Child Safety At Home

Child safety is one of the most vital issues to consider during child rearing. Since children do not come with childcare how-to manuals, this guide is a compilation of first experience, lessons learned, and information gathered while raising our own children to help answer those child safety questions all the parents have.

Home is a special place when children are growing up. It is a place to explore, to have adventures and to play. Unfortunately, the home is also most common place for children to be injured.

Mostly accidents are predictable. Children are curious by the nature, they will explore at any given opportunity. You want to ensure that there are no hidden dangers in home. Let's look at some of major causes of injury to children and what parents can do to protect their children from harm.

Falls:

There are many instances in the home where a child can be hurt in a fall. Children have been injured by falling off of bed, furniture, slipping on floor, falling down stairs and out of window and many falls occur in the bathroom.

· Never leave small children alone on bed or furniture.

· Children commonly like to play on stairs. Never leave kids unattended near the stairway.

· Never leave to children unattended near open window. Screen will not prevent child from falling out. Keep window closed if they are within the reach of children.

· Never leave a child unattended in bathroom. Simply trying to stand up in bathtub could cause serious injuries.

Fires and burns

· Fires and burns occur in kitchen. Never allow children to play in or near kitchen.

· If you have candles in home, keep candles and matches out of children's reach.

· Keep hot food away from the edges of counter tops so that children cannot reach up to pull them off.

Drowning

· Never leave children unattended in the bathroom. Children have even drowned in the toilets.

· If you have a pool body of water near your home, take extra precautions to ensure that children cannot get outside without permission.

· Install safety gates around the pool.

Suffocation and Choking

· Keep all small items off floor and out of a child's reach.

· Small candy is also responsible for choking incidences.

· Cords can easily strangle children. Keep phone cords and cords from window blinds out of child's reach.

Firearms

· Never keep a loaded gun where child of any age, including teen can get their hands on it.

· Have safety locks installed on guns in your possession.

Poisoning

Children are naturally curious and automatically put the things they find into their mouth. They may easily mistake pills or insecticide tablet for candy or poisonous liquid for juice.

· Never refer to medication as candy children may think other medications are candy and try to sneak some when adult is not looking

· If you carry any medications in purse, even aspirin, never leave purse where a child can get into.

· Store medicine and other poisonous substances in top cabinets where children can’t reach them. If children are old enough to climb onto counters, install safety latches.

Always use extra precautions when child-proofing home. Get down on child's level to see what look interesting or what they may be able to reach. Children have a way of getting into things that you might think they could not get into.