When Kavita went for her bath, her 2 yrs old was happily busy watching  a rhyme video on Television. When she returned, her baby was gone & to  her horror the main door was open. She panicked but fortunately she  found her child in her lawn. She never knew her 2 yrs old can push  open a sliding door.

Mothers of  toddlers can relate with Kavita’s incident. Finding your  child at the edge of the bed, climbing up on the window, on top of the  dinning table, going under the bed & many other such incidents just scare the life out of a toddler mothers.

Your toddler is faster, smarter & more skilful than you think he is.  Preschool & daycare follow proper guidelines to baby proof their  premises. However homes are the places they are at greater risk.

Shalini  Jaiswal, Director-  Academics at  Maple Bear India says,  “Parents are usually very worried about their child’s safety are  preschool or Daycare but they completely overlook the hazards at home  which put a small toddler at risk. It’s very important to baby proof  your house when the baby starts crawling & moving around.”
She further adds that the children are at a great risk at from age 1 –  4yrs. This is because of the fact that their growing mind is full of  curiosity to explore, curiosity to check out your phone, an electric  appliance, to check what’s under the bed .Every new & unknown object  attracts their attention & after that there is no stopping them.

Maple Bear identifies the main causes of accidents in toddlers & ways  by which these can be avoided at home.

1. Choking
This is a high risk factor. Keep small edible & non edible objects  away from your toddler which he can easily choke on. Same goes for any  powder compound that can be inhaled in large amount & risk their life.

2. Poison
Medicines, repellents & cleaners need to be locked away. They pose a  huge risk to the toddlers.

3. Electrical hazard
Close all the used & unused sockets & ensure that there is no loose or  bare wire under the reach of the curious baby.

4. Burn injuries
Electric iron post use has to be kept beyond their reach to avoid any  accidents. Lighters, stove & even our temple lamp can be dangerous if  within reach of toddlers.

5. Injury with heavy & sharp objects
These objects need to be kept hidden. At this age your child will be  opening all the drawers & will try to push the furniture around. It’s important to keep the heavy & sharp objects in higher drawers &  light & smaller object in the lower drawers that are accessible to  your child.

6. Finger Pinching
The Finger pinch preventer is a smart child safety item which will  keep your kids from getting their fingers trapped in a door. It will  also keep them from getting locked in. Identify the windows & doors  with hinges in which your child’s fingers may get trapped & install  this simple device.

There are so many other utility things in our houses like the chords  of the window blinds, table corners, battery of TV remote, heated  iron, sliding doors, bathroom doors which has bolts at your child  level. All of these make our lives easy but at the same time they make  our house a great accident spot for our toddlers. We must examine &  analyse our spaces from a child’s eye & make them safe.

Child proofing is an on going process for parents. The hazards changes  with child’s age. The parents just need to be alert & must attend to  the risk.

To know more about Maple Bear PreSchool & Daycare, register here