How to Keep Your Toddlers Safe From These 5 Serious Safety Concerns

tips and tricks, children, parenting 101, home, safety at home
image from wikihow.com

Watching our children grow up before our eyes is one of life’s greatest joys.

That being said, each passing year reveals new safety concerns that simply can’t be ignored for your kids.

After all, once our children start walking and exploring the space around them, they open themselves up to a whole new world of bruises and boo-boos. Some of these injuries can become exponentially more dangerous if you aren’t keeping an eye on your child; likewise, toddler-proofing your home for accidents is absolutely crucial once your child become more mobile.

Given the number of children impacted by household accidents per year {read: thousands}, some even resulting in deaths, you can’t not afford to take every step possible to keep your children safe in the comfort of your home.

Whether you feel that you have all the bases covered when you baby-proofed your home prior to your child’s birth or aren’t sure if you’ve ticked all of your boxes in terms of safety, keep the following hazards in mind and how to ultimately avoid them.

Sharp Edges

Obviously we try to keep our kids out of the kitchen and away from cutlery, but what about the sharp edges hiding elsewhere within your home?

Thankfully, you don’t have to cover up your elegant wooden furniture set in bubblewrap or invest solely in “safe” materials to keep your kids from serious cuts and scrapes. Instead, consider the following options:

  • Edge and corner guards, which be applied to just about any set of sharp or hard-edged furniture
  • Likewise, hidden areas such as doors, cabinets and stairways can be kept closed at all times and secured with child safety covers
  • Having lots of cushions and pillows around is always a plus {read: putting a heavy comforter over a wooden piece with sharp edges}

Ideally, you can keep your kids away form sharp edges via baby gate, but make sure to cover up any potentially sharp edges in their play space as well.

Choking Hazards

Hearing horror stories of children choking and the resulting toy recalls can make our heads spin. Therefore, make sure to read toy labels carefully {as toys are tested for safety and often come with age suggestions} and be mindful of toys that you find in kids meals which may contain small pieces.

Instead, focus on soft, larger toys such as plushies with no strings {read: a potential strangulation hazard}. You can ease in toys with smaller pieces into your child’s play routine once they’re a bit older and aren’t tempting to put everything in their mouths.

tips and tricks, children, parenting 101, home, safety at home
image from wikihow.com

Toxic Chemicals

Although you may keep your bleach and heavy-duty cleaners in lower cabinets, you may want to consider keeping them locked up or higher in your pantry to avoid your kids getting into them. Likewise, child safety locks could be a strong line of defense between your kids and potential danger. If you really want to give yourself peace of mind, though, just keep them out your child’s of reach altogether.

The Outdoors

Obviously, you should keep anything away from windows that your kids could climb onto. Likewise child safety locks for door and window handles are a strong second line of defense. Especially when your children start walking and crawling, they naturally want to bolt straight to any door or window they could potentially open: it’s your job to keep them safe within the home and under your supervision.

Drowning

You can’t be everywhere at once, but you absolutely must keep your eyes on your children during bath time. Even in the presence of seemingly small bodies of water, such as kiddie pools or gallon buckets, you should take your child with you if you need to tend to something else or leave the room. In short, supervision is key to avoid the unthinkable, even in the smallest bodies of water {read: also keep the toilet seat shut at all times}.

Accidents will happen with your children, but you should do everything in their powers to ensure they’re small cuts and scrapes versus anything serious. By staying vigilant and understanding the hidden hazards of any given home space, you can keep your kids safe without fail.

Mum’s Two Cents

It really is up to us mums to make our living space a special haven for our children that it is a must that we see to it that it is not only a space where they can enjoy but also a space where they are safe from danger and harm at all times. Following the tips and tricks shared above ought to get you started in childproofing your home and making sure that your precious children are away from harm’s reach.

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55 Comments

  1. The drowning is what freaks me out the most, honestly 🙁 That’s why we make sure the bathroom is always closed, aside the from toilet seat being covered. You really can’t take any chances (My daughter is not 22 months old, a full-fledged toddler). I’ve also opted to get a round coffee table instead, to minimize the edges (though we’ll only get it after the holidays). Thanks for the other tips, too!

    1. Indeed, the fear of little children drowning can really get into any mum’s nerves. We ought to be really be careful when we have toddlers around. A round coffee table sounds like a great idea. 🙂

  2. I’m aftaid of drowning and the sockets! One reason why i opted not to put a bath tub inside our bathroom when our home is under construction was because im afraid the kids might just get drowned while i do have my personal reasons why i hate bath tubs! It scares me like a horror film. Hahaha. Those tips were all helpful! Thanks for sharing! 🙂

    1. Yes, I must agree. There is something creepy and scary about bathtubs. But I think I’d choose to have one in the bathroom at any given time. It just doesn’t go well with children, though.

  3. Knives, sharp edges and pointed objects are really dangerous. And as our children grow, it becomes mroe and more challenging, specially now that my son starts climbing chairs, stairs and more.

    1. Knives are items to always watch out for since the little ones can easily snatch them while they dangle in the counters or the tables. It is a must that we have a proper place for them after use to keep them away from curious little hands.

  4. All of this things makes me cringe. I do not want my daughter to suffer from any of this. As much as possible we do all we can to have a baby-proofed and safe haven for our daughter. Thank you for sharing this.

    1. You’re most welcome. Yes, the examples stated above are enough to make any mum cringe! That is why it is a must that we equip ourselves with knowledge on how to baby-proof our homes and keep our little ones safe.

  5. I lost count on how many times my son fell or bumped his head. Niloloko nga namin na andami ng bukol ng sahig at pader. But the most frightening one was the time he played with the socket. It was already covered and he still managed to take it out. nagspark yung socket and nagshort circuit. Thankfully he was not hurt and there was no fire.

    1. OMG! That was scary! Good thing he was unscathed! I guess these accidents are part and parcel of having a son. They seem to attract accidents more than girls because they are such balls of unbounded energy.

  6. I’m paranoid when it comes to drowning because when I was in high school 2 of my batchmates drowned to death. I made it a point to set aside one summer for my kids to focus on their swimming lessons and I kept re-enrolling them until the teacher told me they were already competition-ready lol. XD

    1. Bumping the head seems to be very common with kids. My son bumped his head a couple of times when he was a toddler and I was sick with worry. It is only when I read an article about boys’ heads and skulls made to stand the bumps and falls that my worries lessen.

  7. When we had our firstborn, I was so paranoid about those things. I remember I would buy those foams for table edges and even those plastic stoppers for theplug. and my husband would just laugh at his wife.

    Now with new baby, ive learned a lot from past experiences so most of our things at home have cushions and as much as possible, things are placed so high that he cant even reach for them.

    1. Yes, it is a must that we safeguard the house for our small children. And I thought there is no such thing as too much when it comes to keeping our little ones safe, right? 🙂

  8. Very good and IMPORTANT tips! I go gaga when it comes to child proofing our house. Can’t help it, I cannot imagine if something happens to my kids.

  9. Naku… I have a very malikot and curious toddler na rin talaga. Kahit ano’ng mapulot, titikman. Nakakatakot talaga syempre ayaw mo naman may mangyari sa kanilang masama. Huhu! Kaya as much as possible, I try to keep my eyes on him kapag hindi na sya busy sa nursery rhymes. Baka kasi mamaya nasa CR na pala namin and who knows what could happen. Diba? Thanks for sharing these list. It’s so helpful!

    1. I was too scared when my son was toddling, I kept him in his crib most of the time. I only give him soft and safe toys to play with, too. What almost always ended up in his mouth are his baby board books! 😀

  10. When I was a child, a neighbor’s 3 year old son drowned in a big bucket of water. The grandmother who was looking after the children said that the kid just went to the bathroom to pee but ended up playing with the big bucket and must’ve slipped head first. I never forgot that.

    Since I work from home and cannot always run after my kids during the day, I really freed my home up of anything that could harm or hurt them. We don’t keep large buckets in the bathroom and prefer to use the bidet for washing up.

  11. It really pays to be extra vigilant when we have children at home. I was worried about drowning and also dry drowning when Gwen was having swimming lessons. Thanks for this sis.

    1. It sure does! Drowning is also one of my worst fears, that is why I made sure to enroll Jared in swimming class. The next challenge is for mum to learn how to swim! 😛

  12. These are great tips now that my son is so kulit and active. He also started climbing chairs and tables, kulang nalang tanggalin ko sila lahat sa room lols. Thanks for sharing!

  13. Argh! The sockets! My 3rd child almost inserted her fingers in the whole when she was small. Good thing that someone was looking after her. These are great tips.

  14. Hay nako. My house is child-friendly na but we still have occasional boo-boos. Grabe. Kids are super kulit these days, we really need to keep an eye on them. Great tips, btw 🙂

  15. I put all the toxic chemicals like bleach and detergents under the sink and told them to not touch anything under the sink.
    Im also afraid of the word Drowning since I don’t have any experience how to do the 1st aid, but after I saw few cases of kids that died in a resorts because there are no life guards and no one knows how to apply 1st aid, this makes me think that every parent should undergo training for 1st aid like doing CPR etc.

    1. Yes, I think it is a must that we all learn basic CPR and first aid. As for me, I dread the word Drowning too much, I enroll my little one to swimming class every summer since he was almost 3, now my fear of him drowning has lessen considerably. Next thing to do is for mum to learn how to swim, too!

  16. I think you should add slippery floors (bathroom floors esp). I had experienced 2 minor accidents with my eldest and buti nalang minor lang, as in nadulas sya sa bathroom when she was taking a bath, and I missed holding her. The latter incident was she had a small wound on her head pero di naman kailangan i stitch.

    1. Yes, slippery bathroom floors are nasty! My little man also slipped a few times while playing in the bathroom, good thing he never had any serious injuries.

  17. Thanks for these reminders. Since we have a new baby, these are things we have to take note of once again. He’s going to be a toddler soon enough.

  18. Thanks for the helpful tips! You know, my 18month old escaped his 3ft high play yard a month ago, so we decided to keep it away and childproof the house. He now walks freely everywhere except the stairs where we placed a fence. We even installed wall fans and never use stand fans except when I or my husband can focus on him. I have work during the day so the wall fans allow him to walk freely without fear of putting his fingers in it. And mats! Mats everywhere! Hahaha!

  19. I’ve become so paranoid that I stay up at night just to watch my baby and see if she’s breathing. That’s how paranoid I’ve become. There are a lot of ugly occurences that has been bugging my mind about my baby’s safety that it’s driving me crazy!

    1. I used to do that when my son is just a baby! 😀 I guess it comes with the territory. Sometimes, we just cannot help but be paranoid, especially when it comes to our children’s safety and well-being.

  20. My son loves to climb. And given that we stay in a 7th floor unit with big windows and grills big enough for my son to go through, I am scared of him trying to climb up on it and falling to the ground. I removed the couch that used to be against the windows and blocked the area with a shelf with his toys so he would not find the need to climb on it.

  21. My kids are on the terrible three stage and sobrang natatakot ako sa mga pinaggagawa nila lalo na at super kulit nila! These are all helpful but accidents are everywhere so we really need to keep an eye on them. One time nakatulog kame ng partner ko ng sobrang himbing, ayun kinalat nila lahat ng gamit from asin, suka toyo, bigas at tubig etc. Buti na lang talaga hindi nila naabot yung mga kutsilyo.

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