Dangers That Lurk At Home For Your Child.

In Australia, every year about 300 children die from unintentional injuries and 60,000 are hospitalised. (Kidsafe-Qld)

Child safety is a major concern for all parents. We try to protect our children from the outside world. From strangers, cars and dogs but did you know that the most common place for young children to get hurt is in their own home.

Children like to explore, this is how they learn and develop. But there are many things that are in our homes that are not safe for our children.
Lots of dangers lurk in our homes, many are objects that you would not even consider to be dangerous. To us maybe not, but to someone small who is not capable of thinking about dangers or strong enough to get out of a dangerous situation, it can be fatal.

Check these rooms for major hazards:-

Kitchen- The most hazardous room in the house

* Keep hot drinks away from the edges of benches and out of reach. Pot handles should always be facing to the back of the stove not out over the edge, probably best to cook on the back burners.

* Place all sharp knives in a locked drawer and have safety catches fixed to all low cupboards and drawers.
It is good to have a low cupboard that is just for them, where they can hide or have plastic Tupperware containers in it. They can explore and play without getting hurt.

* Place all cleaning products up high with lids on tightly and out of reach of prying little people.

* If possible have a guard across entry to kitchen, this way you will know that your child cannot get into anything that can harm him/her.

Laundry-Another potentially dangerous area.

* Cleaning chemicals should be kept up high with tight lids. Out of reach of children.

* Catches fixed on all doors as in kitchen.

* Nappy buckets should have lid on top and be placed in sink out of reach.

* Ironing boards and Iron placed up high with cords wrapped up high also, this could kill a young child if dropped onto his/her head.

Bathroom

* Hot tap water is the most common injury in the bathroom. When setting up a bath, turn the cold tap on first and then adjust the hot water. Turn off hot tap first then the cold. Most children will play with taps and will turn them back on. If you do not turn the hot off first there will still be hot water in the line and it will burn.
Another effective method is having the temperature of your hot water turned down which will stop unnecessary scalding and serious scarring to your child.

* Make sure that you empty the bath water when you take your child out of it. A child can drown in the smallest amount of water. Never leave your child unsupervised while they are in the bath.

* All medicines, razors, scissors and nail care products or chemicals should be in a cupboard out of reach or a locked drawer.

Living Area

* All power points should have safety protectors placed in them. Get an electrician to install a circuit breaker if not one already installed.

* Curtains and blinds can be very dangerous because of cords hanging down low. This is an accident waiting to happen. Many children can get caught and strangled because of these cords. Make sure they are tied up high.

* Fire places should have guards to protect little hands. When children are first learning to walk they are not very stable and can stubble into a hot fire in a matter of seconds.

* Remove all heavy ornaments until your child is old enough to understand the dangers.
I know that it makes the house more appealing and homely but you have to sacrifice these items for the safety of your child.

* Remove any small objects that may get lodged in the throat and cause choking. This can be buttons from a sewing box or pieces off the end of a pen.

* Keep photo frames with glass inserts out of reach. If broken, they can cause serious cuts to the hands and feet.

* Ashtrays should be emptied and matches or lighters put out of reach.

Check outside, pool areas and fencing, the garage, in the garden, protect them from driveways.
Dont ever stop them from exploring, help them and assist where possible. Good supervision will ease safety concerns.
Children are a very precious gift and to lose them to early in life would be unbearable.
I hope bringing these safety issues out into the open will help you as a parent, to realise just how much danger is in the home for someone so small.