does not occupy a separate seat for free; if there is more than one child, the excess number must purchase a child discount ticket. At present, the railway department does not offer a full-time escort service for children, nor does it have services such as "automatic custody" and "full care by flight attendants". The railway department reminds that parents are the legal guardians of minors, and child passengers must travel with adult passengers to prevent various accidents during the journey and ensure the safety of child passengers.
To prevent mosquitoes and motion sickness when traveling with children, are the online remedies reliable? When traveling with children, parents need various "recipes". The "vitamin B1 repellent" circulated on the Internet can be taken orally or sprayed. Is it true? My child feels dizzy and nauseous as soon as he gets in the car. Is it reliable to "contain ginger slices and drink ginger water to prevent motion sickness"?
Diao Tongxiang, deputy chief physician of the Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery at Peking University People's Hospital, said that currently we believe that ginger plays more of a role in reducing nausea and stomach discomfort caused by motion sickness. It cannot be used as a standard treatment with clear efficacy, especially because you cannot ignore other effective measures to prevent motion sickness just because you drink ginger water. I get dizzy as soon as I sit in a car. What are some practical ways to prevent or alleviate it in advance? Diao Tongxiang suggested that many people will experience symptoms of motion sickness when sitting in the back row, but it is not easy to get sick when sitting in the passenger or main driver's seat. This is because he can see the changes in the road and anticipate turns, acceleration and deceleration, so that the vision and vestibular sense are matched, and the symptoms of motion sickness can be reduced or even avoided.
Zhang Tokyo, associate professor at the Department of Pathogen Biology and Biosafety, Sun Yat-sen School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, said that most of the reports on vitamin B1 repellent mosquitoes come from literature before 1990. After 2000, we found that vitamin B1 was not effective in repelling mosquitoes in 49 reviews, including 16 mosquito bite guidelines and 4 public government documents.
