The primary goal of a parent is to keep their children happy, healthy and safe. One may think it is easy to do this while children are infants and toddlers. Yet, accidents can happen at any age. No, you can’t prevent every accident from occurring. But you can do what you can to prevent as many accidents as possible. This will keep your children safer and happier.
Here are some tips on how to keep your infants and toddlers safe:
Keep Furniture Away From Windows
If you want to keep your toddlers from falling out of windows, don’t help them get out of those windows. It sounds simple. Yet, every so often we will hear a scary story about a toddler falling out of a window. Some of these occurrences may not have occurred if all the furniture was away from the windows. Think about it for a moment. What is one thing children enjoy doing? Did you say climbing?
If a child climbs up onto a sofa that is placed in front of a window that is open and that window is on the third floor of a home, the child may begin to fall and the screen will offer no protection. The glass may not offer no protection if the child falls hard enough to break it, either.
Of course, if you have no place to put these pieces of furniture, you could put a secure window guard up to protect your child.
Secure Furniture With Braces
Chests, bookcases, etc should be secured with braces or wall straps. Why? As infants are learning to crawl, they will use anything and everything to pull them up onto their feet. If they choose to use one of these pieces of furniture it may fall right on top of the child.
Secure Open Stairs And Staircases
Yes, your child may be learning to walk or crawl. Yet, that doesn’t mean that she is ready to tackle those stairs, yet. For this reason, you should use gates to protect her until she masters the art of walking completely.
Playground Equipment
The outdoors is a fun place for all to enjoy. However, it can be dangerous if you allow your child to play on playground equipment that is too old or too big for her. Make sure she is on play sets that matches her age and always make sure she is playing on sets that have sand, mulch or other substances that can help reduce the impact of any falls she may make.
Beware of Choking Hazards
Always loop window blinds and drapery cords into two pieces. You should also drape the cords high enough that your child can’t reach. The reason for this is that she can easily choke on these. You may even want to replace these types of draperies with cordless ones.
Beware Of The Foods She Eats
Young children can easily choke while eating. For this reason, you should definitely be careful when giving her small hotdogs or hard candy. You even should pay close attention when giving her grapes. The candy you should actually skip. The hotdogs you should consider cutting up for her.
Yes, safety tips can take tip to incorporate into our lives. But when our children grow up healthy, happy and safe it will be well worth it in the end.
Sources:
safekids.org