Carelessness ruins the school holidays of dozens of families every year
The long-awaited spring break for schoolchildren is here. Before children rush off to enjoy their free days at public entertainment venues and sports fields and pack their bags for a sports camp or a family trip, parents should discuss safe behaviour with them. Insurance claims received by the insurance joint-stock company BTA Baltic Insurance Company (BTA) over the years show that carelessness spoils the joy of vacation for dozens of families.
Statistics from the last three years of spring break show that children are most often injured during sports activities. Two-thirds of all Accident indemnity claims received during the week off are related to injuries to children on sports fields. This can be explained both by the fact that basketball, football and other sports tournaments or camps are often held during the holidays, and by the fact that teenagers themselves use the warm weather to engage in sports with their friends without adult supervision.
“School spring break is usually a time when children and teenagers “lose the brakes”. Free from school and often from the supervision of busy parents, pupils tend to forget about caution on the streets, sports fields, and entertainment venues. Unfortunately, this tends to lead to unpleasant incidents. Not to spoil the joy of the week off, I urge parents to remind their children to follow safety rules outside the home and to take care of their child’s insurance, which will protect them from unplanned expenses,” says BTA Insurance Board Member Evija Matveja.
If the weather is warm during spring break, then trampoline season usually opens during these days, and insurers receive the first claims for injuries sustained on them. Often, injuries occur because children have forgotten safety rules during the winter – many children jump on the trampoline concurrently and jump on top of each other, causing sprains or serious bruises.
Injuries are sustained even in everyday situations, such as when younger children get carried away with reckless playing in their room. BTA has received claims for accidents in which children jumped on the bed until they fell out of it, crashed into a shelf while running or overturned heavy objects that consequently fell on them.
You definitely need insurance if you plan to go on a vacation to a ski or other active recreation resort. Of the injuries sustained during travel, those most typical for spring break are the ones received on ski slopes – bruises, fractures and concussions. Travel insurance will also help if a trip is planned, but your child gets the flu during the last days of school and the trip has to be cancelled. It will also be useful if a child loses an identity document while travelling and the family needs to stay in a hotel longer or purchase new airline tickets until the document is replaced.
Additional information:
Līva Strautmane
Manager of Communication
AAS BTA Baltic Insurance Company
E-mail: liva.strautmane@bta.lv
Mobile phone: +371 26065133
