10-08-2008
Providing A Safe And Secure Home For Your Child: Practical Parenting Tips
Accidents in the home are the primary cause of death in children in America. By taking some simple precautions, these accidents can be avoided, making your home safe for your daughter or son and the kids who visit it.
In your kitchen, you should be sure to fit safety latches on cabinets and drawers. This helps keep them out of the everyday household chemicals you use to clean your house and dishware with, and also keeps them from grabbing sharp objects like knives or scissors from inside the drawers. It is best to use the back burners when cooking on the stovetop, and keep the handles of your pots and pans turned out of a curious child’s reach while cooking.
Safety latches should be installed on cabinets and drawers in your bathrooms as well to keep them out of unsafe household cleaning products and medicines. Make sure you unplug any electrical appliance such as a hair dryer or curling iron directly after use and put it out of a child’s reach. Teach them early that electricity and water do not mix and that no electrical appliances of any kind should ever be immersed in or placed under running water. Toilet locks should also be used in homes that have small kids to keep lids down. Young kids are ‘top heavy’ and can easily fall into a toilet if they lean in to play in it. Since a young child can drown in less than just an inch of water, it is important to closely supervise them in the bathroom at all times.
Around your house, be sure to secure furniture such as bookshelves and heavy furniture that could tip easily to the wall using brackets. Use doorknob covers to keep them out of any rooms with potential hazards and to keep them from leaving the house unsupervised. Make sure any window blinds do not have looped cords on them as they can be a strangulation hazard to a young child. And always cover your electrical outlets with protective covers to keep small fingers from them and small objects from being inserted into them.
Check out your house very carefully for any other potential hazards and address them at once. With these precautions and some common sense, your household will be your child’s haven.
Potty training is a stage of a child’s development that many parents seem to dread. But it does not have to be.
potty training boys
toilet training boys
potty training toddlers
These articles offera advice that works equally well whether you need to potty train a little girl or boy.
Tags: Family