Safety in the house

Nine times out of ten accidents are caused by human error, negligence or disregard of the risk. However, for children accidents in particular, the ignorance of parents and all those who are responsible for them is an additional important cause.

Based on the information the nonprofit organization “Pediatric Trauma Care” has released, up to 500,000 children are getting injured every year in Greece. It is worth to mention that the majority of those accidents take place in the "safe" environment of their home.
Of course, you shouldn’t react by becoming over protective, as excessive anxiety can lead to equally unpleasant results. What you really need to do is follow all necessary guidelines for safety at home, so as to keep your little one out of danger at any age.
When your baby becomes a toddler, the criteria that you should keep in mind for an ideal and proper environment is safety of course. This however, shouldn’t prevent you to combine the functionality of your house with the freedom that your little one needs so as to be creative, active and feel secure. Combining the close supervision with small interventions in the areas regarding decoration items and furniture, you may not eliminate the possibility of hazards but you can certainly help the drastically reduction of accidents risk.
Safety rules in the house:
•    Use baby socket covers
•    Use kitchen burner covers, there are special ones even for ceramic hobs. Make sure that the handles are not turned outward. Never leave cooking unattended.
•    Use stair protection
•    Always use an approved glass or metal protective screen in front of your fireplace even if there is no fire (you will be surprised where they can fit and how much curiosity they have) and put the accessories in a safe place
•    Secure all cabinets and drawers that can be reached by your little one, especially in the kitchen and bathroom, where the content can be proven really dangerous for him. Place out of your baby’s reach all detergents, cutlery and cooking utensils as well as the pharmacy of the house.
•    Lower the water heater thermostat. Don’t store anything near a water heater.
•    Do the ironing while your little one is sleeping and don’t forget to unplug the iron immediately after use and place the iron right away from your child. Store as soon as possible.
•    You should always close the lid of your toilet and do not allow access to a significant amount of water. It is also important to secure wells, tanks or other water collection points
•    Put on protective corners to furniture, especially if they are metal and sharp
•    You have to remove the chairs and tables away from windows and do not let the cord from blinds or curtains hanging. Also you can use a special transparent plastic film which helps keeping the fragments of broken glass together in case of an accident
•    Have all unstable and edgy furniture child-proofed
•    Ensure that trash bin of the house is big and not easy to open and place it to a safe place. Litter bags should be stored in a secure cabinet. Remove any trash from your home.
•    Remove plants that can cause poisoning
•    If you have a hunting rifle or official gun and you need to keep it inside the house, be sure that it is empty, secured and the ammo is kept in a separate secure area
•    Secure the balconies of the house from the inner side
•    Use non-slip mats under the carpets or set them under heavy furniture. Put a non-slip mat inside and outside of the bathtub

As your baby grows up, he will start walking, touching everything, bringing it in his mouth... this will be his joyful way of discovering the world! The best thing you can do now is to boost his confidence. He shouldn’t grow up by constantly listening of you saying 'no', 'be careful' and 'don’t touch this'. In order to be able to do so, you should first make some arrangements. The child needs an environment that will provide the security to conquer slowly all stages of development.
If you want to be aware of what to expect, note that most common accidents include falling, poisoning by detergents or cigarette smoke (one cigarette contains enough amount of tobacco that can be fatal if consumed by a child) and burns. You might also find it interesting that burns from hot liquids, are more frequent than dry burns.