Pledge just ten minutes to keep your children safe in the home
Few parents manage to navigate the early years without several phone calls to NHS direct or at least one frantic rush to the hospital.
The things that fascinate babies and toddlers nearly always have a skull and cross bones on, come complete with dangerous height, are incredibly hot or even electrical.
Whilst it is important not to wrap children up in cotton wool, there are basic safety precautions that are essential for parents to take.
To highlight the most common dangers in the home, the Child Accident Prevention Trust is aiming to raise awareness of the number of accidents that kill or seriously injure children every year.
They are urging parents to pledge time to their child’s safety by thinking about how to make homes safer during Child Safety Week.
Manyparents will feel guilty mentally ticking off one or two of the below scenarios from the learned by experience list.
The following top ten tips cover the most common and potentially fatal accidents and incidents that occur in the home and are well worth taking simple steps to avoid.
Top 10 tips to keep your child safe – they only take a minute
1.Every day 11 toddlers are rushed into hospital because they’ve swallowed something dangerous. Detergent capsules and concentrated detergents are really convenient but pose new risks to young children. If yours are under the sink, take a couple of minutes to move them to a high cupboard or one with a lock, away from little hands.
2.Remember some 3-4 year olds can open child ‘proof’ caps in seconds, so keep medicines in a locked or high cupboard too. Don’t forget the painkillers in your handbag too!
3.Hair straighteners stay hot enough to badly burn a child 8 minutes after being unplugged. So take a moment to lift them off the floor or the door handle and put them where they can’t be reached.
4.Young children love to climb on furniture to see out of windows – or just to climb! Take the time to fit a window lock so it will only open to 6cm (2.5 inches). Falling downstairs can damage your babies brain as well as their body so make sure you use safety gates on stairs.
5.Thick, black smoke from a fire can fill your home in minutes and kill your child in seconds. So get a smoke alarm fitted on every level of your home and test it regularly.
6.At least 1 young child a year dies after getting caught in a blind cord and being strangled. It takes seconds to tie yours back round a hook to keep loops out of reach of climbing children. Move children’s cots, beds and highchairs away from window blinds too.
7.Babies and toddlers drown silently and in as little as 5 cm (2 inches) of water. Bath seats aren’t safety products as babies can wriggle out of them. So make time to always stay with your young child or baby when they’re in the bath.
8.In five seconds a toddler’s skin can be burned so badly by hot tap water that they need to go to hospital. So take a second to put the cold water in first and top up with hot, then test the water with your elbow, to reduce the risk of your child being burned.
9.Toddlers can choke on food that’s too big, even just the size of a grape. Take a minute to cut their food up into small pieces.
10. Six toddlers are admitted to hospital every day because they’ve been so badly burned. A hot drink can burn a young child even 15 minutes after it has been made, so put your baby down before you pick up yours and don’t pass hot drinks over children’s heads.
Child Safety Week is running later in the month from June 21 until June 27, though the charity’s comprehensive website is available all year round with essential advice on how to keep children of all ages safe.
Parents can visit the dedicated website now: www.childsafetyweek.org.uk and add their time contribution to the pledge clock.