Everything changes when you have children. All of a sudden, you move from thinking more or less solely about yourself to thinking about others. And when you do that, you begin to notice that, while the world is generally pretty safe, there’s a lot of danger out there that could pose a threat to someone who doesn’t have the capacity to look after themselves.
And in that camp, we can firmly place young children. They’re curious and adventurous, and that’s a good thing, but it does mean that they can end up hurting themselves from time to time. As a responsible parent, it’s up to you to minimize the risk to your kids as much as possible. In this blog, we’ll run through some essential home safety tips that’ll help to keep your children safe and sound.
Add Gates
Live on a multi-floor home? Then you’ll certainly want to invest in some gates for your stairs. They’re easy to install and they’ll pose no inconvenience to you (they’re easy to open and close), and they’ll ensure that your child can’t wander off into areas that they shouldn’t. It’s clear to see how stairs can pose a threat to your kids. Remove the threat, and you’ll have peace of mind that there’ll be no stairs-related accidents.
Get the Right Furniture
Most people focus on design and functionality when they’re buying furniture. But when you have kids, you also need to think about how safe that furniture is. In effect, all furniture that you purchase should be viewed through the lens of safety. There are beds for toddlers that score highly on the safety front, which helps to ensure that your child doesn’t roll out of bed in the middle of the night. You should also pay attention to heavy furniture, which should be secured to the wall so that it doesn’t fall over when your kids are playing.
Safety Alarms
You can’t predict what’s going to happen. All you can do is prepare for the worst. It’s essential that you have safety alarms in your house, including smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, and burglar alarms. If something goes wrong, then you’ll have as much notice as possible to grab your kids and take them to safety. Remember that you should check that your alarms are working every now and again because the batteries that power them will die after a while and need replacing.
Secure Windows and Doors
It’s nice to open up your windows and let the fresh Spring air into your home. But if you’re not around and your kids open your windows, then it could spell trouble, especially those windows that are on the second floor. Be sure to get a security latch so that your children can’t open the windows without adult assistance. It’s also a good idea to secure your front and back doors — your child is unlikely to wander off on their own, but it’s best not to take the chance.
Out of Sight, Out of Reach
You’ll likely have a lot of toxic products in your house, since they’re used in everything, especially cleaning products. There are more and more non-toxic products on the market these days, so now could be the time to think about making the switch. But if you want to stick with your current household products, then, at the very least, make sure that they’re kept well out of sight and reach from your children. To you, those products just look like cleaning products; but to your child, they could look like new toys.
Create an Emergency Plan
Even if you do your best to limit the probability of your child having an accident, there’s always a chance that something goes wrong. After all, you can’t always predict what will happen. That’s why it’s important to have an emergency plan, just in case something goes wrong. Think of various scenarios that could happen (such as a fire) and then think about what you would do if it occurred, and then teach your child what they should do.
Reviews and Updates
Your home will change over time. As such, it’s important to regularly review the safety credentials of your home and make updates as and when they’re necessary. One easy way to do this is to scan each room for potential dangers from time to time. You might just discover a potentially problematic aspect that you’ve been overlooking. You don’t need to do this every day, but every once in a while will help.
