|
 |
|
|
| Today's Tips |
Go Back |
|
|
|
|
|
Practical Home Safety Tips
With proper foresight and precautions, you can help prevent burns, cuts, falls, drowning, poisonings, choking, and other serious injuries to your children.
Even if you’ve installed products to secure your home, you still need to take the following everyday precautions:
- Never allow your children to play in the kitchen cabinets. If they believe that one cabinet is a play space, they will assume that all cabinets are play space.
- You should supervise lessons on how to go up and down the stairs in emergency situations. When going down stairs, they should go feet first on their stomachs, and when going up, they should go head first on their stomachs.
- When giving your child a toy, make sure you check the suggested age on the outside of the package. Keep toys that have small pieces away from children under the age of three.
- If you get your clothes dry cleaned, remove the plastic immediately, out of reach for children.
- BE ALERT AT ALL TIMES! There is no prevention more effective than adult supervision.
- Mylar balloons should be used in the place of latex balloons, to prevent choking
- Make sure that caregivers and grandparents also take proper safety precautions. There is never any regret for taking the proper measures before anything happens. There is regret when no measures were taken after an injury occurs.
- One thing you must do in order for any child needing to get emergency room attention is to fill out Permission Forms before anything happens. Emergency rooms cannot treat a child without permission from the parents, unless it is a life or limb-threatening situation. There is an emergency-treatment authorization letter that you must sign that will give hospitals permission to treat your child. Be sure you include with the letter, emergency contacts, name and phone number of your pediatrician, and all of your child’s allergies and medications. Be sure to have the letter notarized.
- You can make copies of this letter to give to other caregivers and grandparents. You can put one in the diaper bag of a young baby, and put one in the backpack of an older child.
Here is a Baby-Proofing Shopping List to complete your childproofing efforts:
- Cabinet and drawer latches and locks. Even if the cabinet is locked, you shouldn’t store cleaning supplies under the sink.
- Locks for the toilets to prevent possible drowning
- Cover all unused electrical outlets to prevent tots from putting their fingers or other objects into the sockets.
- Use pressure gates only between rooms. Install permanent gates at the top and bottom of stairs.
- When a baby is in the tub, face him/her away from the faucet and install a spout guard and full-length bath mat.
- Cover the faucet handles with the soft inflated tub-knobs to prevent a child from turning on the water.
- Install a stove guard to prevent child from reaching or touching the stove
- Affix colored decals to the glass doors to make the glass visible
- Use wall hooks to hold long phone cords out of child’s reach
- Install smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in every room of the house
|
|
|
