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Kids Safety

Things To Consider When Childproofing Your Home

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It is stressful enough to continuously make sure your kids are doing fine outside of the house; however, to help ease your burden when everyone is kicking back and relaxing, these are some things to consider when childproofing your home, so your afterhours are that much more stress-free.

Keep the Air Clean

For those with children who have compromised breathing, providing them with the best living conditions when they sleep is necessary to prevent them from inhaling excess particles at night. By using an air purifier, you are able better to control the quality of the air in their room. These machines also help reduce asthma symptoms while improving sleep and eliminating any harmful pollutants in the air. For those who worry when their child struggles to breathe sometimes, this is a great way to help soothe those symptoms.

Replace Your Doorbell

Not talking to strangers has always been an important rule for kids to follow. By installing a smart doorbell by your front door, you are able to more actively monitor each visitor to your home and speak to them without having to open up the entrance of your house at all. This is excellent for those who prefer to keep their children away from solicitors or unexpected guests.

Secure Loose Carpets

It is only expected that there is going to be a lot of activity at home, especially on the weekends. When everyone is running around the house, you’ll want to minimize the chance of accidents in playrooms or dining rooms. By taking advantage of different ways to prevent your carpets from moving around, you lower the risk of your kids slipping and falling on the floor or, worse, causing something to fall on them. The same is true for any furniture or other installations that have the potential to move.

Upgrade Indoor Security

Installing smart locks by any doors or windows in your home is a good way to be made aware of any unintended breaches. These locks are easy to install and provide a hands-free call to emergency services if you are not able to deactivate them for any reason. These locks normally come with a code typed into either an app or the main device installed elsewhere. By keeping this code between your family members, deactivation and activation are reserved only for your intended selection.

Keeping you and your family safe is always a top priority. For those who are vigilant or who worry over the what-ifs when it comes to your kids, these things to consider when childproofing your home are sure to help you ensure nothing goes wrong under your watch.

Safety Tips for Children on Halloween

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According to the U.S. Census, there are about 41 million potential trick-or-treaters between the ages of 5 and 15 who roam the streets looking for the best candy. That’s a lot of children walking around, and as most parents know, where kids go, safety concerns follow.

Whether you’re a mom or dad planning on dressing your child up as a Disney character, vampire, or professional athlete, you can set a good example for your kids by conducting yourself in the right manner and setting ground rules. With that in mind, here are some tips you can use to help keep your child safe on Halloween night.

Safety Tips

  • Stay Visible: According to Portland State University, Halloween is an accident-prone time. That’s why it’s never a bad idea to take a flashlight out when you and your child are going trick-or-treating. It allows drivers to see you, and lets homeowners know you’re approaching their door and can give them time to restrain their dogs (if they have any), and more importantly, load up their bucket with more candy. As an alternative route, you can also use glow sticks. Although they work the same way, they aren’t as bright as a flashlight. So if you decide to use a glow stick, make sure the community you’re going trick-or-treating in is well lit.
  • Trick-or-Treat Rules Out on the Road: On the day of Halloween your child will be filled with excitement. They’ll get to put on their scary costume, walk around the neighborhood at night, and eat lots of candy with friends. Which means the last thing they’ll be thinking about is road safety. This is why it’s important for parents to remind their child about the everyday safety tips. Teach them how to check their surroundings, even with all the commotion going on in the community that particular night. Distracted driving has become a serious issue within the past couple years, which is why insurance companies and other road safety organizations are focusing on distracted driving nationwide.

In fact, statistics show that a large majority of drivers who are involved in crashes are being distracted behind the wheel. So let your child know to look left, right, left again, and right before making an attempt to cross the street and to continue looking both ways until they make it safely on the sidewalk. If you’re walking with them, make sure they know to wait for you at the curb before proceeding.

Kids should also remain on the sidewalk at all times and never cut through people’s yards. This can help prevent accidents with things like yard decorations and other hazardous items that are hard to spot with the naked eye.

  • Costume Precautions: As a parent, it’s important to choose the right costume for your child to wear on Halloween. In other words, pick something that has bright colors on it and makes them visible at night or in the dark. Parents should also make sure that any store-bought costumes, accessories (beards, hats, masks, and wigs), and plastic jewelry are labeled as “flame resistant.” That way, if homeowners go against electrical safety tips and overload an outlet with too many plugs, your child’s not at risk due to their clothing.

That being said, it’s equally important to avoid putting your child in oversized shirts, and/or pants. For one, it makes it difficult for them to walk. Secondly, clothing dragging on the ground can come into contact with open flames from a jack-o-lantern. To play it safe, be sure to put your child in something that fits them. As a final point, if your child has a prop that comes with their costume (sword, knife, or tools), it should either be made out of plastic or rubber. That way if they fall while carrying their prop it will bend and not puncture their skin.

  • Make A Plan: For starters, children under the age of 12 should always be accompanied by an adult when trick-or-treating. Their personal items should also be labeled with their name and contact information just in case you both get separated from one another. If you have a child that’s older than 12, double check and see if they know how to reach you in case of an emergency. If they aren’t sure, give them a cell phone to use for the night so you can stay in contact with each other. Communication is key at this point, especially if this is their first time going out with friends without adult supervision.

Prior to them leaving the house, let them know their curfew, and establish a designated meeting area in case the phone dies while they’re out. If you’d like, you can also pre-plan a trick-or-treating route for them to follow: one that’s busy with kids and other parents, and has the best candy, of course. In the end, Halloween is a fun and creative time for both children and parents, so go out and enjoy it together.

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Thanks for the read! There are so many useful tips out there to choose from I couldn’t possibly cover them all. What are some other important things parents should keep in mind? Feel free to leave a comment below.

Lifesaving Home Safety Tips for Parents of Young Children

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Children thrive in their home environment – it’s where they feel protected, it’s where they can explore without fear, and it’s where the best memories are created. But home is also frequently the place where young children sustain injuries which are sometimes fatal.

The CDC reports that every year more than 9,000 children under the age of 19 die from unintentional injuries such as motor vehicle crashes, drowning, poisoning, falls, fires, and suffocation. Even though the death rate from childhood injuries has continued to decline steadily, they are still the leading cause of death in children and teens. Childhood injuries are preventable, and as a parent, you should do your best to keep children, especially young children, safe in your home. Here are some lifesaving home safety tips that you simply cannot afford to ignore.

Fire and Burn Injuries

On average, one child dies every day in America from fire and burn injuries. You can ensure your kids are safe by:

  • Making sure the smoke alarms in your home are working properly
  • Practicing safety drills with your kids (fires spread rapidly through a home and can leave a family less than 5 minutes to escape from danger)
  • Using cooking equipment carefully as this is leading cause of home fires
  • Educating yourself and your kids on fire safety with programs such as Start Safe: Fire

Electrocution Injuries

Mistaking a live electricity wire for a utility cable or using an electrical appliance near a sink or bathtub can have devastating consequences. Following a thunderstorm or high winds, remain vigilant for any downed power lines near your home. Kids should receive basic information about electrical shocks and safety precautions regarding electricity. All children, regardless of age, should know these dangers of electricity.

Driveway Injuries

You may think your driveway is a safe haven, but children can sustain injuries as a result of an adult reversing a vehicle over a child in the driveway or from a child shifting a vehicle out of parking gear. Young and small children are particularly at risk. Large sports utility vehicles reversing out of the driveway are the most frequent culprits. Even with a reversing camera and parking sensors in place, parents should remember that small children can move unpredictably and may be impossible to see. Before reversing out of your driveway, make sure you know where your children are, especially children under the age of 6.

Drowning Injuries

Drowning kills more than 1,000 American children every year. Yet, come summer, it’s impossible to keep the kids away from water. Who can blame them? Pools are what make summer so much fun. Children between the ages of 1 and 4 are the highest risk of drowning. Swimming pools are considered the safest place for recreational swimming, but parents with pools in their homes must take some basic water safety precautions:

  • Fence the pool area but ensure the pool is visible from outside the fence
  • Limit access to the pool with a safety cover
  • Empty inflatable pools after use
  • Learn CPR and keep emergency equipment (life ring, rope) on hand
  • Teach your kids to swim
  • Never leave children unsupervised near a pool

Poisoning Injuries

About 80 percent of the 2 million calls to poison centers in the U.S. every year are for children under the age of 5. Death and injury from exposure to household poisons are predictable and preventable. The CDC’s Up and Away campaign offer some easy-to-implement tips for parents to ensure medications are stored safely in the home. Here are some additional tips to prevent poisoning in the home:

  • Install child-proof locks on cabinets
  • Store chemicals and medications out of sight and out of reach
  • Never transfer potential poisons from their original containers to food containers such as soda bottles or milk jugs
  • Never store food and potential poisons in the same cabinet (children may mistake lookalike products or reach for a poisonous substance in a hurry)
  • Keep the product in sight when using it

A Playground Safety Checklist for You and Your Kids

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Spring is in full swing, which means that it’s the perfect time for you and your kids to get outside and enjoy the sunshine and warmer weather. Unfortunately, with an increase in outdoor play comes an increase in the risk of injury for kids.

Skinned knees, scratches, falls, and even more serious injuries like broken bones seem to go hand-in-hand with playing outside. But, if you and your child take the necessary safety precautions before heading to the park or playground, many injuries can be avoided. Your child can enjoy hours of play out in the sunshine, and you don’t have to worry over outdoor dangers.

Accidents happen and kids will get an injury from time to time, but many bumps and bruises can be avoided if you know what to look for. Here’s a playground safety checklist by Superior Grounds For Play to help you conduct a quick playground inspection before your child runs off to play.