Safety Basics
Most young children love to explore their surroundings and it is really the duty of the parent to ensure safety measures are in place to keep the child safe fromany mishaps that may occur due to this exploration exercise. As children are usually quite oblivious to any dangers that could occur from these exploration exercises the parent would need to be extra vigilant in taking all precautions to keep the child’s safety a priority.
Childe Home Safety: The Basics
The areas that may require some attention would include the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, garage, laundry areas, outdoor playing area and any other areas the child is likely to wander into on one of his or her exploration expeditions.
Then there are also the items such as furniture, door, windows, stairways, electrical heating units and cooling elements, and others to consider in the quest to ensure safety for the child is taken into consideration and the necessary adjustments are made.
Statistically, it has been proven that children do encounter a lot of injuries within the confines of the home living space, as there is sometimes little thought given to seriously look into all possibilities that may contribute to an injury occurring.
Kitchens are a popular place where injuries often occur, thus the need to be extra vigilant in this area. Another important item that almost always is the cause of serious injury would be the staircase, thus the need to have the relevant safety measure in place to keep the child from gaining access to this.
How To Stay Safe With Electricity
When it comes to the issue of safety and electricity, there should always be a check list in place to help the parent ensure that all bases are covered and the probability of accidents occurring is kept to a minimal if any.
No Shocks
The following are some of the areas that would ideally need some consideration when it comes to addressing the issue of safety for children:
Often parents overlook the need to be wary when it comes to unused electrical outlets. Children have a tendency to stick objects into such outlets especially when left unsupervised, thus the need to have all unused electricity outlets covered with safety plugs at all times. Having all major electrical appliances grounded would also be something to look into, as a curious child will think nothing of touching items that are in the “on” mode.
It would be a good idea to have long cords fastened against walls and also to remove any potential electrical fire hazard possibilities such as overloaded electrical sockets and electrical wires running along floors and under carpets.
Radiators and baseboard heaters should be covered with childproof screens at all times and gas fireplaces should be secured with a valve cover or a key of some sort.
The fireplaces should also have a screen and other barriers in place whether in use or not.
Cleaning chimneys often is also another element that would require some attention.
The parent would also have to ensure that all electrical space heaters are positioned at least three feet from any other items such as beds, curtain, or anything that would be considered flammable based material.
As another precautionary measure, the parent should have all emergency contact numbers posted in a visible and convenient location should any mishaps occur in spite of all the precautions taken.
Being Safe With Fall Hazards
All children are curios creatures and as soon as they are able to balance themselves on their feet, the exploration journey begins. This can often be quite a nightmare for the parents as safety issues would be the priority when it comes to keeping the child from causing injury to themselves.
Falls and falling objects are often the main cause of many child related injuries and these can sometimes lead to the death of the child. Fall hazards are particularly reoccurring actions in younger children, contributing to more than half of the injuries they may sustain throughout their various growing stages. Therefore the parent should take all measure to ensure or at limit the possibility of the child encountering such injuries due to the fall hazards in place.
Keeping all staircases clear of objects is one of the first steps to take in the quest to make the living environment safer for the child and to avoid falls that would certainly cause injury.
Keeping furniture away from windows and other opening is also something that should given priority as the temptation to climb such objects or to use them as a lookout point is quite normal for any active child.
Statistically, there have been many documented cases of children climbing on furniture dangerously place close to window, thus causing them to fall out, hence the need for attention in this area.
Ideally all safety gates should be place at the top and bottom of staircases to ensure there is no easy access for the child to this area thus limiting the possibility of injury significantly.
Teaching a child not to run with things in their hands will also be something worth adopting, as most injuries occur when children are unable to balance themselves adequately thus falling over and causing injury to themselves.
Child Safety With Poisons
Being rather curious beings, children often find themselves in trouble when they get into things that are not supposed to be into. The parent would have to take all necessary precautions to ensure the higher safety measures in place when it comes to poison based items.
Often parents are not alert to simple daily household items that could be considered within the poison category, thus exposing the child to unnecessary injury should the child gain access to such items.
Common items such as fertilizer, antifreeze, medicines, makeup are all potentially poisonous items that can cause serious injury to a child playing with or consuming such items.
When it comes to child proof medication container, it would be an added safety measure to simply place such container out of the child’s reach rather than to just depend on the safety valves in place, as this does not necessarily guarantee the child safety.
Leaving medicines around even for a moment is not a good idea, as a distracted parent will present the ideal opportunity for a unsupervised child to simply consume the colorful looking objects without knowing of its potentially poison elements.
Children are usually good observers and almost always try to copy the actions of an adult; therefore it would be a good idea to keep items such as vitamin bottles, aspirin bottles and any other medications, away from kitchen tables, countertops, bedside tables and any other surfaces where the child can easily gain access to such objects.
Also telling a child that the medicine tastes like candy is not a good idea as this will act as a great incentive to the child to gain access to the said medication.
Should there be visitors staying for a period of time, the parent would also have to ensure objects such as handbags and bags that contain items such as pills and other medication be kept out of the child’s reach.
Top Choking Hazards For Toddlers
Choking hazards has contributed significantly to the injuries of many small children and most often these are caused by common household objects and toys which seem to have a fascinating pull for children. These objects are popularly stuffed into the mouths of a child without the child actually having any clue as to its potential danger, thus causing the accidents and injuries to occur.
As babies and young children seem to instinctively put objects into their mouths, it would be a good exercise to practice keeping anything and everything out of the child’s immediate reach radius.
Among the more popular choking hazards when it comes to food items would be nuts, hot dogs, grapes, hard candy, popcorn, raisons, raw carrots, spoonfuls of peanut butter and chunks of meat.
These kinds of food objects should be carefully fed to children and it would be even better to avoid such food altogether until the child is bigger and better able to manage eating such items safely.
Other items that seem to be the popular causes for choking in children are small toys and balloons. The toys are designed to be put into the mouth when the process of inflating takes place, thus the understandable action that might cause the child to accidently swallow or breathe in the balloon causing it to be stuck or caught in the windpipe. This of course is a very traumatizing state to be in for the child as the confusion of not being able to breathe will be further complicated by the panic the child is likely to experience. This fright could also lead to the child crying hysterically which will further heighten the danger of the situation.
Therefore in the quest to keep choking hazard from becoming the contributing factor to a child’s injury, the parent should ensure all toys and item the child plays with are completely safe.
List Of Emergency Contact Numbers And Information
Although it would seem like a simple and reasonable task to expect every household to be able to have on hand, emergency numbers, contacts and their uses are rarely within visible for everyone to refer in case of an emergency.
Perhaps the first thing to do would be to find out the various support services available within the vicinity and to ensure all these relevant number are on hand in case there is ever a need for any of these support services. Then the parent would need to teach the child the uses for these various numbers and what they should be appropriately called for.
Failing which having the general 911 number explained to the child will help the child should panic or the young age of the child not permit the understanding of deciding on the other emergency numbers and their relevant uses.
There may also be a need to learn about the law in a particular area pertaining to the use and execution of calling on the services of any emergency relief support. These laws usually cover matters pertaining to the emergency hospitalization, civil inpatient and outpatient commitment, initiating court order treatment and federal health insurance portability and accountability act.
Ideally the standard emergency contact list should include various different elements such as a standard support person or persons that can be relied on to step in whenever there is an emergency to be dealt with. These such persons should be knowledgeable in the family’s medical history and any other information pertaining to the health of the family member so they are able to furnish such information to medical personal should the need arise.
The contact numbers of mobile crisis teams, program of assertive community treatment teams, local hospitals and clinics in the vicinity, local advocates for advice and support and any other contact numbers that the parent deems important in case of an emergency.
Internet Safety
Keeping a child safe should ideally be a prime concern of any responsible parent, however with the distraction of all the activities the adult world churns out, it is often easy for things to go by without the parent’s constant need to monitor.
Computers
There should be some attention given to the use on the internet by children as this is a window to the outside world where dangers are very much present at every turn and for the innocent and unsuspecting child, trouble can be the order of the day.
A responsible parent should be able to have certain restriction in
place when it comes to handling the issue of internet access for the
child.
Initially it would be wise to take the time to explain to the child the various negative issues that are prevalent through the use of the internet and ensure the child is fully aware of the negative consequences that would follow such negative use. Simply forbidding the child, would not deal with the problem adequately as not every child would obediently follow a parent’s instructions and restrictions.
This is especially so when there is the added intervention of peer pressure to do something that would really be wise or safe. There are also tools that come in the form of various software that can aid the parent in initiating some control of what and how much web access the child is privy to.
Being aware of what the child is surfing for on the net and the contacts made through this platform is very important, as children are usually very trusting and are more likely to give out personal information to anyone they feel comfortable with. Children are also easily lured into doing things that are undesirable and will usually follow along until it becomes too late to pull out or object.
The Dangers Behind Not Child Proofing
The actual childproofing act can take on several different levels and these would largely depend on the age of the child involved.
Safety First
The gauge to be used would ideally be one that is dictated to be acceptable by society at large so that the parent will not be subject to any involvement with the law for failing to take the necessary precaution to ensure the safety of the child in their care. Child proofing does come in many forms and are in the area of restrictions on children in safe areas or preventing children from reaching unsafe areas.
All these childproofing exercises can be initiated by the parent or in some cases professional services on the matter can be sought. One of the more common areas that would require the attention of a childproofing exercise would be on the subject of electrical safety. If this important area is not looked into, chances of an unfortunate and unwanted incident occurring are certainly rather high and can be deadly too. There have been many reported cases of tragedy due to children sticking things in electrical outlets, using paper clips, metal object, and other objects.
Physical access the things around the house is also another common cause of accidents among children. This is especially common when the parent is distracted even for a second and the child’s curiosity takes them on an exploring trip into danger. This seemingly short distraction can cause irrevocable damage as children are really quite
quick and nimble and are able to get into trouble quite easily.
Wrapping Up
Failing to take the task of child proofing the living environment and the area where the child would have most freedom would be something the parent may live to regret. Therefore for the prime reason of ensuring the child is fairly safe, childproofing is the best option to start with.