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Child safety week

June 27th, 2008

Did you know that this week is Child Safety Week?

This is the Child Accident Prevention Trust’s flagship community education campaign and the aim is to raise awareness about child safety issues. It highlights the importance of making sure that your home and car are as safe as possible. It suggests that we should all make some time to have a look around our homes and see if we can spot anything that may be a danger to our children. For example;

* Ensure that any unused plug sockets are covered to stop little fingers from exploring them
* Make sure that cords for blinds/curtains are not at a height that a child could get caught up in them
* Keep all sharp objects, e.g. knives, scissors, skewers, out of reach
* When using the hob make sure that saucepan handles are turned away so that they can’t be grabbed
* If you are chopping food move the knife out of reach when not being used
* Use stair gates at the top and bottom of the stairs to reduce the risk of a fall
* If your child can reach the front door handle, make sure that it is locked so that they can’t wander out (you will need to keep the key handy incase of an emergency)

As well as the home, your car also needs to be a safe haven for your children. New regulations came into effect on the 18th September 2006 relating to the use of child car seats. There are now strict guidelines in place as to the type of car seat your child should be using depending on their age and height. These guidelines exist to make sure that our children are as safe as possible in the event of an accident. The insurance industry is also trying to help with many car insurers offering to replace childrens car seats if they are in the car at the time of an accident. It makes me really cross when I see people driving around with children in their car that aren’t restrained in any way. Do these people not understand the importance of car seats and seat belts? I don’t think that these people understand the danger that they are putting their children in.

Unfortunately I don’t think that Child Safety Week has had the recognition it deserves in the news, hopefully this blog will go some way to help.

Entry Filed under: advice, children