How to Ensure Your Child's Safety Inside the House

photo credit: AlexDixon

It is a fact; children always get into scrapes especially when they are still young. The minor accidents normally require an antiseptic cream and a band-aid whereas more serious cases entail visits to the doctor. A lot of these accidents tend to happen within the home.

Children by nature

Children are playful and active by nature. They are also curious about their surroundings or anything new that has caught their attention. Young children (ages 1 – 5) need a high level of adult supervision and protection. At this young age, they are still physically and emotionally immature besides lacking in experience and foresight, making them very prone to accidents.

Home safety

Since the home is a place where children spend most of their time, naturally it is important to make the home a safe environment for them. Some of the common and serious home accidents to be prevented are:

• Falling from a height (e.g. chairs, tables, bed, etc.)
• Scalding from hot liquid (e.g. in the kitchen, from a cup, etc.)
• Getting burn from a hot surface (e.g. gas stove, oven, etc.)
• Choking on a foreign object or suffocation
• Poisoning (e.g. from medicine, detergent, etc.)
• Drowning (e.g. in the bathtub)
• Electrocution, contusions and cuts (e.g. from household appliance, toys, furniture, etc.)

Factors to look into

From the above, the things or factors to be looked into to prevent untoward or undesirable incidences are:

• The house interior design where things to consider are staircases, split-level design, the circulation space, etc.
• The kitchen where a child-resistant barrier, door or gate may be necessary to prevent the child from entering and getting near the stove, oven or appliances. These things should be kept out of reach of the young children.
• The bath and shower. A slip-resistant surface is recommended and supervision is necessary for young children.
• Power points have to be covered (e.g. using safety plugs or cover).
• Keep all medicines locked away and out of sight.

All these are to raise the parent’s awareness to the dangers and thus preventing serious accidents or injuries from happening. Even after taking all the safety precautions, children will still get into trouble. However, the frequency and seriousness should be less compared to if nothing is done to address the problems.

Therefore, do some careful planning now like installing safety locks or latches, installing gates or fences, using power-point plugs or cover, etc. A safe home means less worry for the parents in the long run.

Tagged as: accidents, adult supervision, child safety, doctor, home accidents, house, safe environment, safety precaution