Seeing your child hurt is distressing in a way that few other things are. This is even more true if the child is still small. Small children are full of innocence. They don’t know what will or won’t hurt them yet, let alone how to safely navigate different dangers around the house.
It’s up to you to take the necessary steps to protect them from getting hurt at home.
Use Baby Gates
It’s a rare child that sees stairs and doesn’t try to go up or down them. Navigating stairs is easy for adults, but for small children who haven’t developed much coordination yet, it’s both difficult and dangerous.
Use baby gates to keep them from trying to go up or down the stairs on their own. Baby gates aren’t just good for keeping small children away from stairs. Use baby gates to keep small children out of other areas too, such as your laundry room or kitchen. Wherever you decide to install them, just make sure you’re using them correctly.
Beware of Hidden Dangers
The tricky thing about protecting small children from getting hurt at home is that some dangers might not be immediately obvious. If you have rugs on hard floors (hardwood, tile, etc), make sure you put non-slip pads under them. It’s incredibly easy for these rugs to slip out from under the feet of small children just learning to stand without some extra traction, so make sure they don’t slip easily.
Remember to address your window blinds as well. Making blind cords shorter can help keep them out of reach of small children. This is important since the cords can easily become tangled around limbs or even a small child’s neck. Alternatively, you can switch your old corded blinds out for cordless blinds to further eliminate risk.
Install Child Locks
It’s not enough to put up baby gates and call it a day. For things like batteries, chemicals, and sharp objects, another line of defense is needed. That’s where child locks come in. Install child locks on cupboards and drawers that contain hazardous items. Before you go buy child locks, however, do some research into the different types of locks. Not all locks work equally well with all cupboards and drawers. They may not all meet your personal preferences either. Doing some research ahead of time will help you choose the right locks for your home.
If there’s one place where your child should be safe, it’s in their home. While your home is likely a pretty safe place, for the most part, there are bound to be things that pose a danger to small children. Commit to regularly going over your house with an eye for identifying things that could be hazardous to a small child. Remember to get down low and look at the house from their perspective. You’ll find it’s a whole new world down there.
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