[LASD] – For most of us, Thanksgiving has become a national day of cooking. Keeping children safe from bubbling pots, sharp knives, and other household dangers is a major concern for most parents during this festive time of year, but with these few tips, you’ll surely have a safer holiday.

• If you are deep frying a turkey, make sure it is kept outside and away from walls, fences, and other structures.

• Do not deep fry a frozen turkey. Just imagine if you place water onto a hot frying pan filled with oil, the hot oil will immediately splash onto your skin and causing a burn. Water and Oil simply do not mix.

• If children are around the kitchen, make sure to utilized the furthest burner and face handles of pots and pans inward away from their reach.

• Avoid loose clothing and wearing long sleeves while cooking. Also, while dinner is on the table, make sure the mats are unreachable to young children; it may cause adults, children and pets to get seriously burned.

• Avoid cross-contamination in the kitchen. Wash cutting boards, plates and knives immediately after cutting any raw meats.

• Choking accounts for many U.S. deaths each year. The universal sign of a choking person choking is that he/she will instinctively grab their throat, panic, and may wheeze or gasp for breath. If a person can cough, there is a partial blockage of the airway, which normally can be resolved by forcefully coughing.

The American Red Cross suggest the following for conscious and unconscious choking individuals:

• For back blows, position yourself behind the person. Provide support by placing one arm diagonally across the chest and lean the person forward. Strike the person on the back between the shoulder blades with the heel of your other hand.

• For abdominal thrust, stand or kneel behind the person and wrap your arms around his or her waist. Make a fist with one hand and place the thumb side against the middle of the victim’s abdomen, just above the navel and below the lower tip of the breastbone. Grab your fist with your other hand and give quick inward and upward thrusts into the abdomen.

• Repeat this until the object becomes dislodged or the person becomes unconscious. Unconscious choking requires a more in-depth care. Please view or enroll yourself to the American Red Cross First Aid and CPR course. For more information visit http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/courses/.

Visit your local SPCA website on more information on what foods to give or not to give to dogs and cats.