To watch your toddler all the time, you’d need to grow eyes in the back of your head. Some sensible safety rules will do the trick instead.
- What to expect
- Home safety
- Choking risks
- In the bedroom
- In the kitchen
- In the bathroom
- Out and about
What to expect
Toddlers are full of energy and curiosity, and love testing out their new climbing, walking and running skills. Your toddler might fall a lot, even on flat surfaces. This is because he still has a large, heavy head in proportion to his body – he’s just learning how to be steady on his feet.
Toddlers experiment with everything. For example, it’s not unusual for toddlers to poke things into their own or another child’s nose or ear, and sometimes these things get stuck and cause irritation and infection. In fact, until they’re five or six, most children don’t understand the dangers and are still learning that actions have consequences.
The good news is that your child will gradually start to understand if you keep reminding her of safety rules. Now’s the time to start teaching.
Supervision is the only reliable way to prevent accidents. Your toddler needs your constant vigilance to stay safe. But by removing sources of danger, you can also give your toddler the freedom he needs to explore.
Home safety
The best way to toddler-proof your home is to get down to your child’s level and look around. What can you see down there that might be dangerous? To avoid constantly telling your child ‘no’, just remove anything you don’t want her to touch.
Start teaching your child where he can and can’t go in the house, and what isn’t safe to touch. Put up barriers to areas where your child might be at risk – for example, safety gates at the top and bottom of stairs and on balconies to prevent falls, and guards around fires and heaters to prevent burns.
Here are some other ideas to help you protect your child:
- Toddlers love to climb, so secure your furniture, especially bookcases and TVs.
- Keep chairs away from windows and balconies so your child can’t climb up them.
- Turn off space heaters when you leave the room.
- Curtain tie-backs and window blind cords are a strangling hazard. Remove them or hook them well out of reach.
- Teach your child not to slam doors and to keep fingers out of the hinge-side. You can read more about safety around doors and hinges.
- When you make a well-deserved cup of tea or coffee, keep it away from little fingers.
- Install a safety gate at the top of stairs, and teach your young child to come down the stairs backwards.
- Turn down your hot water system to 50°C to prevent scalding.
- Keep a well-stocked first aid kit, and keep it out of your child’s reach.
- Check your fire alarms regularly.
- Deadlocking doors when you’re inside the house stops you getting out if there’s a fire. Only use the deadlocks when you’re away from home.
