5 OVERLOOKED DANGERS IN YOUR HOME

When parents joyously bring a child home from the hospital, it’s likely that that they have already taken some steps to “baby proof” their house. Covering wall outlets, putting latches on cabinets or doors, perhaps a gate at the top of a staircase among other safety steps. All good and well, but our homes contain safety hazards that are often overlooked. This especially true as our kids’ physical capabilities and mobility increase, exposing them to dangers that may not have been an issue when they couldn’t crawl.

Here are five safety hazards in your home that you may not have consider and should look out for to help keep your kids safe:

Unless your child is a magical prodigy who can pull a tablecloth off a table while leaving plates, glasses, and vases unmoved, you should make sure that your child does not have the ability to yank or pull at a tablecloth. They could pull heavy items down on themselves, shatter glass, or even start a fire if there are candles on the table that get knocked over.
Refrigerator magnets. Every parent wants to show off their budding artist’s work on the front of the fridge, along with photos, calendars, and other items of familial importance. But refrigerator magnets are a significant choking hazard. Keep them high enough up to be out of reach to infants and toddlers.
Think about what’s in your dishwasher: glass, knives, and other breakable or sharp objects that seriously injures your child. You wouldn’t leave a knife sitting around on a coffee table that your child could reach but if you leave the dishwasher door open or unlocked, that is essentially what you are doing.
Oh, the treasure chest of interesting items that can be found in your household garbage. Rotten food, used razor blades, expired prescription medication – if your child has access to your trash, he or she has access to a wide range of potential hazards.
Power cords. All of our handy gadgets need to be charged, which means you have phone charges, iPad chargers, laptop chargers, and a whole range of other cords scattered around your house. These represent not only choking hazards but electrical ones as your curious child may try to find out what happens when they plug it into a socket.
So take another look around your house through the eyes of a child and make sure you see the attractive dangers that you may have overlooked.