Teach toddlers about home safety
Vesela Gladicheva
Friday, June 22, 2012
Most mothers say toddlers should be educated about the importance of safety in the home, according to new research.
Parents are concerned about their child's knowledge of safety in the home, with eight in ten (78 per cent) saying education should begin by the age of three, a new survey reveals.
The survey, conducted by UK window blinds company Direct Blinds, asked more than 200 mothers across the country about the importance of child safety in the home.
The survey found that 54 per cent believe a child should be at least 12 years old before being left at home unsupervised. There is no legal age, but child safety experts recommend parents decide how mature their child is before leaving them home alone.
When asked to rate rooms and child safety products, 64 per cent of mothers said that the kitchen is the most dangerous room in the house and 59 per cent rated the stair gate as the most important child safety product. More than half did not deem blind cord cleats to be essential in the home.
Nicolas Swift from Direct Blinds said, ‘While the results of the survey are encouraging, products that shorten or secure the blind cord properly should not be overlooked. Accidents in the home can definitely be prevented, but the education should involve both the parents and their children.’
Sheila Merrill, public health adviser at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said, ‘Home accidents send nearly a million children to A&E across the UK each year and half a million of these visits involve under-fives.
‘Attempting to completely ‘child-proof’ a home, however, is an unrealistic and undesirable aim. From an early age, it’s really important to help children learn about hazards and how to deal with them.
‘Various items of safety equipment, such as safety gates and fireguards, can help with this when they are introduced at the stages of a child’s life when they are most needed. On blind cord safety, it’s preferable to install blinds that do not have a cord, especially in a child's bedroom.’
The UK has one of the lowest child injury death rates in Europe, according to a recent survey on child safety of 31 European countries. The European Child Safety Alliance ranked the UK in third position after the Netherlands and Sweden.
The survey, conducted by UK window blinds company Direct Blinds, asked more than 200 mothers across the country about the importance of child safety in the home.
The survey found that 54 per cent believe a child should be at least 12 years old before being left at home unsupervised. There is no legal age, but child safety experts recommend parents decide how mature their child is before leaving them home alone.
When asked to rate rooms and child safety products, 64 per cent of mothers said that the kitchen is the most dangerous room in the house and 59 per cent rated the stair gate as the most important child safety product. More than half did not deem blind cord cleats to be essential in the home.
Nicolas Swift from Direct Blinds said, ‘While the results of the survey are encouraging, products that shorten or secure the blind cord properly should not be overlooked. Accidents in the home can definitely be prevented, but the education should involve both the parents and their children.’
Sheila Merrill, public health adviser at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said, ‘Home accidents send nearly a million children to A&E across the UK each year and half a million of these visits involve under-fives.
‘Attempting to completely ‘child-proof’ a home, however, is an unrealistic and undesirable aim. From an early age, it’s really important to help children learn about hazards and how to deal with them.
‘Various items of safety equipment, such as safety gates and fireguards, can help with this when they are introduced at the stages of a child’s life when they are most needed. On blind cord safety, it’s preferable to install blinds that do not have a cord, especially in a child's bedroom.’
The UK has one of the lowest child injury death rates in Europe, according to a recent survey on child safety of 31 European countries. The European Child Safety Alliance ranked the UK in third position after the Netherlands and Sweden.
