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what you can do
•••
TIMELY
Tips and
Helpful
Suggestions for YOU and YOUR
FAMILY
•
Marital Problems? Seeking Help
Early Recommended
One reason so many marriages end in divorce is that
many couples do not seek help when marriage problems first
arise. Problems are often allowed to continue over extended
periods of time or are allowed to build to explosive
proportions.
In one survey of 500 couples that had begun divorce
actions, researchers found that 71 percent did not counsel
concerning thcir marital difficulties before seeking a divorce.
Many divorces could have been prevented if tbe couples
having serious difficulties had sougbt marriage counseling
early. Even when a couple is already involved in divorce
proceedings, chances for reconciliation are good if both hus–
band and wife seek a marriage conciliatory counselor. Los
Angeles County Conciliation Court statistics indicate a 60 to
70 percent reconciliation rate in such cases.
If
you need marriage counseling help, be extremely
cautious in selecting a counselor. Be wary of seeking help
through newspaper or magazine ads or telephone directory
yellow pages. In sorne cases, the "marriage counselors" who
solicit clients by such means are non-professional and unqual–
ified. Sorne are outright quacks.
If
you are already married and would like sorne basic
points to help make your marriage a success, write for our
free reprint, "Five Ways to Save Your Marriage."
•
Avoiding Power Tool Accidents
Each year, thousands of "weekend handymen" are in–
jured while using home power tools. Common injuries in–
elude severe lacerations to hands ( sometimes with loss of one
or more fingers), loss of eyesight caused by flying fragments,
and electrical shocks from poorly insulated or ungrounded
power tools. Most of these accidents are preventable.
To avoid becoming a "power too! casualty," exercise
caution and remember a few basic safety rules. Use safety
hoods and guards when using tools such as electric grinders.
Wear protective shatterproof glasses. Buy "double insulated"
power tools. Jf the ordinary insulation wears out, another
insulation system will keep electrical parts from touching the
housing. Buy tools witb built-in grounding systems (ground–
ing wire or tbird prong on the plug). Don't change a part,
adjust, refuel 'or clean a power too! with the power on. Keep
power tools out of reach of children.
•
Some Baby Cribs Unsafe
Sorne 200 infant deaths (and many more near rnisses)
occur in the United States each year because of unsafe baby
AmiHJitdOI
C()l/~t
cribs, according to the
final Report of the National Contmis–
sion On Prod11ct Safety.
The hazards arise when there is too
much space between the crib's vertical slats. This allows the
infant's body to go through the slats but not the head
- thus the hazard of strangulation. Pediatric measurements
indicate that a slat space of 3
y
2
inches or over is potcntially
dangerous. Investigations by the commission on product
safety, however, revealed that the average slat spacc in cribs
on the market exceeded that figure.
A survey conducted by the Department of Health, Edu–
cation and Welfare disclosed that higher-quality cribs
provided more slats, insuring smaller and safer spaces
between them. A $19.88 crib had 10 slats per side and an
unsafe space of 3% inches between them. Three cribs selling
for an average of $33.22 had
1
t
slats and 3V
2
-inch separa–
tions. Another three cribs averaging $56.55 had 12 slats per
side with a safer 3· to 3Y<t-inch slat separation.
1f
you are in
the market for a baby crib, or playpen, you may want to take
along a ruler and measure the distance between the slats to
be
sure the distance betwecn them isn't an unsafe 3% inches or
ovet.
•
Sleeping Pill Side Effects
Jnsomniacs who try to solve thcir problem by popping
sleeping pills could actually be making it worse. "People