May 27, 2009 5:55 pm US/Central
3 Most Common Threats For Children In Your Home
(WCCO)
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A childproofing expert recommends magnetic latches which keep cabinets locked, no matter how hard your child may pull them. Parents use a magnetic "lock" to open up the cabinets. The latches cost about $5.50 a piece.
CBS
The news that Mike Tyson's 4-year-old daughter died after getting tangled up in a home treadmill scares parents, especially those who haven't got around to childproofing their homes. So Peter Kerin, a childproofing expert shows the three most common safety issues in the typical home.
"Number one is definitely falls, from babies through toddlerhood into the preteen years, falls is the number one injury of children in the home," said Kerin, who owns Foresight Childproofing.
When your children are younger, you need to keep them away from stairs.
"You want a mounted gate, you don't want a pressure gate," said Kerin. "Everyone's hesitant to do it, but they're minimally intrusive, and the patching a small hole in a banister is a lot easier than patching the child."
Before the day is over, Kerin will install a new baby gate and other safety equipment at the home of Minnesota Viking Ben Leber.
Leber's daughter Ames in an active 1-year-old and that's why her dad called up Kerin.
"Ames was getting to the point where she was moving around a lot," said Leber. "And I think we needed a fresh eye as far as what was safe and unsafe in our home."
One thing the Lebers are doing right involves their coffee table. They don't have one. Instead, they have an ottoman that will cushion their daughter's inevitable falls.
Kerin says coffee tables are a common cause of trips to the emergency room. They have sharp corners which can easily injured a toddler.
"The safest thing to do if you're not going to pursue an ottoman like this, take the coffee table and put it in the basement," said Kerin.
Burns are another common child safety problem. Kerin said there are simple things any homeowner can do to prevent them.
"Use the backburners as much as possible, the handles turned in, turn down the hot water heater and make sure the temperature, grab a meat thermometer and make sure the temperature is below 120 degrees," he said.
Kerin also recommends parents should make their kitchens as uninteresting as possible.
"We don't want children under feet, don't make the kitchen a play area," he advised.
The third big danger are poisons. Look-alike packaging is part of the problem.
"You'll find cleaning supplies which have pictures of fruit on them, and the liquids look like fruit juices," said Kerin.
He recommends magnetic latches which keep cabinets locked, no matter how hard your child may pull them. Parents use a magnetic "lock" to open up the cabinets. The latches cost about $5.50 a piece.
"You don't have to latch every cabinet, you just need to be smart about what cabinets you allow access to," he said.
If that's too expensive, Kerin suggest buying a plastic storage bin from Target or Home Depot.
"Put all the chemicals in the top shelf of your linen closet," said Kerin. "And then you can just pull down your cleaning supplies whenever you need to use them."
The Minnesota Safety Council has put together a child safety checklist that covers many home safety issues including ammunition storage and poisonous plants.
Childproofing Your Home Checklist
Paula Engelking, Producer
Contact Paula
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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