How to Make Your Home Safer for Your Children
If you have an infant or toddler, you realize that your home can be a literal danger zone for them. As a parent, keeping your child safe from harm is of the utmost importance. According to the Center for Disease Control, 12,000 children from ages 1 to 19 perish every year due to unintentional injuries. Here we will share some tips that you can incorporate right away to keep your children safe in the home.
Cover Electrical Outlets
This is one of the most essential things that can be done to keep your child safe. It is effortless for a child to stick a bobby pin or similar small metal object into an electrical socket and sustain electrical shock. To eliminate the fear of your children being shocked by outlets, simply use outlet covers for all exposed outlets in your home.
Block Stairways
There is a considerable danger in children taking spills down the stairs. To avoid children falling down stairways, use child gates at the top and bottom of steps, to keep them contained in areas that are clear from stairs. These retractable gates can be quickly put up and taken down with minimal effort.
Lock Up Cleaning Agents
Cleaning solutions used to clean the home pose a significant risk to children in the house. There are enough poisons beneath the average kitchen and bathroom sink to kill half of the people in your neighborhood. This threat can be mitigated by locking up all cleaning agents (including bleach) in your home. There are locks explicitly designed for both kitchen and bathroom cabinets.
Prevent Falls
Aside from falling down the stairs, there are a host of ways that a child can sustain significant injuries from falling down in the home. In fact, falls are the number one cause of emergency room visits for children of all ages. To prevent falls, do not leave children unattended on beds, sofas, and changing tables.
Installing guard windows will help keep children from falling out of windows above the first floor. For instance, homes in Philadelphia tend to have multiple levels with windows that present a falling hazard.
Prevent Kitchen Accidents
The kitchen is one of the most dangerous places for children. Most of the dangers are associated with children pulling things down from high positions that can harm them. To keep children safe in the kitchen, don’t use tablecloths, drape cords connected to appliances and fryers and the like.
Prevent Drowning
Drowning hazards in the home also pose a significant threat to small children. To avoid these hazards, never leave children in bathtubs unattended, keep toilet lids, and bathroom doors closed, keep children away from buckets containing water, keep children away from pools, and keep a watchful eye on children near water.
There is no doubt that children need to be protected from harm in the home. However, there is no better way to keep your child safe than empowering them with the knowledge required to keep them away from the looming dangers in the home.