safe and sound
Filed Under Stuff, Tips & Tricks | May 29, 2009
This week is National Safe Kids Week so we wanted to check in to make sure that you know about the most common risks to your kids. Most of us know about installing outlet covers and toilet latches but the way you use the products in your home versus how your children use them is actually one of the biggest risks.
In the last ten years nearly half of the emergency room visits for kids under 19 were because of product-related injuries. For instance the biggest risk for newborns to four-year-olds is falling from furniture. While little ones can fall off of everything from tables to couches, bunk beds are especially risky. Falls from bunk beds are almost twice as likely to require a trip to the emergency room as other injuries. Though they’re great space savers, ideally only kids over six should use the top bunk.
As your kids get bigger different hazards emerge. For the five to nine set, toppling furniture is the biggest causes of injury. Whether they’re trying to turn on the TV – keep yours on low and sturdy furniture – or climbing furniture to get at what they want, unsecured furniture is risky. Use angle-brackets or furniture straps to secure dressers, wall units, bookcases and the like.
To make sure your house is a safe place for your kids look at it through their eyes – and from their height – and move potentially dangerous items out of their reach. Take a moment to make sure what you’re buying is appropriate for your child, look at the size and surface and remove any strings. We especially like this tip, the smaller your child, the bigger the toys and items you buy for them should be.
There are too many recalls for you to rely on the news alone for updates, so Health Canada’s site is a great resource for details on product recalls, advisories and info on kids’ products. And the Safety Station at BC Children’s Hospital is a great resource for both helpful safety tips and products. You can also download Safe Kids Canada’s Home Safe Home pdf here.
As for the potentially fraught question, “How safe is too safe?” Well, we’re not going there.
Leave a Comment
Let us know what you think or share your great finds with us so we can share them with other Vancouver mothers!
