Furniture Disasters: Tips on Keeping Your Kids Safe at Home

It is a known fact that accidents do happen, but sadly, most of them occur in our homes. When these accidents don’t come from us parents, it comes from our children. Furniture tip-overs are good examples of these accidents. Kids love to jump, climb, hide, and go under our furniture during their play time. For them, our home is an extended playground, but for us, the home is where they can be safe and sound.

According to anchorit.gov, a campaign website of U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 91 percent of tip-over accidents occur in our home, and two-thirds of this involve toddlers. A large number of tip-over incidents result in head injuries, with an average death of one child in every two weeks.

These accidents, however, are avoidable. One thing to consider to avoid these accidents is to choose furniture that has quality and safety features. Anchoring and securing our furniture to prevent mishaps at home are also things to be included in our security checklist, especially when we have kids who like to turn our homes into their playground.

For your children’s safety, here are some tips to consider.

Follow Manufacturer Guidelines

Reading the guidelines every time you purchase something is a good practice, especially if it concerns the safety of your family. The manual certainly is handy when using something efficiently and safely.

Learn how much weight a piece of furniture can hold. Do not put heavy objects such as your TV on a stand that is not robust enough to support it.  Place that TV on a stand specially designed for that TV’s size, shape, and weight.

For flat screen TVs, you can mount them to the wall. They come with safety straps and screws when you purchase them. Do not just place them on a stand not designed for them.

You’ll probably think those flat screen TVs when tip over do not cause injuries because of their thinness and weight? If yes, then, you’re wrong. It could still harm your children. So, follow the rules.

Secure Top-Heavy Furniture

Since the increase of accidents involving furniture, manufacturers now design their products with more safety features. Drawers, bookshelves, and dressers come with security attachment devices such as anti-tip brackets and straps to prevent tip-overs. Avoid restraints that use plastics for material as it can degrade over time.

Ditch Your Old and Rickety Furniture

Old furniture can be dangerous if we still display them in our homes. Due to normal wear and tear, most of them can’t be any more sturdy for our service and safety. Although time-tested, furniture still deteriorates due to harsh conditions.

Remove Tempting Objects on Top of High Furniture

Kids will try to get anything they want in sight. If you put their toys on top of bookshelves, they’ll climb it no matter how risky the undertaking is because it’s a temptation they just can’t resist.

You can purchase a toy chest to store their toys. This way, their temptations are within their reach. Just make sure that the chest comes with safety latches to avoid the top from falling freely and harming them.

Takeaway

We should always be mindful when it comes to the safety of our children. Choosing furniture that is of high quality and has safety features are one thing to keep in mind to maintain an accident-free home.

We should also follow home safety tips if we don’t want our children to get harm. Most appliances and furniture have safety manuals within their packaging, spend at least 5-10 minutes of reading them for your kids’ safety.

Author Bio:

Janis Walker lives in New York. She is a writer and a blogger by heart. Most of the time, she spends writing articles about child safety and home improvement, with Focus On Furniture as her source. During her free time, Janis spends time with her two daughters.