Child Electrical Safety Tips

Here are some child electrical safety tips you can implement in your home to maximize the safety of electrical issues in your house and to keep your children safe:

• All electrical outlets should have face plates and there should be no open outlets in your home. Go the extra step and attach sliding child safety plates for outlets that are in use frequently, and covers for those that are never used.
• Teach your children the basics of outlet safety. They should know not to put objects into the outlets and not to touch anything that has a cord attached. If you think your children need help learning this, post pictures by any item or appliance with a circle and a cross going through it to illustrate that these are “NO TOUCH” items!
• Make sure that all wire boxes and electrical boxes in your home are locked and that the key is in a secure location that only adults have access to.
• Electrical safety goes outdoors as well. Do not allow your children to climb trees that are close to power lines, towers, or utility poles. By the same token, do not allow your children to fly kites unsupervised or anywhere near power lines or electrical towers.
• Show your children how to unplug cords when they are old enough. They should know to pull the cord out by the plug, and not by the cord.
• Teach your children that the fun power tools that daddy plays with are not toys to play with. Keep them locked up and out of reach. If your child has a true fascination for these tools, buy play tools that match the ones at home so that they can play grownup fix-it things just like Daddy.
• Keep any electrical cords in the house tied up or out of sight in high traffic areas. Tripping on cords is a safety and electrical hazard, and there are tie-backs and clips that you can purchase to make sure these cords are out of sight, and out of mind.
• If you are using a space heater, keep the cords out of the way so that children can not pull or yank on them. Have the heater against the wall so that the cords do not interest your children.
• You should not have any damaged cords or electrical cords that are frayed in the house. Discard and replace any of these cords as soon as you notice them.
• Do not allow your children to attempt to replace light bulbs, even if they are older. If they are in their teen years, it will be safe for them to do so, but ensure they know not to change a light bulb until it is cool and that the lamp is physically turned off.
• Do not have night lights near curtains or bedding in your child’s room. This not only represents a fun thing to touch, but it is also a fire hazard if your child’s bedding catches onto the night light.
• Do not have appliances in the bathroom. Use curling irons, straighteners, and hair dryers in the adult bedrooms with mirrors. By the same token, you want to teach your children not to touch any appliances if their hands are wet. If this is a concern, again you can post pictures of dry hands, or pictures of wet hands crossed out near appliances that children may touch.
• Unplug all appliances when they are not being used. Appliances like hair dryers or even coffee makers are very interesting to children with all their colored buttons. Unplug them and keep cords out of reach.

It is our responsibility as parents to ensure our homes are fully equipped with child proofing of any safety hazards.

The most important principle about child electrical safety that we can instill is to teach our children properly.

Even young and small children can learn safety rules through the use of pictures, No-No, and phrases like “look, don’t touch!”.

Teaching our children these skills early will keep them safe and hazard free so that we won’t have to worry, and will also teach them valuable skills that they will take with them when they have their own home.

It is NEVER too early to start teaching our children about electrical safety, and it may just save their life.

Source: www.mychildsafety.net