I apologize for introducing a potentially grim topic, but can we talk child safety here for a bit? And I’m thinking particularly about “one-strike” hazards.
p{color:gray}. Photo: Lucy explores the vacuum cleaner.
What I mean by a one-strike hazard is any safety problem which doesn’t give you even one free pass, but which presents immediate danger to life or limb without warning. Car accidents fall into this category: you don’t say to yourself, “Well, let’s leave her unbuckled and see how she does if we have a little fender bender” (especially since it might not be merely a fender bender). You buckle her in every time in readiness for that first time. Likewise, everyone knows to preemptively cover open electrical sockets, which is why you can buy socket guards in any grocery store. The door left open at the top of our basement stairs is a third example. These are all hazards we have to think about _before_ there’s a first incident.
But of course, not all safety concerns are like this. There are a bunch of cookbooks on a shelf in our kitchen that Lucy loves to pull out one by one, just for the joy of the noise they make hitting the floor, apparently. Is this a safety concern, in that she could get a boo-boo from dropping the wrong book in the wrong way? Sure. And might it get to be such a repeated problem that we’d have to move all the books to an inaccessible location. Yes. But this hardly seems like a one-strike hazard, so the benefits of her free exploration seem to outweigh the risk of giving her a couple chances to get a bump or bruise. (We’re so thankful that Lucy’s bloodshed has so far been limited to “one nail-clipping incident”:/news/2006/the-lucy-files-month-4-day-5/, and she’s never taken a tumble that had her crying for more than a minute.)
Anyway — now that we’ve got this high-mobility device with poor on-board safety software (a.k.a., Lucy) bopping around the house, what are the one-strike hazards we should be preemptively guarding against? Here’s the beginnings of a list, but please chime in with ones you’ve seen in your own (or others’) homes:
* open electrical wall sockets
* crib mattresses that are “too high”:/news/2007/crib-corn/
* open staircases
* stovetop pots within reach
* unusually heavy, topple-able objects within reach
Ok at our house covered sockets are dangerous too! I caught Mo trying to put the child guard back in the socket, after he pulled it out! Mo has already had the tumble down the stairs, he survived, and is now learning slowly how to properly climb down stairs while under supervision of course.
Many book shelves and dressers need to be stabilized because they can be easily pulled over by a climber.
Detergents in our house are all in locked cabinets, on top shelves, or in the off-limit laundry room.
diaper buckets! Maddy found hers and pulled out the poopy one. I almost died! Paper clips. I don’t know where they come from, but she finds them all of the time. CDs on racks. Maddy was pulling them off one at a time then tried to pull up on it and the whole thing (it isn’t huge) came down on her and the plastic cornor of a case got her on the check. :-( And never put her in the car seat for “just one second” and turn around before buckling her in…the kids jump and next thing you know she is falling head first out of the seat…luckly on out of the car. BAD PARENTS!
Open Toilets….Our boys never went near the toilet….but Naomi who HATES having a bath is facinated by standing water….particularly in the toilet.
She also loves electrical cords….the ones plugged in….this one poses a problem as we need light but Naomi loves to pull them….We are not spankers but I have spanked a hand after she has made repeated attempts to pull out a plug.
This one has not been a problem for us but it has been for others…the pull cords on blinds.
And for Heavens sake tell her NEVER, NEVER, NEVER to crawl into one of those machines, that stores have, with the toys! I have heard two tales of how children wanting a toy crawled in and then could not get out….unfortunately these are not urban legends. These type of stories always WARN me because our Joseph is the kind of guy that would actually be tempted by such a trick. So I try to ward them off before he thinks of them.
Benjamin is a big fan of loose change. So far he’s only attempted to put it in his pockets (like Daddy), not his mouth, but we try to keep it all out of reach.
Pulling things down on themselves is a big hazard at Lucy’s current age so make sure there are no heavy lamps or anything like that that she could stand, grab and pull on (or grab the cord and pull down on herself).
Benjamin’s latest is finding things to use as a step-stool (like an upside down laundry basket or an empty box), dangerous in and of itself for climbing on, but also because he can reach things he shouldn’t.
The dishwasher – we had to get a child lock for ours since Benjamin figured out how to open it. It has sharp knives, hot dishes when it’s just ran, not a safe place at all!
This week the latest addition to our house is door knob covers – Benjamin finally got tall enough to open doors and the last thing I want is to find him out in the backyard waist deep in the snow (he loves going outside and asks to go out all the time).
One interesting one – I have to watch Benjamin around Ella’s toys – particularly the teething ones. He’ll bite them and can actually bite off bits and pieces of it (or bite a hole in the ones with water), so now “baby” toys aren’t safe for him either…
We keep medicines and detergents out of reach or locked up (sometimes both).
Nicole W – I too have spanked Benjamin’s hand for pulling on plugs – I’m worried he’ll get it half-way out and then touch the metal. If he doesn’t stop after one No, he gets a little swat. I’ve actually only had to do it twice, so perhaps it worked.
Ahh yes the hand slap seems to be effective when it comes to dangerous activities with the young ones. We do the hand slap when it comes to electrical cords or the oven door.
Beware of hotels! We stayed in one in Portland that had a deadbolt instead of the flipover locks. It was intended to keep the staff from walking in, but would flip open if the handle was turned from the inside. So after coming up from the pool, when both of us were naked, Kaia took off down the hall of the hotel. Now that was scary, and one of those very dangerous situations. I’ve never dressed so fast in my life! So anytime you travel check with the hotel first on the doors.
Ahh, Nicole is right on the “step” things…maddy climbs up EVERYTHING…and the diswasher. This one drives me crazy, She has the chore of helping unload the siliverware so no sharp knives are down low, but the girl will climb inside of the machine if I don’t watch her! The other new thing is that now that she walks she will run into tall things (shelves) and if there is somethin on top (pictures) it falls off on top of her. So no more putting things up their.
Hand slaps happen her to…especially because she laughs if we say “NO” or other words of warning. That girl has already given me gray hair! :-P
A couple that come to mind (might be included as a specific example in what you listed above) as Nathan and I begin to prep our house…
1. climbing up heavy furniture (like dressers) that could fall on them (We’ve had 2 deaths in Wisconsin due to this tragic situation)
2. The stove – be it gas or electic. I think the gas stove (which we have)may be a little more dangerous as not only is the open flame dangerous for little hands reaching up but also a turning of the stove knob and releasing gas into the air.