09 Sep

5 Child Safety Tips

At Lifetime Family Dental we always emphasize healthy oral hygiene habits and frequent dental visits to make sure your child’s dental and overall health stay in tip top shape. However, helping our kids maintain healthy teeth and gums aren’t the only ways we need to watch out for our little ones. There’s a lot to remember when it comes to keeping our kids safe even in the safety of our own home, and to help avoid any accidents at home here are a few tips to help you stay vigilant that could just save a life.

1. Don’t Treat Medicine Like Treats

Sometimes parents refer to medicine as a treat to get their kids to take it when they are sick. However, it is important not to create this association in the minds of the kids and to keep it from their reach. The taste and appearance of cough medicine and pills already resemble candy in the first place. Youngsters may make this mistake and eat the medicine like candy.

2. Bug Out

Scorpions, spiders, bees, and ants are all common culprits when it comes to stings and bites. Many of these are unintentional and come from a child sticking a hand somewhere like a bush or stacked stones and logs. Warn your child to avoid sticking their hands in such places and keep an eye on them when they are outdoors. Pull bed frames from walls and remove bed skirts to avoid scorpion stings in your home.

3. Laundry Pods aren’t child safe

Laundry pods may be convenient, but their bright colors and easy to penetrate packets present a potential danger to kids. They are not recommended for homes with small children.

4. Bath time

The smallest amount of time can be the difference between life and death. Be sure to gather everything you need for the bath like shampoo, soap, and towels before turning on the water. Never leave your child unattended.

5. Purse privacy

Purses can contain potentially harmful objects and chemicals like hand sanitizer, lipstick, pens, and more. Often mom’s will make the mistake of leaving an open purse near their small children. Be sure to keep your purse out of your son or daughter’s reach.

Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (9/9/2015) Doug Letterman (Flickr)