Child Safety Starts At Home

Everyday our parent minds worry about the safety of our children. We worry about them playing outside and coming home with ouchies. Did you know that more accidents happen at home than anywhere else? This November is Child Safety month and safety should start inside your home. We put together preventions of the most common accidents in households to help keep you and your family safe. 

Prevent Drowning: drowning is the leading cause of death between 1 - 4 year old and children are more likely to drown at home in the bath or bucket.

• Bathtime is always fun for all kiddos but do not leave your little one unattended. Keep distractions to a minimum during this time and take this time to focus on them.
• Don't leave the bathtime tub or any bucket full of water. Close your toilet lids or keep them secure with a toilet seat lock. 
• If you have a pool, install child safety locks on all doors leading to outside areas and put a gate around your pool. 
• Get CPR certified so you know what to do to save your child's life.

Prevent Choking: 

• Check all toys before letting your kids play with them to see if there are any choking hazards. 
• Clean up all small objects off the floor right away. Do a scan every so often of playing areas to make sure there aren't any tiny objects that little ones can put into their mouths and choke. 
• If your little one is still learning to eat make sure to cut their food small enough for their tiny mouths. 60% of non-fatal choking incidents are food related. Supervise eating sessions to prevent choking on foods.
• Keep electrical cords or strings away and out of reach of all small children. 
• Evaluate the type of candy given to children and if it is too hard or big for them to eat. 
• Learn how to perform the heimlich maneuver on babies or small children.

Prevent Falling: 

• Put toys away after playing to prevent tripping or falling when walking around the house.
• Never leave children; especially babies on bed, changing tables or chairs without supervision. 
• Install safety gates where needed, especially at the top and bottom of stairwells.
• Strap your child in securely on changing tables, high chairs, and strollers. 
• Secure all things hanging on the wall or heavier furniture that children might climb onto, that way if little climbers do climb it is more safe.

Prevent Poisoning: 9 out of 10 poisonings occur at home.

• Lock all cabinets that contain hazardous cleaning products that way no kiddos can get to them. 
• Install safety latches in all cabinets and return all poisonous products to storage as soon as you are done using them.
• Keep all medicines, even kid-friendly medicines out of the reach and out of sight. It is recommended to not tell your kids that medicine tastes like candy, this helps to prevent them from trying it when an adult isn't around. 
• Put the poison control phone number in a place that is easy to access (1-800-222-1222). Have anyone watching your children aware of its location.

Preventing Fires: 

• Make sure all smoke alarms are working and have working batteries. Replace batteries every year. All smoke detectors should be outside of every room in your home. Show your children what the alarm sounds like so they know what it means when/if they hear it.
• Plan and practice a fire evacuation that way your children know exactly where to go and what to do when/if there is a fire. 
• Put away and keep out of reach all matches and lighters. Teach your children not to play with fire starters or fire. Keep gasoline and other flammable liquids outside your house. 
• Don't have electrical cords under rugs and replace cords that are frayed.

The safety of your family can start right in your home. These simple preventions can help save a life or prevent owies. If your kiddos to get any owies along the way, me4kidz is passionate about helping children by providing fun kid-friendly first aid kits. We firmly believe when accidents happen to clean-it, fix-it & get back to play! 

 Disclaimer - If your child or you are in a life threatening emergency please dial 9-1-1. 

Kelsey Glynn is a blogger and owner of Social Graces, a business to support others in their social media needs. She is a contributing blog writer for East Valley Moms Blog, a social media content creator, and an avid photo taker. You can catch her adventuring around AZ and living the mom life on Instagram.

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