Keep Your Kitchen Child-Friendly by Applying These Safety Measures
Children are so curious by nature. They go to any part of your house that they think would make a great place to entertain themselves. They grab and play any object that catches their attention. They also tend to put anything they grab into their mouths, which is very dangerous. They love to explore things around them without knowing that it might harm them.
Hence, your children need you for their safety. When you’re doing household chores, it’s important that your children stay within your sight, especially when preparing meals in the kitchen. The kitchen can be one of the children’s favorite parts of the home. When you’re not around, they can open the fridge to get their favorite cookies and chocolates.
It might be dangerous for your children to go to the kitchen alone. Stoves, blenders, microwave ovens, and many other appliances pose a risk to their safety. With your children’s curiosity, they might touch these while in the kitchen, resulting in an accident. That’s surely something that you don’t want to happen. Hence, listed below are ways to keep your kitchen safe for your children.
Stove, Microwave Oven, and Burner
See to it that your burner, microwave oven, and stove are all working fine. Don’t use appliances showing signs of damage to avoid possible accidents. If you’re using gas, always do regular inspections to see if there’s any leak so you can replace it immediately. Keep away flammable objects near the stove, such as cloth, cooking oils, among others.
The use of a back burner is preferable over front burners. When a young kid gets curious in the kitchen, they tend to grab a pot or pan on the stove. If the pan contains heated water, sauce, or oil, it’ll possibly spill over your kid. To avoid this from happening, opt for a back burner.
It’s also important to keep your stove knobs in the safest spot of your kitchen. You can put the knobs inside a drawer or below any part of your countertop. This is to avoid your kids from touching the knob and accidentally turning on the stove. Moreover, turn off the stove when not in use.
When you’re using your oven, don’t let your kids come near the oven door. Their excitement to see and eat newly baked cakes and cookies can lead to them touching the hot door, burning their hands.
Fridge and Freezer
Children love to visit the fridge to get their favorite snacks. However, fridges can also cause various accidents. Hence, you have to check it regularly to avoid any problems in the future.
You have to ensure that the door of your fridge closes properly. Use a door latch or buckle up— which is childproof— for your kids’ safety. Moreover, avoid putting decorative magnets on the fridge door, which can come in small sizes. Colorful magnets can attract your children, and they might attempt to eat it.
If you need to put bills and reminders on the fridge door, use big refrigerator magnets instead. Moreover, don’t put things inside your fridge that aren’t edible because your kids might accidentally eat them.
If you have an old fridge that you’re not using anymore, dispose of it. Remove the doors of an old fridge so kids won’t get inside of it and get trapped. This can cause a multitude of problems, such as trauma, suffocation, and worse, death.
Other Precautionary Measures in the Kitchen
Your kitchen has a lot of things that might cause accidents for your children— such as knives. Be sure to put all of your kitchen knives in a closed drawer. Put anything sharp away from your children’s reach.
Install childproof latches in all of your cabinets in the kitchen. There’s a risk of your children opening a door that isn’t properly closed. If you keep your cleaning essentials in these cabinets, there’s a possibility your children might play with them, eat them even. Ingesting these items could lead to poisoning.
To address these problems, some companies offer quality and childproof cabinets with enhanced safety features. You can check out various usa made kitchen cabinets online for a child-friendly cabinet that suits both your taste and needs.
Additionally, keep your garbage cans away from your children’s reach. You can put your trash inside a locked cabinet to keep your kids from playing the trash bin’s contaminated contents. Regularly throw away the garbage bags to avoid trash accumulation.
If you and your husband are fond of drinking wine or any alcoholic drink, don’t forget to put all of the used glasses in the sink. Your children might try tasting the leftover from these glasses. Drinking alcohol is dangerous for your children’s health. It depresses the central nervous system that can result in coma, seizures, and even death.
Harmful liquids should be kept from your children’s sight and reach. The same thing applies to spices and other condiments. Powder or liquid condiments can hurt your children’s eyes.
Takeaway
Your house must be your children’s sanctuary, where both safety and comfort are observed. Your kitchen should be a place for food preparation, not dangerous hazards. Hence, make your kitchen safe for the whole family, especially for your younger children. Keep accidents from occurring in the kitchen by following the safety precautions discussed above. Always keep these reminders to ensure you and your family’s safety.
