It is thought that around 20,000 children are hurt each year in accidents with lawnmowers at home in the US. These are with powered lawnmowers, (either an electric or a petrol lawnmower) so you need to take extra care in using these machines in your garden during the lawnmowing season - which is also the time of year when children will want to be playing outside.

I have provided some safety tips which I hope will be helpful and which could perhaps avoid a child in your family being injured in a lawnmower accident. It seems that the most serious accidents happen with the riding mowers or lawn tractors as they are sometimes called and these are usually a petrol lawnmower. You should still take great care with the walk behind mowers though as many accidents happen with these too.

Before you start, it is important to make sure there is nothing on your lawn that could cause an accident. By this, I mean that you should rake up any loose twigs or stones and clear away any small toys that have been left out in the grass. Any small object can be transformed into a high speed missile by the blades of a lawnmower with very serious consequences, especially if it hits a small child in the face.

Although children love to help in the garden, the recommendation is that children under 12 should not operate any sort of mower and should be at least 16 before being allowed to drive a ride on mower.

If you have a ride on mower, do not give in to your child if he or she wants to sit with you while you mow the lawn. The most serious injuries happen to small children who fall from ride on machines. The child could be run over completely and lose a hand or a limb or suffer other injuries that will scar them for life.

It is natural that children will want to be outside in the garden in the summer but if you can keep them and your dog or cat inside whilst you mow, you will able to be a little more relaxed knowing they are safely out of harm's way. If they are going to be outside, make sure they are in another part of the garden and see if you can arrange for some supervision whilst you are working, as you can never be sure that they will stay where you put them!

Modern mowers with a safety feature that causes the machine to stop as soon as the handle is released are the ideal ones to look for, especially if you have children around. When using a ride on mower, be aware that a small child can come up behind the machine, unheard and can easily be missed if you just glance round before reversing. Ideally, you should never drive a mower in reverse, but sometimes it is unavoidable and in these circumstances, be ultra-cautious.

Whether you have a petrol lawnmower or an electric one, having a powered mower saves so much time in our busy lives that most of us could not manage without one. However, they are so appealing to children and that is very dangerous, but I hope that the hints I have given here will help to ensure your child's safety this summer.