Keeping our Children Safe. Guest Post.
Thank you to Martin who blogs at At Home with the Boys for writing this guest post.
I’m sure it’s fair to say that as our children grow older, they experience different challenges, each of which, help with their development. But as the rolling over, crawling and toddling stages develop, there too will come the dangers around the home we wouldn’t even think about.
Personally, I couldn’t wait for our first son to start moving around. For some unknown reason, I thought it would free me up some time. Yeah, silly right? Instead, I found myself spending the next few months trying to ‘child proof’ the house.
Everything was moved from ground level to ‘out of reach’ level, cupboards were locked and no less than four stair gates were brought. For the following two months, my wife and I found ourselves moving and adjusting things we had never even thought about.
In fact, in the end, as a result of attending a new parenting group, my wife suggested calling out the council home check service (Portsmouth City Council offer a free service called Homecheck).
Now, if I’m being totally honest with you, the man that came round couldn’t really be bothered. He was more interested in leaving as quickly as he had arrived. The pack he left however was quite useful and we fitted the safety gadgets ourselves.
If you’re stuck, and in search of advice, here’s just some of the basics that were installed in our house by either us or the Homecheck staff.
Slam Stoppers are designed to prevent little fingers getting squished by others whilst opening and closing doors. They come in all different shapes and designs but work on the same principle.
They are available in single or multiple packets by good retailers world-wide.
Draw Catches are ideal for cutlery and knife draws or chemical and food cupboards. These particular ones shown take two minutes to fit but they move and will need adjusting over time.
They are available in single or multiple packets by good retailers world-wide.
Corner Cushions are a godsend. As your little one gets taller, every table and surface in the house appears to be just at the height of your little ones head. I’ve lost count of the amount of accidents that have been prevented.
They are available in single or multiple packets by good retailers world-wide
Plug Socket Covers. At first you might wonder why you will need these, but take another look at your toddlers fingers and you will remind yourself just how small their fingers are, perfect for little holes on walls.
They are available in single or multiple packets by good retailers world-wide.
These are just four basic products from a huge selection available both, online and, on the high street.
They are a great place to start when it comes to child proofing your home. Over the years, they have prevented many accidents in our house, particularly the corner cushion.
Where do you stop?
Once you start browsing other products, you’ll realisehow easy it is to then discover the potential dangers that lay around your home. And if you don’t find them, you can be sure that your kids will.
But what is classed as essential, needed or recommended? Well, I’m going to have to leave that one with you. You see, every family’s situation is different and therefore it really is up to the parent (s).
For example, I would never have said a Fun-Pod was essential. However, having gone through the experience of our son falling off a chair onto the floor, future accidents have been avoided because we immediately went out and brought one. We also thought about the amount of time the boys spend in the kitchen. If you are not going to be spending time cooking with your children, then you will not see this as an essential piece of safety equipment.
Here is a short list of equipment you may wish to consider.
• Essential – Smoke Alarms. This is something we were really serious about (who wouldn’t be?) and to be fair, I’m glad we were. Here in England, we are able to ask the Fire Brigade to come out and inspect or provide fire alarms within your home, if you have under fives living in the house. Not only did they fit new alarms free of charge, but they told us the existing ones were dated and needed replacing.
• Needed / Essential – Window Locks. All of our windows have locks on and so these were not required in our house.
• Recommended / Needed – Gas Knob Covers. I’m not sure why, but the boys haven’t really been into playing with the knobs on the oven. I think it’s because they are always in the kitchen and are aware of most things they can and can’t do. For this reason, we felt no need to buy them.
• Essential – Monitors. This was always something we were going to buy and did just before our eldest was born. Be warned though, most of them don’t last. By the time our third one broke, our second son didn’t need it anymore.
• Essential – Draw / Cupboard Stoppers. Thereare many different designs of these but they all have the same objective, to prevent little people in places they shouldn’t be. When it came to buying them for the washing machine however, they didn’t do such a great job as they just kept coming unstuck.
• Recommended – Toilet seat stoppers. Toilet seat stoppers are designed to prevent little fingers being jammed when the kids think it’s funny to start slamming toilet seats down. We didn’t actually need them as we got around it by buying a ‘soft close’ seat.
• Recommended / Needed – Stair Gates. Theamount of gates required will totally depend on the design of your house and where you feel they are necessary. We had four in total, three for the stairs and one for the kitchen. I know other people have them at the back door so they can leave the garden door open during the summer, whilst others have put them up halfway down a hall way.
• Recommended – Fire Guards. Although wedon’t have a fire place, we felt we needed one for the portable radiator. These are a definite must if you have a real fire, especially knowing how far the coal / wood can travel when it crackles.
The list really is endless, and what you’ll have to remember is, you will need to re-asses your needs with each child that’s born.
Our own experiences
Regardless of what you buy, how much you warn your children or keep an eye on them, it’s inevitable that accidents are going to happen. Sharing your experiences with other parents will open your eyes to things that you may not be aware of. Here is a list of just some of the things our boys have put themselves through.
• Jammed Fingers – This is the most popular incident. With doors and draws being everywhere, it’s impossible to keep an eye on their every move. As they’ve got older, they are more independent and want to do more for themselves.
• Tasting – Whilst you’re warned about keeping the chemical store secure, until one of our boys had a habit for ‘tasting’ things, we had never come across it. We have experienced two trips to the hospital through tasting sessions, one with soap powder from the washing machine whilst the other one was due to picking Yew tree berries from the wheel of a trike.
• Choking – Because we didn’t experience Joshua putting objects in his mouth, we were a little surprised to discover Harrison doing it. We have had two choking episodes and had to retrieve two items from a nappy, one of which was a small padlock key!
• Bumped Heads – It’s not until you stay at other places that you realise just how child proof you have made your home. Corners on tables and kitchen work tops attract seem to attract kids like metal to magnets.
• Non Slip Mats – Even with a non slip mat in the bath, the boys will always find a spot to slip on. Our bath times are always supervised and with one ‘serious’ slip in the bath, it’s just as well. Even one ‘near miss’ is one too many.
• High Chair Tumble – You don’t seem to realise how much strength your little ones build up of such a short time. So much so, one of our boys were able to push themselves backwards whilst sat in their high chair. Just be aware that as their legs get longer and stronger, don’t put them too close to the table.
Conclusion
Don’t take it for granted that you have done everything you can to prevent an accident. Just because you’ve put something out of reach, it doesn’t mean somebody hasn’t gone behind you and got everything out again.Taking your eye off your child for even thirty second can sometimes be too little too late.
This can be a stressful time for all involved but remember this is an important stage of your little one’s development and learning. But stair gates will come down, Fun Pods will be grown out of and laughter will take the place of a sobbing child. So, keep them safe and enjoy your children, whilst they are still young.
Useful Websites
The following websites have been researched and have been found to be relevant to this post. They will however, depend on what part of the world you live in as different countries have different regulations.
Fire Service (UK) – The fire service will come out to your home and providing you qualify, will fit smoke alarms in your house.
Child Accident Prevention Trust – This website has a whole host of information based on the old saying, prevention is better than cure. The RoSPA is also a useful site although it offers advice in general rather than just for children.
Safe Play – Although this post covers safety around the home, your child (children) are going to venture outside soon, and when they do, a website like this will help prepare you.
First Aid Training – If you want to brush up on your first aid skills, then why not inquirer about some basic first aid training at your local St. Johns Ambulance centre? The British Red Cross also offer some basic courses too.
Save A Baby’s Life is a course run by the Royal Life Saving Society and covers basic training on resuscitation from both choking and drowning. Not a position any parent wants to be in but you just don’t know.
Reliable online retailers can be hard to find and tend to be used on other peoples experiences. However, safetots.co.uk is a trusted site by Google. Oh! And let’s not forget our old friend Amazon.
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge the following companies whilst writing this article.
Images – Safe Tots
Research – The Baby Centre
1 Comments
Randika
October 25, 2016 at 10:02 am
There is nothing more important than our kids. I’m a home-dad (working at home, dont say lazy please) and i can say these little deamons are smart to find everyday new ways to hurt themselves.