Child Safety : Ways to Make your House Child Safe6 min read

Children can be super unpredictable. You take your eyes off them for one second and they’ve dropped something on themselves, or dropped themselves on something! There are so many cases of kids getting burns and cuts and hurts at home and being sent to the hospital. Although your home is supposed to be the safest place, it is possible for kids to hurt themselves at home itself.

This is why the need to child-proof your house comes in. Taking every precaution and possible steps to make your home safe for your children is the smartest thing you can do to prevent accidents and injuries in the house.

Here we have a list of tips to help you child-proof almost every nook and corner of your house.

General Tips

Before we get into each room, let’s take a look at these general tips to keep in mind at all times.

•   Try to put yourself in your child’s shoes; get down on your hands and knees and look around. What could be any possible safety hazards from your child’s perspective?
•   Make sure to keep all lighters, matchboxes and matches away from your child’s reach. Nobody wants your child playing with fire.
•   Keep all your electric appliances when they’re not in use.
•   See to it that no electric cords or wires run under any rugs or cloth.
•   Turn empty buckets upside down when not in use.
•   Keep your rooms free of small items like plastic bags, tiny toys, rubber bands and so on; anything tiny that can potentially cause a smoking hazard should be kept far away.
•   If possible, install smoke alarms at every level of the house and don’t disable them even for a little while.

Kitchen

Children have much softer and more sensitive skin than us adults, and so they are capable of getting burnt with hot beverages even 10-15 minutes after they are prepared! Burning and scalding in children is very common and a pressing issue. This is why it is important to not pass hot beverages around children. Also avoid keeping mugs and cups of hot beverages on tables and stands with lower heights. When mugs and cups of hot beverages are kept on high tables, remember to not keep them near edges or corners in order to avoid them falling and spilling on your young ones.

Kids can get attracted to pots and pans, therefore never keep hot pans with handles facing where children can reach them. If they go to touch it, they might end up getting burned. When boiling water, milk, cooking with oil etc. make sure that your pots and utensils are always at the rear end of the stove.

Keeping knives, scissors and sharp utensils away from kids is a must. Additionally, household products like medicines, vitamins, cleaning supplies and so on should be properly stored in high cabinets and kept shut when not needed.

Bathroom

Children are often very eager to have baths or play in the water, so keep in mind that you should open the cold water tap first and then gradually even it out with hot water. The risks of opening the hot water tap first are that if your child goes to tough the water he might get burned or scalded.

Get mats for your bathroom. Non-skid (friction-creating) bath mats for the floor and tub can help to prevent slips and falls. Make sure your child is wearing her bathroom slippers at all times, except when having a bath.

Store your cosmetics and medicines in tight containers and out of reach of children. Hair dryers, razors and other electrical appliances should be kept unplugged and away from any possible reach of children.

Always supervise younger children in the bathroom. If they use a tub for their bath, pay attention to them and always drain the tub after. Never leave your children unattended or unsupervised when they are in the tub. Using toilet seat locks will also help prevent drowning in toddlers.

If possible, get door knob covers for your bathroom doors. They need you to squeeze them in order to open the door, which is challenging for younger children.

Bedroom

Avoid keeping too much furniture in the bedroom. However, if that is not possible then cover the edges and corners of the furniture with foam and adhesive tape.  Keep all cords for blinds and drapery away.

If your child has his own room, keep the bed away from any windows. Preferably don’t get your kids bunk beds until they are older. Keeping your kid’s bed free from unnecessary clutter will help to prevent suffocation and injuries.

Living Room

Make sure to keep enough distance between furniture so that it is easy for your child to walk around. Again, if necessary, cover the edges and corners of your furniture with foam and adhesive tape. Also, secure large televisions and other heavy furniture with wall straps to prevent them from falling over. Make sure that your television stand is the right size for your television. If possible, also keep furniture away from windows where children can climb over and fall out.

Secure your rugs and mats to the floor. Keep barriers in place around any heat sources (like fireplaces etc.) Also, as much as possible, keep away from isolated fixtures till your child is older. Whenever water or food is spilt in the living room, don’t delay in wiping it clean. Children can slip and have bad falls especially on their head.

Stairs

Children are very much prone to falling off stairs. In fact, even adults can trip and fall on stairs. So, if you have stairs inside your house, remember to not polish the flooring because a rough flooring will provide friction to avoid slips and trips. Additionally, consider installing gates at the top as well as bottom of the stairs. Keeping stairs carpeted is another wise thing to do. Try to keep your stairs clear of any tripping hazards at all times.

Do your Best to Keep your Child Safe

We hope these few tips will tremendously help you as you set out to make your house safe for your child. Your child will have different safety needs as she grows. Infants need absolute protection from any and all safety hazards. Don’t leave your toddlers and preschoolers unsupervised. Also, as soon as your child can understand what is right and wrong, start talking to her about what to be aware of and what to stay away from. At the end of the day, remember that while not everything is in your control, you can do your best to take care of whatever you can.