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Now: On Wednesday we reported that a 4-year-old boy had fallen out of a second-story window on Emory Street, Attleboro. He escaped serious injury in the Tuesday afternoon fall, spent the night at Sturdy Memorial Hospital and then was transferred to Children's Hospital, Boston for precautionary tests.

Then: Ten years ago this week, on July 17, 1996, we reported that 6-year-old Shawn Campbell had fallen out of a second story window at his home at 6 Hillcrest Ave., Foxboro.

Despite the 25-foot drop, his injuries were described as a large bump to his forehead and an abrasion to his left leg. He too was taken to a Boston hospital for precautionary tests.

In between: According to a Web posting by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, an average of nearly 15,000 children under the age of 11 die each year as a result of falls from windows in the United States. The number who die from these falls averages 15-20 a year.

One authority asserts that such falls tend to occur in low-income neighborhoods. Maybe so -- air conditioning would be less common and open windows more likely. But the best known incident of a child dying in a fall from a window is that of Connor Clapton, son of Eric Clapton, who memorialized him in `` Tears In Heaven.'' The neighborhood around the high-rise where Clapton's son fell was most assuredly not low-income. Window falls are tragedies that transcend class issues. They quite often happen, as was the case on Emory Street Tuesday, when a child is playing joyously and simply takes a wrong turn toward a screen. And summer, when it is so inviting to leave a window open, is their season.

In New York and some other cities, window guards are required by law. Though we know of no requirement for them in this area, cautious parents may want to check on their availability at home goods stores.

The Cincinnati Hospital offers some tips on how to prevent falls that you'll find below. But first, an editorial comment on Tip No. 1, `` Most window falls occur when children are unsupervised. Don't leave young children alone'' : If every parent who can honestly say they've never left a child unattended for a moment -- and that's all it takes for a tot to pop through a screen -- blew their horns and shouted, all at the same time, the silence would be deafening.

That reality ups the stakes in following the other advice:

E Make sure no furniture that children can climb on is placed near windows.

E Never depend on screens to keep children from falling out of windows. Screens are not designed to prevent falls.

E Whenever possible, open windows from the top, rather than the bottom.

E Safeguard windows with window guards or window stops. Window guards prevent children from falling out of open windows, and window stops prevent windows from opening more than a few inches.