Keeping Your Children Safe and Sound at Home

As a parent, our most important responsibility is to keep our little ones safe. Whether it is safety from physical harm, emotional stress or safety from the digital world that we live in, making sure our children understand the dangers around them is crucial.

Accidents can happen anywhere. All it takes is a second and while there may be times we may not be able to foresee or prevent something. There are many other times that we can prevent an injury just by being safe and careful.

Broadly speaking, child safety at home and outside needs to be properly adhered to. We have put down for you some important measures that you need to keep in mind to ensure your child is safe and sound at home:

Child Safety at Home

Research has shown that the maximum number of accidents that a child between the age of 0 to 5 has is at home. Children learn very fast and are always curious about the world around them. As they learn how to crawl, walk and run around, they are always at a danger of injury.

• Childproof your home: While your adult-friendly home may be beautiful with all its delicate artifacts and fancy gadgets, it may not be safe for a child. Here’s what you should do bearing child security in mind
• Install safety gates across entries to balconies and gates. Keep a special watch out when your child has just learnt how to crawl or walk.
• Baby proof all plug points and sockets.
• Keep all window opening firmly shut with window guards.
• Try and pad the sharp corners of your home. This includes tables and chairs as well.
• Keep your children away from the kitchen: A place of major hazards, the kitchen is a place full of risks.
• As far as possible, try and keep your little ones away from the kitchen where they may be at risk of fire or having hot things fall on them.
• Keep all sharp objects like knives etc, right at the back of the counter so that it is far away from the little hands of an exploring child.
• Remember to turn off all kitchen gadgets that you use like, water kettles, ovens, etc.
• Always keep an eye out for your little one when she is in the kitchen.
• Make sure your smoke alarms are all in working condition and regularly serviced.
• Keep poisonous and toxic stuff far away: Poisoning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death among children between the ages of 1 to 19 years.
• Make sure all your cleaning supplies, medicines, and other harmful stuff are kept far away from your child, maybe even under lock and key.
• Keep all batteries and small electronic objects away from the reach of your child. Teach your child about the importance of fire safety and ensure your home has the right smoke alarm detectors and extinguishers. Children do not understand danger and have very little sense of fear. It is always better to be safe.
• Put tiny little things away and into containers: Our house is full of small, exciting looking objects that children between the ages of 1 and 4 always end up putting in their mouths.
  Never let children run around or play any kind of sports with candy or lollipops in their mouths
• Keep scanning your home for small objects that children can put into their mouths. These could include toys, marbles, erasers, bottle caps, coins and office supplies.
  Read the manufacturers’ food labels carefully to determine choking risks
• Keep away plastic bags from children so as to prevent any form of strangulation.
• Protect your child online: The need of the hour is to keep your child safe on the Internet right from cyberbullying to any inappropriate content.
• It is important to educate ourselves about the Internet, its perils, and how the system essentially works. It’s tough to know if you don’t try to find out what’s out there.
  Ensure that the child up to a certain age accesses the internet with adult supervision. Keep a time limit on screen time.
• It is imperative to begin discussions on online safety with your child from an early age. Considering how easy it is to access the internet now, start talking to them about it. Help them understand the reason behind your decisions.
• Emphasize and enforce boundaries that are age-appropriate especially when it comes to child security online. This will provide your child with a clear understanding of what’s safe and what’s not.

While we can do all we can to prevent an accident, it is also important to understand that in the process of ensuring child safety at home. We do not take away from our little ones the fun of exploring things on their own. There is nothing more rewarding and joyful to a child, then unrestricted and unstructured play. We must also let them know of the dangers lurking around outside the safety of their homes.

Instead of telling them not to talk to strangers at all, we should try and teach them to recognize red flags. Talking and engaging in a meaningful conversation with your child can help you understand them better and teach them accordingly. From family codes to making them memorize important numbers to game plans on what to do if they ever get lost? We can never be over-cautious when it comes to their safety, can we?

So parents, watch your child when they are young, pay attention to them and keep them safely occupied. At the end of the day, home safety is all about supervising your child, creating a safe environment for them and educating them about how to stay safe. It is all about learning how to being safe, prevent accidents, and trusting your instincts.