Kitchen Safety for your Child
Preventing Burns, Scalds and Poisoning.
The kitchen is one of the most dangerous rooms of the home. Many children have been severely burned, scalded or poisoned due to their kitchen curiosity. Well, it’s hard to take the curiosity out of the child but is is possible to make the kitchen a safer environment for them. The safest thing to do would be to keep little ones completely out of the kitchen by installing baby gates to prevent their entry. Understanding that this is not feasible or practical in most homes, we will offer some tips to help keep children safe in the kitchen.
Little ones get curious about what is being cooked on top of the stove. To minimize the chance of them getting burned or scalded, be sure to cook on the back burners and keeping pot handles turned inward. Be sure when moving pots or pans from stove to sink or counter, there are no little ones underfoot.
Installing an oven lock can help prevent children from opening a hot oven door. There are many different style locks so you will have to find the right one for your oven door. Unfortunately these can be very difficult to find for professional series ovens such as Wolf, Thermador, Viking and other professional ovens. Some self-cleaning ovens often have locks that help prevent a child from opening the oven door. Keep the door locked even when the oven isn’t on. Be careful of freestanding stoves. If a child stands on an open door the stove can tip over. Be sure to install the anti-tipping device that comes with freestanding stoves. Children like to stand on open oven doors, giving them great access to anything cooking on the stove and the knobs that control the burners.
Many children like to turn the knobs of a stove turning on the burners. Extra caution must be taken with gas stoves as the open flame is instantly hot exposing children to burns. Gas stoves can also release gas into the kitchen posing a fire hazard.Stove knob covers as shown to the right can be purchase but they can be difficult to use and not always effective. It’s far better to simply pop off the knobs when they’re not in use.
The kitchen is usually a place many chemicals are stored. It is ALWAYS advised to put all cleaners, soaps and chemicals completely out of reach of children. We also recommend installing child safe cabinet and drawer latches to lock chemicals away as a secondary precaution to help keep little ones from being poisoned.
Remember to always keep a close eye on your children when they are in the kitchen and keep the number (800) 222-1222 for poison control handy in case of an emergency and visit their website for more tips www.aapcc.org
If you need help child-proofing your kitchen or home, please contact your local Baby Safe Homes safety professional. We would be happy to assist you with your child-proofing needs.
Safety is just a phone call away.
888.481.7233