How to Babyproof Your Home—and Make theWhole Family Feel Safer
No matter how much you try, no one can create an atmosphere that is 100% safe and nothing guarantees safety more than careful supervision of your little ones at all times. Each year, more than 4.5 million children are injured in the home, according to the National SAFE KIDS Campaign. Parents can prevent many common serious childhood injuries by knowing where the dangers lie and how to protect children from them.
Following the suggestions on this checklist will help you do all you can to ensure the safety of the smallest members of your family—and contribute to your own peace of mind.
1) BATHROOM: Start by turning down the water temperature on your water heater; it’s easiest to avoid any burning problem by keeping the top heat at 110°. Also, since babies are fascinated by water, it’s good practice to buy and install toilet lid locks.
- Keep all medications and cleaning products stored in a locked cabinet. You especially want to lock low cabinets that contain household products because once your child starts crawling, he or she can get out dangerous fluids and drink them.
2) DOORS: Put decals on sliding-glass doors so your child won’t run into them. Use doorknob covers on doors that you don’t want your child to open.
3) WINDOWS: Install window guards or adjust windows so they cannot open more than six inches.
- Tie up the cords to blinds so that a child doesn’t get tangled up in them.
- Do not place a crib, playpen, highchair, bed or furniture anywhere near blind cords or near a window (even toddlers can climb!).
- Install safety glass in low windows and French doors so they won’t shatter if a child falls into them.
4) ELECTRICITY: Cover all unused electrical outlets with safety plugs that snap into outlets. Check for exposed outlets behind furniture that you may have overlooked.
5) FIREPLACE: Purchase a fireplace hearth cover because once kids learn to walk or crawl, they run a risk of falling into a fireplace. Even homemade cushiony devices that go around the hearth can keep them out of harm’s way.
6) STAIRWAYS: Install gates once they start crawling. Put them at the bottom of stairways to prevent them from getting up the stairs, but don’t put a gate at the top of the steps because some babies can climb up and fall from an even greater height. If you are worried about them getting out of a bedroom, put a gate on that doorway as well.
- Remember to place the Safety Gate bar latch on the side away from your child’s reach.
- Never leave anything on the stairs that you can trip on while carrying your baby.
7) FURNITURE AND ACCESSORIES: Put away any unstable or rickety furniture your baby could pull over.
- Fasten high bookcases or other tall pieces of furniture to the wall so your child can’t pull them down.
- Keep all drawers closed completely so your baby can’t shut fingers in them or climb on them.
8) APPLIANCES: Turn the handles of pots and pans toward the back of the stove or counter.
- Use the back burners for cooking whenever possible.
- Don’t let your baby play at your feet while you are cooking.
- Never leave a boiling pot or sizzling skillet unattended on the stove.
- Teach your child that the oven is HOT and not to touch it.
- Keep plug-in appliances, such as toasters and can-openers, where your child can’t reach them.
Child safety expert Dave Riley, PhD, offers additional advice. “Get right down at baby’s level and check things out at their eye-level,” he says. “Pick up anything that they can put into mouths including dirt. Baby-proofing changes with the age of the child,” says Riley, professor of human development and family studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “As soon as your baby develops any new capabilities, new dangers arise. So at each stage, you must really look at the house.”
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER—THE BEST PROTECTION FORYOUR BABY IS YOUR VIGILANCE…
to keep everyone in your family happy and safe.
About the Author
Baby Proofing The Home
|
|
Fathers and Sons: 11 Great Writers Talk about Their Dads, Their Boys, and What It Means to Be a Man (Esquire Books (Hearst)) $2.88 “No relationship has more power than the one between a father and a son…whether for good or ill—that relationship molds a man.” – David Granger, Editor-in-Chief, Esquire From Esquire, which has always showcased the world’s finest writers, comes a stunning collection of often moving essays about fatherhood. Compelling and eloquent, these are some of the magazine’s most emotion… |
|
|
Fathers and Sons: 11 Great Writers Talk about Their Dads, Their Boys, and What It Means to Be a Man $1.49 “No relationship has more power than the one between a father and a son…whether for good or ill—that relationship molds a man.” – David Granger, Editor-in-Chief, Esquire From Esquire, which has always showcased the world’s finest writers, comes a stunning collection of often moving essays about fatherhood. Compelling and eloquent, these are some of the magazine’s most emotionally powerful pieces, as eleven award-winning and notable authors reflect on manhood through memories of their own fathers and their personal experience of raising sons. The collection covers everything from birth to death, from the thrilling and terrifying hours Daniel Voll spent in the delivery room during his wife’s long labor to Jake La Motta’s heartbreaking piece about losing his two sons to David Sedaris’s sidesplitting portrait at his father—a food hoarder who once took a bite of his own hat.  Includes: Tom Chiarella’s journey with his two sons to meet Xbox’s most famous Halo gamer and his posse Humorist Larry Doyle on the fearsome “babyproofer” who inspected his house for death traps…and found them everywhere Tom Junod’s gradual realization that his father’s lessons on how to dress like a man were really lessons on life Scott Raab on the lifelong struggle with his tough-guy dad Ron Reagan on his bittersweet victory in a swimming race against his father John Richardson on his father’s controversial career as a covert CIA operative Martha Sherill on her father’s life as a swinging bachelor and the former girlfriends that surface after his death A loving essay from Alec Wilkinson about raising a child with special needs |
