CHILD SAFETY TIPS

How to make your home safe for kids
Childproofing your home against unintentional injuries is essential. You have to take special care and caution if your child is still a toddler. According to surveys carried out by childcare associations it is seen that each year more children die from avertable and callous injuries, which could have been easily avoided if proper, care and caution was taken by parents than from all childhood diseases combined. With foresight and action, you can help prevent accidents like burns, cuts, falls, poisonings, drowning, choking, and other serious injuries.

Following are a few tips to ensure the safety of your child:

1. Always keep small objects and toys with small parts away from children under three. Children have a habit to put every thing that they get on the floor in their mouth. Ensure that nothing is lying on the floor especially things that can be harmful. Check labels on toy packages for age-appropriateness before letting children play with the toys.

2. Never allow your child to play in the kitchen and kitchen cabinets. Teach him that kitchen is not the place to play because by establishing a cabinet as a play space, the child may feel all cabinets are play spaces and so the child may want to play in the kitchen cabinet also which can be very dangerous and risky.

3. Keep plastic bags completely out of children's reach. Not only plastic bags but also all small plastic items should be removed and kept away from the reach of children.

4. Also keep your purse and those of all guests, out of children's reach.

5. Stay alert - remember: nothing takes the place of close adult supervision. Make sure grandparents house and Crèche is also safe for your child. No one regrets the time they spent taking precautions, only the time they wish they'd spent.

6. Buy cabinet and drawer latches and locks. Also buy toilet locks and make sure to lock the toilets when you are not around in order to avoid accidents by drowning.

7. Don't store cleaning supplies under the sink, even if it's locked.

8. Buy covers for electrical outlets. Children are very curious and just might want to know what's there inside the hole and might put their finger into it. Help prevent tots from putting fingers or objects into the outlet thereby ensuring their safety.

9. Install security gates wherever necessary in order to avoid untoward accidents. Use pressure gates only between rooms. Install permanent gates at the tops and bottoms of stairs.

10. Face baby away from the valve when he's in the tub. Cover cold- and hot-water handles to prevent child from turning on water.

11. Use stove guard to prevent your child from reaching or touching the stove.

12. Use wall hook to hold long phone cords thus keeping them out of children's reach.

13. Avoid having open wiring done at places, which are within your child's reach.

14. Always keep the front door closed so that your child doesn't wander outside all alone.