Safety tips from the experts
Children are naturally active, curious, and love to take risks. This is all good and well, but with little daredevils in the house, be sure to properly childproof your windows and doors. Keep your kids in sight, whenever possible, use precaution and educate your children about common safety rules concerning your doors and windows. Here are a few safety tips for you to consider:
Prevent window and balcony falls
Open windows, doors, and balconies are a big safety hazard for young children. Sadly, many accidents occur each year, causing serious injury or death. Keep balcony doors locked and never let kids play in these areas unsupervised. Outdoor furniture, flower pots, and other objects should be placed away from the railings. Similar rules apply to windows. Always place beds, cribs, tables etc., away from them. Young children like to climb and could possibly break through the glass. Doors and windows are often equipped with screens to keep the bugs out and while these might appear stable, they are often not strong enough to prevent anyone from falling through. You may want to consider additional security measures for your windows and doors like window guards and stops which are available at most hardware stores and can be installed as an extra precaution.
Beware of blind and curtain cords
Preventing children from getting tangled in window blinds or curtain cords is important and can be done by placing cribs and beds away from the windows and installing cordless alternatives when possible.
Prevent staircase injuries
Baby gates are great for restricting access to staircases. Installing hardware-mounted gates and properly securing them at the bottom and the top of the staircase can help avoid many accidents. Pressure-mounted gates can often be pushed down by toddlers so it’s important to make sure that your gate is sturdy.
Secure your doors
Keeping strangers out is not the only reason to lock your doors and windows. Many children and adults have tendencies to sleepwalk. Installing a lock, chain, or latch on your doors can prevent sleepwalkers or children that are too young from going outside when they shouldn’t.
Generally, it is also a good idea to install night lights or leave a hallway light on when it gets dark to prevent smaller children that might not be able to reach the light switches from tripping or falling during the night.
Your doors and windows experts are at your service, should you require further safety advice, product details, or assistance with the installation of some of the above. Always keep your family safe around doors and windows!