It’s never too early to start childproofing your home. Because children grow and develop new skills quickly, it is a good idea to check your childproofing every few months. A good way to find things that need childproofing is to get down on your hands and knees and look at things from your child’s point of view.
- Start with these tips to help ensure the safety of your child. This is only a quick reference to help childproof your home.
- Do not leave out any items that are small enough for a child to swallow which can be a choking hazard.
- Pad hard corners on furniture.
- Install latches on cabinets and make sure any harmful products (cleaning chemicals and medicines) are out of reach.
- Use the back burners of your stove and turn pot handles toward the back of the stove.
- Install a stove guard to prevent the child from turning on the stove.
- Add oven door latches to keep door locked.
- Buy outlet covers to place on all outlets that your child can reach.
- Keep blind cords out of reach by shortening the cords near the top of the blind.
- Place emergency numbers for the poison control center, hospital and doctor by the telephone.
- Install a fireplace hearth protector, to protect your child from the hazards of falling.
- Use non-tension safety gates at the top and bottom of staircases.
- Use doorknob locks to prevent children from opening doors to unsafe areas.
- Install a toilet lock to prevent child from falling in and drowning.
- Disconnect all appliances when not in use.
- Store any type of plastic bags out of children’s reach
- If you own guns, keep them securely locked. Also lock ammunition in a separate location.