We have had threads on Scottish midges v Canadian mozzies/midges, one on and i`m sure others that I have not found yet in the history of the site, But with two kids 13 and 9 that love the out doors what real dangers do I have to warn them about,


We are coming form Scotland and hopefully will be living in Ontario, Whitby area..

It really depends on where your kids will be outdoors and what they'll be doing but here's some stuff that I was taught growing up:
- Don't eat yellow snow.
- Don't feed wildlife.
- Wildlife means wild - they are not cartoon characters or pet-like.
- If you get bit or scratched by an animal, tell an adult.
- Becareful on certain beaches - surge waves, watch the tide.
- Always bring a salt shaker when you go swimming in a still lake.
- how to upright a canoe in deep water and get back in (and all the prereqisites like knowing how to swim, tread water, canoe...)
- don't go out on frozen lakes, ponds, rivers until and adult 'ok's it.
- don't go tobaganning on hills with a quick endings
- if you get a tick, don't yank it out.
- don't eat those mushrooms.
- the man offering a ride and/or some candy is probably a perv.
- some 'bear aware' stuff

What I learned the hard way:
- don't lick frozen metal things (most kids are told this previously but it seems almost everyone needs to learn this one the hard way ).
- when out in the woods, remember what poison oak looks like and watch where you squat.
- while camping, when tying your food up in a tree, make sure the tree is strong enough to hold the weight and far enough away so that when it falls over it doesn't crush your tent.
- no matter how remote you think you are, as soon as you go skinny dipping, someone appears out of nowhere.

Wasabi, understood most of your advise, but couldn't fathom this one. At the risk of looking completely stupid - Why would you need a salt shaker to swim in a still lake? or should that of been a 'salt' lake and even then why?

Dozzzzy

If you get a leech stuck on you, you can just shake some salt on them and they unsucked themselves from your flesh and fall off.

Thanks for the lovely images in my mind now.

Dozzzzy

Sunburn. It's a lot hotter and the sun's a lot more intense here than in Scotland. The lake is dirty, don't drink it. It's cold, even in summer don't fall off a boat into it. The ice is thin, do not join dbd's children in that stupid game of seeing who dares go farthest out on to it.

Shower and dry after swimming in certain lakes - infections caused by duck bugs. Or even better - choose somewhere else to swim.

POISON IVY!!! :scared:

Warning.... gross link

By the way, I think I read somewhere in passing that the current best practice advice for ticks is speed is more important than accuracy, so just yank it out if you have to. Scraping it off with a credit card or knife is supposed to be a good fast way, but always check for bits left behind. Guess it depends on the type of tick though. Mostly here they are the small Deer ticks I think.

Do not eat fish caught in Ontario.

...beyond the levels recomended by the MNR

I considered posting a link to one of those signs saying that it's safe to eat a fish once a year if one never intends to get pregnant and if one does not suffer from any of a list of conditions and if the fish isn't a bottom feeder and if it's not from a long lived species and if it's less than so many metric pounds but I thought "Dont' eat 'em" was an adequate summation.

Fair Point

hammer this one home.... Rabies is a very real issue here!!!

Don't eat the dirt and wash hands after playing and getting dirty because of
blastomycosis is in the soil here.


Not giving any particular link as you'll all be able to find one with your desination in mind.