A Home Safety Reevaluation

Judy Lyden, Scripps Howard News Service

My grandson William is eight months old and standing on his own. Children are curious and will use all their senses to absorb information. William eats anything. The 24-pound tremendosaurus makes his way to his mother’s lap and opens his mouth for shoveling. If he could, he’d say, “Faster, Mom.”

William would pull a tablecloth to fetch a cookie, climb into the refrigerator to peruse goodies and into closets to forage. Funny? It could be, or it could turn tragic. Young children don’t understand, and many new parents are not watchful enough.
I’ve known children who drank liquid drain-clog opener and last night’s vodka punch and others who ate Mom’s deodorant. These are poisons for young children. It only takes a few seconds.

Periodic safety reevaluations of all homes are advisable. Re-evaluating your home is easy when you check the council’s Web site at http://www.homesafetycouncil.org
for tips.

• Everyone loves a beautiful table of goodies. A lovely candelabra graces any table. A glass punchbowl filled with fruited red punch is a delight to guests. But the whole thing is a nightmare to mothers of children younger than three, especially when matches and lighters are left on the table. A large baby like William could have the entire spread on the floor in 30 seconds. Can you imagine the lighted candelabra igniting the tablecloth? Or glass shards injuring a curious child?
• Are beautiful tables taboo? No, but leaving children unattended should be. Keep deep-fryers outside, and think carefully about oil displacement and the weight of your turkey
• In a public place recently, I stepped on 50 milligrams of something that had fallen on the carpet. This is the kind of thing William will eat. Caring adults should keep pills in containers and take them in places where free-falls just won’t happen.
• Scalding happens. Do you know how hot your water heater heats water? Little guests can scald themselves by turning only one spigot in the bathroom. For houseguests, think about turning down heaters to 120°F / 49°C or less.
• A cup of hot tea or coffee is wonderful as the weather turns colder. When you boil liquids, use backburners, turn pan handles away from small graspers, and keep cups where small hands can’t reach. (Or make it so that young children are not allowed to cross into the part of the kitchen where the stove is.)
• Mothers know that cleaning products should be kept in an over-the-head storage place. Child safety latches don’t always work. Buy the smaller size of products you use infrequently and lock them up after the first use. Buying more later is a better choice than risking the life of a child. While visiting others, don’t hesitate to close and remove anything that could present a hazard to a young child.
• When entertaining friends with children younger than three, it’s a good idea to close bedroom and bathroom doors and to hook doors that open onto staircases. Baby gates keep a child in the room with his parents.
• Children will explore windows. Make sure windows are locked and screens are pulled in place. Windows should be a parent-and-me activity. Wrap drapery cords with tape where little ones can’t reach.
• Just in case, post local emergency numbers near every telephone. Type out the numbers and use package tape to make them neat and permanent.