As a parent, the safety of your child should always be your top priority. Accidents can happen anywhere, even inside your very own home. The good news is you can significantly decrease the chance of unintended injury by making sure your home is a safe environment for your child.
Here are some helpful tips that can help you childproof your household:
Bathrooms
- Secure cabinets and drawers using safety latches. Always keep medicines and other potentially harmful products out of reach.
- Use toilet locks to keep toilet lids closed. Small children can easily fall into open toilets, and can drown in even just
an inch of water. - Do not leave hair dryers or electric rollers lying around your bathroom to prevent electrocution.
- Three seconds is all it takes for a child to suffer third-degree burns from hot water. Set your water thermostat to a safe temperature and install anti-scalding devices on shower heads and faucets.
Kitchens
- Never mix medicines or household products with your food items.
- When cooking, make use of your stove’s back burners, and always keep pot and pan handles out of your children’s reach.
- Never leave open household products lying around your kitchen. In case you need to answer the phone or open the door, simply take the product with you.
- Make sure all appliances and kitchenware are placed far away from the edges of countertops and kitchen tables.
Other areas
- Don’t place furniture near high windows, as children can use them to climb out of windowsills.
- Install corner and edge bumpers to furniture and pointed areas around your home to prevent injury.
- Secure cabinets, bookshelves, and other heavy furniture to walls by using brackets and anchors. Remember to store heavier items in lower compartments to prevent furniture from tipping over.
- Install safety gates at the top and bottom of stairways, as well as in rooms that can be potentially dangerous for children. Avoid using gates with expanding pressure bars on top of stairs – use ones you can mount to the door frame instead.
For more helpful tips on home improvement, take a look at our other blog articles.