Child Safety and Child Proofing-What You Need To Know

We all love children and for most of us they are our world. But apart from giving them shelter, education and food we should also be concerned about their safety and well-being. Child safety is one of the most important issues today. A home security system is so affordable. We need to do everything we can to keep our children safe. It is a fact that home accidents are responsible for more child injuries than diseases or illness.

Nearly 70% of the children who die from unintentional injuries at home are four years old and under. A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that most home accidents related to children happen where there is a presence of water, heat or flames, toxic substances, garage doors, garden shed or a potential for a fall.

Most accidents also happen due to the insatiable curiosity of children to explore the environment around them. You not only need to keep hazardous things away from them, but you also need to educate them about potential dangers of everyday household items.

Parents do their best to keep children away from accidents. They do their very best to protect them from these everyday items Most people even change their lifestyle once they have a child as you probably know. But you can't be with your child every minute of every day.

It becomes very important then to adopt a process known as childproofing to prevent a child from encountering accidents. Childproofing is a method that helps a child to stay safe from accidents within home.

Parents need to remember some important points to ensure their child's safety. Here are some tips to follow.

• Lock up all poisons and dangerous objects.

• Keep all tools organized and out of children's reach.

• The water temperature at your home should be turned down to a maximum of 120 degrees.

• Keep the doors and windows locked. Make sure that older children can get them open in an emergency.

• Remove clutter and keep dustbins and garbage out of child's reach.

• Keep medicines and sharp objects such as scissors out of child's reach.

• Check out for any gas leakage at your home.

• Remove broken pieces of glass or edible items from the floor immediately.

• Never leave any electric cord lying loose on the floor.

• Never keep any toys near your child that can choke or poison him.

Additionally here are some childproofing products that you can get from the local children's' or various sites on the net.

• Smoke Detector: Installing a smoke detector on each floor of adjacent to bedroom & in living/dining area would help in avoiding your child to get trapped because of a fire break out or electricity shock circuit.

• Protective Covers: The old-fashioned outlet covers must be replaced with protective covers. These protective covers guard your children from accidental electric shock.

• Childproof Latches: Childproof latches on cabinet doors & drawers help keeping your child away from many dangerous or fragile objects.

• Baby Gates: Installing baby gates at doorways and at top & bottom of stairways is the best way to guard your child from accidental falling and crawling out of the house.

• Corner Protectors: Corner protectors are very effective in guarding your child from sharp edges. You can also pad sharp furniture or counter edges with foam tape.

• Doorknob Covers: Doorknob covers prevent kids from leaving the home and entering rooms that haven't been childproofed.

• Safety net: Safety net can be fenced across balconies & decks to prevent your child from falling.

• Safety Tassels and Inner Cord Stops: These are very important to prevent strangulation in cord loops & inner cords of window blinds.

• Nanny Camera: An effective way to keep tabs on your child's baby sitter. This camera will tell you whether or not your child is being properly taken care of.

Consider childproofing your home. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." You can't be on guard 24/7. All it takes is a split second for an inquisitive child to be in a life threatening situation.

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