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CINCINNATI -- With monsters, witches and super-heroes, Halloween can be filled with tricks and treats, but danger and hazards can be lurking anywhere. The potential for children being hit and killed by a vehicle rises fourfold on Halloween. Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Safe Kids Coalition urge parents to prepare their children for a safe, enjoyable Halloween with the following safety tips.

Costumes

• Apply non-toxic face paint or cosmetics directly to the face as an alternative to masks. If you select a mask, make sure it fits securely and has large eyeholes for full vision.
• Allow your child to wear short costumes and properly fitting shoes to avoid tripping.
• Look for "flame resistant" labels on costumes, masks, beards and wigs.
• Allow children to carry only flexible knives, swords or other props. Anything that is carried has the potential for an injury.
• Use costumes that are light or bright enough to make children more visible at night.
• Decorate costumes, bags, and sacks with retroreflective tape and stickers.

Trick-or-treating

• Accompany children under age 10.
• Attach the name, address and phone number of children to their clothes in case they become separated from adults.
• Allow your child to travel only in familiar areas, along a pre-established route with a flashlight to guide their way.
• Tell your child to walk, not run, making sure to stop at all street corners and look left, right and left again before crossing.
• Never allow your child to dart out into a street or cross between parked cars. They should cross streets only at intersections and crosswalks.
• Teach children their home phone number and make sure they have change to call home.
• Restrict trick-or-treating visits to homes with an illuminated porch or outside light. Tell children never to enter a home or an apartment building.
• The sidewalk is the safest place for trick-or-treaters. Teach children not to cut across yards.
• Keep jack-o-lanterns lit with candles away from landings or doorsteps where costumes might brush against the flame.
• Establish set time for children to return home.

Candy

It is most important for parents to inspect their children's candy to make sure each piece is individually wrapped and safely sealed before allowing them to sample any. "Children's Hospital does not X-ray candy because it would only reveal if the candy was tainted with metallic objects," says Chuck Schubert, M.D., a physician in the Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati Emergency Medicine Division. "Many foreign objects cannot be detected by X-ray."

The same special treats children bring home can be the root of tooth decay. James F. Steiner, D.D.S., director of the Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati Dentistry program, says to help prevent cavities, parents should encourage their children to get their candy-bingeing over as quickly as possible. "If children extend their candy-eating over a long period of time, they are more likely to have tooth decay," says Dr. Steiner. Although occasional overeating of candy may be a part of growing up, Dr. Steiner recommends children be "subtly relieved" of their candy a few days after Halloween.

Children's Fears

Halloween can sometimes be a frightening holiday for children. To help ease the fright of "monsters" and unfamiliar sights, child psychologists at Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati say parents should help their children interpret Halloween as a make-believe situation. For example, parents can show their children that someone is just wearing a mask by asking that person to remove it. In addition, allowing children to try on their costumes before Halloween can give them time to get used to how they look.