Although we never compromise on a child’s safety, research has shown that around 3.5 million children have to go to the emergency room and 2,200 die from injuries that generally occur in the kitchen every year because of the hot appliances and sharp utensils available in the kitchen. If you have a young kid, you need to make sure of a child proof kitchen. Continue scrolling to know about how you to make your kitchen safe for children.
How Kitchen Can Be Dangerous for children
Safety Door Locks
Make sure you install safety door locks in your cabinets, drawers, refrigerator, and oven. If you use safety door locks, you can prevent your lovely little ones from opening things they’re not supposed to, such as a fridge filled with food or a hot oven. Then you can use latches or hooks depending on the configuration of your cabinet doors and handles that connect the handles together and do not require being physically installed.
However, if you want to give access to one or two cabinets to your child, make sure you put there safe and frequently washed containers so that your toddler can enjoy playing with them.
Although we never compromise on a child’s safety, research has shown that around 3.5 million children have to go to the emergency room and 2,200 die from injuries that generally occur in the kitchen every year because of the hot appliances and sharp utensils available in the kitchen. If you have a young kid, you need to make sure of a child proof kitchen. Continue scrolling to know about how you to make your kitchen safe for children.
How Kitchen Can Be Dangerous for children
Safety Door Locks
Make sure you install safety door locks in your cabinets, drawers, refrigerator, and oven. If you use safety door locks, you can prevent your lovely little ones from opening things they’re not supposed to, such as a fridge filled with food or a hot oven. Then you can use latches or hooks depending on the configuration of your cabinet doors and handles that connect the handles together and do not require being physically installed.
However, if you want to give access to one or two cabinets to your child, make sure you put there safe and frequently washed containers so that your toddler can enjoy playing with them.
Put Medicine, Doods in Safe Places
Medicine containers are always risky for children as they are toxic to them. Make sure you keep any types of medicine containers in higher cabinets that children won’t be able to reach.
Besides, you need to ensure the lids are properly secured. In the case of food also you need to maintain safety measures as young children put everything in their mouths. Food isn’t a dangerous thing in general but it is for a young child still learning how to chew and swallow.
Clean Kitchen Floor
Naturally, kids spend most of their time playing on the floor. As the kitchen floor is the main place where harmful bacteria can grow, ensure regularly sweep and mop the area. Whenever a piece of food drops, immediately pick it up so that your child doesn’t eat it.
Besides, foods lying on the floor invite insects like ants that are dangerous for children as they bite. Moreover, don’t forget to place non-slip rugs over the tile to avoid slipping and falling.
Keep Electrical Cables out of Reach
It is a natural instinct of a child to pull a dangling cable. Maybe that cable is connected to a toaster on the counter above. So, whenever the kid pulls that cable, it can fall and injure the child. For this reason, it is fundamental to keep all cables safely out of reach of children to avoid any danger.
Moreover, don’t forget to put appliances away when they’re not in use. Moreover, make use of inserting plastic socket covers to inaccessible outlets for your child so that you can prevent your child from inserting a fork, finger, or tongue into the outlet.
Align Panhandles on Backwards
If you use a handle pointed outward over the edge of the stove, your child can try to reach up and pull it down. This will surely cause the pan and things to fall on your child which ultimately will cause injury and burns. You can easily prevent this from happening by aligning the handles towards the back of the stove. Then the child cannot reach up and grab them.
Use Smoke Detector
Install a smoke detector in your kitchen. If you have a smoke detector in your kitchen, it will send alarm if any fire incident occurs.
In addition to that you need to check your smoke detector every 6 months to make sure it’s properly working. With a busy child at home, it’s natural to always be careful.
Communicate with Kids
As soon as possible teach your children about safety. If you feel they can’t understand the concept then, it’ll be good practice for you to use every moment around your child as a learning opportunity.
You can do so by using simple words such as “hot,” “burn,” “ouch,” “no,” and “mommy and daddy only.” First, your child might look at you with a confused expression but ultimately they learn you want to keep him away from those things.
Tight Lid on Trash
The lid on the trash can avoid any danger by keeping your child from touching and putting in their mouth anything unsafe from them from the trash. Therefore, use a trash bin with a tight lid so that kids can’t open the lid easily. In addition to this, keep the trash bin in a suitable place where the children usually don’t go.
Cooktop with Child Safety Button
Nowadays, many advanced cooktops and burners are available on the market. Some of these cookers come with child safety mechanisms. For instance, induction cookers have a child safety button. When you press the button the controls of the cooker will become inactive. Therefore, your naughty kid can’t turn the cooker ‘ON’ even if it is left unattended in the kitchen.
Others Ways
If possible use a gate or barricade across the entrance to the kitchen. It will be useful to keep your child restricted to the adjoining room.
While you are working in the kitchen, always keep your child under someone’s supervision. If you don’t have anyone to supervise the child, let your kid play with some toys to make him or her preoccupied.
Bottom Line
Children are naturally curious and they love to explore the unknown without fear or hesitation. You love your little one’s brave nature, but it can lead to something vicious the moment you turn to look away.
Although accidents aren’t always preventable, the kitchen is the place where you need to take full precautions to ensure your child’s safety because it is full of dangerous things for children. So practice our above-mentioned 10 safety ways for creating a kid-friendly kitchen to keep your little one safe.
Source: United News of Bangladesh