How to Child Proof Your Home

Posted by Stephanie Snyder on July 28th, 2021

Household injuries are a major cause of emergency room operation amongst children under the age of three. Parents should enhance the protection of children right from the moment they start crawling up to when they have a proper understanding of the risk posed by various household items. The lack of safety measures can lead to incidences that risk a child's health or cause a permanent disability. Here are childproofing tips to safeguard your children from potential household hazards.

1. Adjust Hot-Water Heater Settings

Babies are curious and tend to play with every knob that is within their reach. When you move out of your house or immediately after taking a bath, you should adjust your hot water heater setting to below 120 degrees Fahrenheit. The move can reduce skin injuries incidences where children switch on hot water and sustain burns without your knowledge. You should prevent children's access to the bathroom without adult supervision to reduce these incidences.

2. Keep Bathroom Locked

Bathrooms can cause varying injuries and contribute to most incidences of hospitalizations. When children access the bathroom, they are likely to play with water which can cause drowning. Besides, bathrooms have cabinets that harbor many chemicals, including detergents, soaps, toilet cleaners, and body lotions. If the cabinets are not locked, the children could accidentally ingest these dangerous liquids resulting in death or emergency hospital visits. Additionally, the bathroom has wet floors that can cause accidental falls, breaking their limbs or children's back. Accidental slamming of the bathroom door can also cause injury to children's fingers. Therefore, you should ensure that bathroom doors are always locked to prevent child access.

3. Removing Heavy Objects

When the child starts crawling or begins to walk, you should tightly hold to a wall every heavy object. Children like to explore things and could climb on the TV and open a cabinet. By securely mounting your TV on the wall, you can eliminate injury when the TV falls on the child. Additionally, you should ensure that your cabinet is securely closed. Most cabinets have items placed in layers, and the child could pull one object, causing the rest to fall and cause an injury. The cabinet can also hold sharp and dangerous weapons. For a gun owner, you can securely place it in Stealth Gun Safe to prevent unauthorized access by children and teenagers to avoid injury and death.

4. Secure Electrical Equipment

Electricity is an essential component in most homes, and you should ensure that your child has no access to places with electrical sockets. The move can prevent a child from inserting objects into sockets and avoid incidences of shock, which can cause injury or death. Besides, you should ensure that all chords supplying power to refrigerators and TV have proper insulation and should not be loose. Moreover, the cables should be tightly fixed in-wall and placed higher beyond the child's reach. It would help if you also locate bulb switches beyond the children's reach.

5. Window Guards and Blinds

When you are building a new house, you should ensure that the windows are located at a higher height to prevent access by young children. Besides, installing a window blind can help prevent a child from falling and injuring themselves when they open windows in your absence. Placing furniture away from the window location could help prevent a child from climbing to access the windows blinds. You can also shorten the window blinds lengths to prevent children access to prevent incidences of suffocation.

6. Access Gates to Stair and Fire Place

You can install access gates to the staircase and fireplace to prevent child access without the presence of an adult. Staircases have sharp corners, and most children's motor skills are yet to develop fully. Therefore, children could fall off the stairs, causing injury to the body and breakage of limbs. Installing gates along the stair; thus, protect the child from such falls. Children could sustain burns when they access fireplaces. By installing gates, you prevent child access to matchboxes, candles, hot pans, or cooking gas in the absence of the parents.

You should provide a confrontable environment for a child's growth in your home. Because most children are ardent to discover how things are and will likely play with items in their immediate environment, you should take extra caution to ensure their safety. You can observe the above six tips of childproofing to prevent incidences that result in injury, hospitalizations, permanent injuries, and death among young children.