Six Ways To Childproof Your Home

Since home injuries are the leading source of childhood accidents, parents should be conscientious of how childproof their home is. Since home accidents are largely preventable, here are six safety tips to keep your children safe and accident free:

1. Home Security

Home security systems offer complete home protection from an ear-piercing alarm to cameras to carbon monoxide detectors. Even in the safest of neighborhoods, investing in a local ADT security system will add an extra layer of security over your home, allowing you peace of mind. Additionally, most security systems have a downloadable app that can be used to track the safety of your home while you are away.

2. Water Safety

Even if children know how to swim, they should never be left near a body of water without adult supervision. It only takes one fall or big wave to hinder a child’s swimming ability, for as one of the most common childhood deaths, drowning can happen in a matter of seconds.

For backyard pools, safety gates should be purchased so that pool-related incidents do not happen while children are playing in the backyard.

3. Fire Safety

Eighty-five percent of all fire deaths occur within the home. Many of those deaths are related to either a broken fire alarm or no alarm system within the home. If you do not have fire alarms within the home, it is crucial to install them immediately. Many firefighters believe fire deaths that occur in a home with no smoke detectors or broken smoke detectors could have been prevented.

As an additional security measure, link the fire alarms together. Because linked fire alarms are now code, most new homes already have this feature. Older home, on the other hand, most likely do not. If fire alarms are linked, when one detects smoke, it alerts the rest of the alarms, allowing your family time to get out of the home before the fire worsens.

4. Prevent Poisoning

Any chemicals like cleaning products, detergent, bleach, rubbing alcohol or typical bathroom products like perfume or hair products, are dangerous if ingested orally or placed anywhere near the eyes. Keep these products on a higher shelf, locked cabinet, or in an area a child cannot reach, enter, or is unaware of.

5. Keep Children From Choking

Suffocation is a leading cause of death in children four years and younger. Always put babies to sleep on their backs on a firm mattress, not a soft cushion, pillow or blanket.

Children under four can choke on firm, round foods such as popcorn, nuts, grapes and hard candy, thus new foods should be introduced carefully.

6. Buckle Up

In the event of a car accident, being buckled can be the difference life and death. About every 12-1/2 minutes, someone in the United States is killed because of an auto accident. The simple act of buckling a seatbelt can save a child’s life.

With these few tips and home changes, you can offer your children a safer, more secure environment.

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