You feel your home is the safest place for you and your kids, which indeed it is – ifyou are watchful. If you are not, it can turn into a downright dangerous place. According to Safe Kids Worldwide, an organization that strives to protect children from unintentional injuries, many parents and elders in a family do not realize deadly risks lurking in their homes.
To go by the data collected by this organization, around 6 children in U.S. everyday lose their lives to such unintentional home accidents. It is high time parents and for that matter, every family member realizes what such risks are and how one can prevent kids from such fatal risks. Here is a list of such risks:
Cords dangling from window blinds
It never occurred to you but that cord hanging from a window blind can cause a fatal accident for your kid. Sometimes parents place their kid’s cribs and beds close to a window, without realizing this possibility even a wee bit. If you have window treatments with dangling cords, ensure you do not place your baby’s bed anywhere close to it. The better solutions are honeycomb shades, or shades that are cordless. The same goes for the cables and electrical cords of televisions, ACs and any other electrical appliance. Keep them far out of your kid’s reach.
Unlocked medicine cabinet
One of the major culprits is that unlocked medicine cabinet in your home. You child knows nothing about it and could end up consuming medicines. As per the Safe Kids Worldwide data, approximately 185 children everyday are rushed to hospital as child poisoning cases fir they consume medicines on their own. It is solely your responsibility to keep your children safe from such unpleasant instances. Therefore, either keep your medicine box somewhere your kids cannot reach or keep the medicine closet locked always.
Unsecured windows
Those huge sized windows with no grill or bars look lovely if you only consider the view outside. However, when it comes to security, especially security of your little ones at home, those windows are dangerous.
Every year, more than 4,000 kids make it to emergency rooms in hospitals after tumbling out of a window. Make sure you prefer security to looks. Screw rows of bars and grills into the window frame, so that your kid stands no chance of slipping or tumbling out of the window.
Know the allergens and irritants
Products like perfumes, nail polish and its remover, aftershave, bath oil, mouthwash, vitamins and slew of other such products in your home can be fatal if ingested by your innocent kid. This does not mean you cannot have all these products in your home, but you just need to be a bit more watchful. Store all such products in a place that your little ones cannot reach.
Tall furniture pieces
Those tall furniture pieces in your living room look lovely but are dangerous. Data collected by Safe Kids Worldwide reveals that one child every two weeks dies of a large dresser, bookcase or any such furniture falling over them. You can eliminate this unpleasant possibility in your home by placing tall furniture against the wall with brackets.
Small objects
Choking is yet another major cause of accidental deaths of children. You need to keep every small object including small parts of toys, plastic caps, safety pins, marbles, coins, jewelry pieces, deflated balloons, plastic bags, crayon pieces and a wide assortment of other objects far away from toddlers. The same goes for the foods such as raw carrots, grapes, popcorn, hard candies, nuts and raisins. As they do not know what to do, they simply gulp things resulting in choking.
A home can be equally dangerous as the streets outside are if parents and the elder family members are not vigilant. They need to put in some effort to make the home safer for kids.
