Summer time in the Pacific Northwest goes hand-in-hand with airing out our homes and feeling a breeze through open windows. However, summer also brings a not-so-well-known but preventable tragedy among small children -- window falls.

In the U.S., 3,300 children fall from windows every year with 70% falling from second or third-story windows.

Take these small steps to protect your child:

• Always supervise children
• Never open windows more than four inches
• Open windows from top down, if possible
• Move furniture away from windows
• Install window stops or releasable child-safety window guards to restrict opening a minimum of 4".
• Never rely on window screens to prevent a child from falling out a window. Screens are designed to pop out for fire safety. The weight of a toddler can easily push through a screen.

Teach your children that "screens keep bugs out, they do not keep kids in" and to play a safe distance from windows - and enforce this rule in your home (i.e. "we play one big step away from windows").