TAKE PRECAUTIONS TO KEEP CHILDREN SAFE

Marilyn Lopes
Extension Specialist, Family Life Education
Cape Cod Extension
University of Massachusetts

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Keeping children safe means planning ahead and taking precautions in everyday situations. It is easy to take safety for granted when you've done things over and over, but it only takes a single mistake for a child to be injured.

• When bathing a small child, test water temperature by putting your whole hand in the water and moving it around for several seconds; if the water feels even slightly hot, it's too hot for a child.
  
• Use safety belts to secure a child in a high chair, and make sure the chair is on a level surface. Place cribs or playpens away from windows and stairs. Remember that hand-me-down cribs may not meet current safety standards. Make sure the mattress fits snugly to the sides of a crib or place bumper pads in the space so that an infant's head can't get caught in between.
  
• Stay with a child who is in or near water. A child can drown in only one inch of water.
  
• Surround swimming pools with high fences and locking gates. It's the law in most states!
  
• Keep electrical appliances away from tubs and sinks. To prevent shocks, install ground fault circuit interrupters in bathroom and kitchen outlets.
  
• Install padded carpets at the foot of all staircases.
  
• Replace automatic garage doors that do not reverse if lowered onto a person or object.
  
• Keep portable heaters away from play areas, curtains, and furniture.
  
• Put pots and pans on rear burners. Turn pot handles toward the back of the stove. Keep hot foods away from the edge of tables and counters. Serve hot foods from counters, not from tables with tablecloths that small children can pull.
  
• Keep toothpicks out of the reach of children to avoid eye and ear injuries.
  
• Supervise children using the microwave oven or the range. Food heated in a microwave oven has "hot spots" and may feel warm on the outside but is scalding on the inside. While containers remain cool or warm, contents may be hot enough to burn children and adults.
  
• Don't smoke. Adults' cigarettes are a leading cause of childhood burns. Keep disposable lighters out of the reach of children. About 140 children under age five die each year as a result of playing with these colorful, easy-to-use lighters.
  
• If you keep a gun in your home, keep it locked up and unloaded, and store the bullets in a separate location. Every year about 3,000 children die in the United States as a result of gunfire - intentionally or unintentionally. Most of these shootings involve handguns.
  
• Make sure children's swings, slides, and other outdoor play equipment are maintained and in safe condition.
  
• Never shake an infant or young child. A young child's neck muscles are weak, and shaking can cause brain or spinal-cord injuries.
  
• Don't let children play with plastic bags of any kind.
  
• Keep toy balloons away from young children. During a 15-year period, 121 children suffocated after inhaling balloons. Don't let young children blow up balloons, and don't let children chew on them.
  

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