Making your home safe for your grandchild

Each year, 2.5 million children are injured or killed by hazards in the home, according to the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Some examples from the commission include:

• 97 crib-related deaths from 2002 through 2004.
• 23 deaths and 64 nonfatal incidents involving the entanglement of children’s clothing drawstrings over the past 20 years.
• An average of about 260 children under 5 years old drown in pools nationwide annually. Another 2,725 children are treated in hospital emergency rooms each year for near-drowning incidents. Most of these cases involve residential pools.
• 311 non-pool drownings of children younger than 5 years of age from 2002 through 2004. Bathtubs were involved in most, 71 percent, along with buckets, toilets, and other sources of standing water.
• More than 200 children have strangled in window-blind cords since 1980.
• About 15 deaths due to choking of children under age 3. Some of these deaths involve known hazards such as small toys, toy parts, balloons, balls, and marbles. Some deaths result from hidden hazards, small objects not intended for use by children but that accidentally end up in their hands and mouths.
• 15 injuries when electronic game systems caught fire or overheated since the beginning of 2000.
• 17 deaths of babies, most under 12 months old, who suffocated or strangled when they became entangled in sheets in their cribs or beds. Two of these deaths were with fitted crib sheets.
• 36 TV tip-over-related deaths and 65 furniture tip-over deaths from 2000 through 2005. More than 80 percent of the deaths involved young children. Additionally, in 2005 at least 3,000 children younger than 5 were treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms because of injuries associated with TV tip-overs.
• 1 death and 33 cases where children swallowed loose magnets and required emergency surgery.
• About 200,000 playground injuries each year.
• More than 200 babies died while in playpens since 1988. In almost 100 of these deaths, soft bedding or improper or extra mattresses were present in the playpen.
• About 36 children younger than 5 died each year as a result of ingesting poisonous substances found in and around the home from 2002 through 2004. About 91,000 young children visited hospital emergency rooms as a result of unintentional poisoning in 2005.
• About 6,700 emergency room injuries involving powered scooters occurred in children under age 15 from July 2003 through June 2004.
• About 12 children 10 years old and younger die each year, and more than 4,000 are treated in hospital emergency rooms for window fall-related injuries.

Here are checklists and tips from the commission to help keep your grandchild safe in your home.

• Child Care Safety Checklist for Parents and Child Care Providers

• Baby Safety Checklist

• Safety Tips for Sleeping Babies

• Childcare Safety Checklist

• Childproofing Your Home

• Back to School Safety Checklist

• Water Safety Tips

• Safety Devices Help Prevent Death and Injuries

• Preventing TV and Furniture Tipover Deaths

• Outdoor Home Playground Safety Handbook

My next post on The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide will cover watching your medications when you're with your grandchild.

Comments

[Mindy]

Drowning is the leading cause of death in children under age 5. The problem is that parents are not understanding the key elements of the layers of protection. There are more then one thing that needs to be in place for these drownings to stop happening. "Awareness" is the cure and we have the DVD that is the most comprehensive DVD on drowning prevention on the market.
We are drowning prevention experts who have over 50 years combined experience. This DVD is a must in every parent's home and pool owner. For more information please go to www.babyotterswimschool.com.

[People Power Granny]

Our childhoods are so important! Did your parents do a good job in giving you lots of good family memories? Are you building memories for your children? I didn't do too hot in this field. Read my lament at peoplepowergranny.blogspot.com and vote in my poll on what your favorite childhood memory is/was.

[Rita]

Hi Mindy,

Thanks for writing about the fact that drowning is the leading cause of death in children under age 5. My daughter lives in Florida and she says there are reports each summer of children drowning, usually in a backyard swimming pool.

[Rita]

Hi People Power Granny,

I read your lament. While you made some choices that you now think could have been better, you did a great thing inviting people into your home and helping them. I think it's important to get as much joy as we can in the present and not dwell in the past or antagonize about the future. That doesn't mean you don't plan for the future and plan for retirement. It means you strive to get happiness and joy in what can be a challenging, stressful world.

[Fernando Severns]

Thank you for the tips! Children are very careless, that's why they're prone to accidents. The grandparents, however, are the ones responsible enough. The most preventive thing they can do is follow these tips so accidents and mishaps can be prevented.