Keep your children safe at home over the Christmas break

To help them learn and develop children need to experiment, play and take risks. As they grow up, they will become more adventurous and want to explore the world around them. They need a safe environment around them to do this. By getting down to their level and seeing the world through their eyes, it’s easier to spot dangers, and help them avoid danger.

Things to look out for and advice to stay safe: 

• Certain foods and small objects can be risky for young children - anything smaller than a two pence piece can get stuck in their throats. So, avoid toys with small parts, beads and buttons and cut up food like grapes lengthways or into quarters to make them safer to eat. 

• When infants become mobile, it’s surprising the things they can reach! Make sure to keep things like blind cords, plastic bags and drawstring bags out of reach. 

• When cooking, make sure saucepans are out of reach and handles aren’t sticking out and most importantly, don’t leave kids unsupervised in the kitchen. 

• Keep medicines in a high, lockable cupboard (including everyday painkillers like paracetamol) so that children can’t reach them. 

• Keep cleaning products out of reach in high cupboard and out of site and remember to put them away after use. 

• Put small objects away – things like button batteries for toys can be a choking hazard for small children and can also cause internal injuries.

With Christmas approaching, it is also important to consider the safety of the toys and presents that children receive. When buying online this Christmas, and in the sales in the New Year, Warwickshire Trading Standards has issued a timely reminder to help keep your money safe when shopping, advising buyers to beware of offers that seem too good to be true. The service is reminding families to buy toys from reputable sellers to help ensure the product has had quality and safety checks. Cheap counterfeits, especially of the latest fad or toy, are often poor quality and can easily break or be dangerous. 

Look for the CE, UKCA and Lion Mark and ensure that presents age suitable for the child receiving it. The voluntary Toy and Hobby Association ‘Lion Mark’ is also an indicator that the product complies with legal safety rules. Be particularly careful when buying or giving second-hand toys. These often come without their packaging or instructions.

Warwickshire County Councillor Sue Markham, portfolio holder for Children and Families said: “As part of our Child Friendly Warwickshire programme, we want all children to be safe, so raising awareness around staying safe at home is crucial to this. 

 “As schools close for the Christmas holidays and children have more free time at home and families are busier it’s important to be extra vigilant.

“We want all children to be and feel safe in their homes. By highlighting simple precaution measures that you can take to help prevent accidents in the home, it can help to ensure that children lead healthy, happy, independent lives.”

For more information visit https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/keeping-child-safe. There is also lots of helpful advice at the Child Accident Prevention Trust’s website www.capt.org.uk.