Ensuring that the baby is safe is the priority of every parent or guardian. Children are a blessing to us and have no ability to protect themselves from harmful situations. This leaves the responsibility of maintaining a safe environment to the parents.
Improved technology has made “baby proofing” easier as they are numerous tools in the market that are designed specifically for monitoring children or ensuring that they do not access unsafe areas, such as cupboards where cleaning products are stored or where you need to keep your handgun safe.
As part of their development, children are inquisitive to check out on anything that they have not been familiar with. For this reason, there are high chances of these children getting hurt in the process if the parents are not careful.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading cause of deaths among children between the ages of 1 to 4 years is accidents or unintentional injuries.
These include falls, wounds caused by deep cuts among others. Unintentional injury also tops as the leading cause of deaths among children aged 5 to 14 years old. This shows that there is need to ensure that safety at our homes is maintained in order to protect the children against the injuries or worse.
What Are Some Of The Reasons Why You Should Have Baby Safety Locks In Your House?
Understanding the importance of baby proofing and why you need baby safety locks is important to any parent or guardian. The first reason why you need baby safety locks in the house is to keep children away from any kind of danger.
As the child is exploring the surrounding, it is important to ensure that anything that is likely to harm them is out of the way. By doing this, one is confident that the child is safe even when not constantly supervised.
Protecting the child from risk situation at home is also necessary. One may assume that the house is safe for the child but this may not be the case. In fact, it is your role to make your home a safe place for your child.
The baby safe locks are able to keep the child away from situations such as fallings, cuts from sharp objects, burns or being hit by falling objects. Baby safety locks will also enable you to keep electric and other devices away from the baby.
Electrical appliances make lives easier for us as you do not have to spend hours in the kitchen, cleaning the house, or doing the laundry. However, they are very dangerous equipment to our children.
It is, therefore, important to ensure that these appliances do not result in injuries. Also, sockets need to have guards to prevent children against throwing items inside them.
Apart from the child going outside unsupervised, doors may also inflict finger injuries on your child. The locks will, therefore, come handy to ensure that not only is the child safe inside the house but also do not get injuries.
Moreover, if you have a swimming pool at your home, locks are really important to ensure that the child does not get into the water unsupervised. Baby safety locks will give you the peace of mind you desperately need.
When you don’t have the child locks, you will have to constantly be monitoring the child movement. This means that it becomes tedious especially when you do not have someone to help out with other house chores.
Additionally, if you are working from home, it will give you the much-needed peace that your child is safe. The baby safety locks have proved to be a reliable way of ensuring that the child is safe while at home. It also allows you to enjoy parenthood with no incidences of unintentional injuries.
Places In Your House Where You Definitely Need Baby Safety Locks
Cabinets
Cabinets and other storage areas are some of those parts of your home that can make your home look instantly neat. Let’s say your kid’s toys are all over the place and then you receive a call that an important person is visiting.
You don’t have time to put everything in its place and you are just left with the option of stuffing anything that gets in the way into the cabinets. However, despite these being one of the places that can save you from that shame, some of us fails to understand that it can be a safety hazard to the children.
Children are curious and they would not mind finding out what is hidden away from them. Cabinets pose safety dangers to our children in various ways. One is that there are usually used to store dangerous objects such as knives.
It is, therefore, important to ensure that the baby does not get access to these cabinets. This will be possible by having baby safety locks on the cabinets. The cabinets can also inflict injuries to the child by shutting on their fingers.
There are numerous cabinets’ locks on the market that one can choose from depending on your needs. This includes magnet cabinet locks, adhesive mount cabinet locks, and cord cabinet locks among others. Having this particular type of baby lock safety locks in the house you will reduce significantly injuries emanating from cabinets.
Doors
This is one of those locks that you are likely to find in every home you visit. This may be due to the fact that doors are the most likely place for a baby to get hurt. It is not only the adults who regularly use doors to get from one room to the other but also the kids.
In most cases, the child is right behind you and fail to hear them coming. This particular baby safety lock prevents the child from using the door on their own and also prevents any injury that may be inflicted on the child.
There are also numerous door locks on the market that you can choose from. Round door knob locks with cover set is something most parents swear by. It is simply large and, therefore, can only be operated by an adult and it ensures that the child is not able to enter various rooms.
The door monkey lock helps keep the door in place by securing it to the door frame. It does not completely seal the door hence air circulation in the room is allowed. However, this particular lock should only be used when the child is approximately 35 to 50 lb.
Windows
Windows are one of those areas in your home that you need to ensure that they are well secured to avoid any injuries to the baby. Falls from the windows is one of the leading cause of unintentional injuries among children.
You may not be able to constantly follow your child around but it is important to ensure that all the areas that pose safety concerns are dealt with. Usually, children are curious to see what is outside and when the window is not well secured, it can result in fatal falls.
Window locks come in various designs and you can choose the one that will suit you. For instance, wedge window locks allow ventilation as they open up to 4 inches. The rooms will not have to be stuffy throughout if you chose such kind of window locks.
While choosing the window lock, the age of the child also needs to be considered. For instance, restrictor cable locks are adjustable and this gives you room to make the necessary changes as the child grows.
Kitchen Appliances
With the improved technology, almost everything in the kitchen is electrical. This is not only a challenge to the young children but also those to teenagers. As a parent, you don’t want to find your child in the kitchen trying to fix a snack on their own unless they are being supervised.
The kitchen is one of those parts of your house where ‘safety hazard’ sits in every corner. Understanding this will help you make an informed decision on what is needed to ensure that the house is safe for the babies.
Numerous appliances require baby safety locks to protect against many potential injuries. The fridge is one of the most common appliances in our kitchen. At a certain age, the child understands the contents of the fridge.
Trying to open the fridge on their own can result in injuries to hands as most of the fridge’s door close on their own. There is also the possibility of the contents of the fridge falling on the child. A good example of fridge lock is the button strap.
The simple strap is able to keep the door closed preventing access to the child. To open the fridge, the release button should is pressed. However, the lock needs to be placed at a higher point since the child can be able to push the button.
The glue also comes out easily and there is need to constantly replace the locks. Other kitchen appliances that need to have baby safety locks include ovens, microwaves, and other electrical appliances.
Sources
- https://www.expertise.com/remodeling/baby-proofing-and-child-safety-guide
- https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-baby-proof-your-apartment-renters-solutions-186884
- https://www.webmd.com/parenting/guide/childproof-home#1
- https://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/7947/when-can-i-stop-baby-proofing-the-house
- https://www.babycentre.co.uk/a536364/childproofing-checklist-before-your-baby-crawls