Outdoor and Yard Many dangers exist outdoors, with pools, hot tubs, hoses, pet supplies, and cleaning agents that you should lock away from children. Store snail/rat/ant killers, which are extremely toxic, out of kids’ reach. Surround your pool with a fence that has a locked gate.
General Security Stairs — whether an entire flight or just a few into a sunken family room — can be quite risky for younger children. Install hardware- or pressure-mounted safety gates certified by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association. Be sure to lock external doors and put garage door re- mote controls out of the reach of children so they cannot wander off undetected. Store all pet foods and medicines out
of the reach of young children. Contact your local poison control center to get refrigerator magnets with poison control phone numbers or stickers. Have other emergency phone numbers easily avail- able, and teach your children starting at five years old how to call 911, state their address and home phone number. No safety tip is a substitute for ade- quate child supervision. Your child needs constant direct eyesight supervision during play from infancy through toddler- hood. Brief playtimes in safe play areas are good for preschoolers. School-aged children start to separate from parents, so ensure that friends and neighbors’ homes are safe when your children play there. Teens need ongoing communication regarding potential safety hazards. The teen years are very tumultuous
physically and emotionally. Many teens bring medications found at home to “pharm parties,” where they drink alco-
Ready, Set, Grow
Once babies can crawl, get down and “crawl” to look for potential dangers at their eye level
hol. Open lines of communication are cru- cial to prevent accidents, drug overdose, cutting and suicide. You are responsible for providing safe,
loving environments for your kids as they grow and develop. There are many issues to think about based upon developmental level and individual personalities. Basic safety can secure your family’s environ- ment so you have fewer worries and more loving quality time with your children.
RESOURCES
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/ imagepages/
19648.htm
http://www.safekids.org/safetytips/field_ venues/home
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ safety-prevention/at-home/Pages/
default.aspx.
Roberta Bavin, DNP, CPNP, a PNP with more than 35 years of experience in children’s health care, currently works in a pediatric primary care office as a PNP, providing health care for medically under- served children.
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