Keeping Your Children Safe

All parents know that they shouldn’t leave children alone. The majority of the work we do isn’t worth leaving children alone and they can hurt themselves very easily. However, if the situation doesn’t let you stay with your child and you must go, make sure that your house is child proof. You should look at your house through the eyes of your child.

Statistics indicate that the majority of accidents take place in what is considered a “safe” home setting. Children are very curious; they want to know how everything works. When they open a drawer or try to see what’s in a shining, bubbling pan, it’s not naughtiness -- just curiosity.

Bend down and take a look at everything from the eye level of a baby. Notice the wires of electric kettles, which could cause the most horrible scalding, and handles of shining pans that jut out of cookers; glance over boxes of matches and electrical outlets, and open doors where you have stored bottles of different soaps, bleaches, cleaning powders and other flammable liquids.

Here is a list of some of the most dangerous things for children:

1. Electrical outlets
2. Heating radiators (a baby can thrust his or her hands and legs into the radiator)
3. Wires trailing from lamps
4. Doors (children enjoy closing and opening them)
5. Other electrical equipment in the house
6. The kitchen is the most dangerous room in the house for children (think how many dangers exist: electrical kettles, clothes washers, cookers, glass dishes)
7. Every room has a window, and children want to look through it without realizing the screen will not stop them from falling through it
8. A tablecloth on the table (a child can pull it, and everything that is on the table will topple on top of the child)
9. Little things (they seem very attractive -- children want to take them, twist them and even taste them)

The list goes on and on, you should take immediate precautions!