**Creating a Safe Home Environment for Children**

As a parent, it's natural to want to create a safe and secure environment for your children to grow and thrive. However, there are many potential hazards lurking around every corner that can put your child's life at risk. In this article, we'll explore some of the most common safety risks in the home and provide practical solutions to mitigate them.

**Drowning Hazards**

One of the most devastating accidents a parent can face is a child drowning in a pool or bathtub. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, drowning is a leading cause of death among children under the age of five. To minimize this risk, it's essential to take immediate action if you suspect your child has wandered into a pool or tub without adult supervision. The only reason Carter hadn't received the necessary precautions yet was due to COVID-19 restrictions, but now that's changing. The goal is to prevent such accidents from happening in the first place by ensuring there is a fully enclosed fence around the pool or a pool cover that can hold weight. A pool alarm is not enough; having one of these safety measures in place is crucial.

Another drowning hazard exists even when your child is not in water, as long as they're within reach of the tub or pool area. Don't leave your kids unattended in the tub for even a minute, as it doesn't have to be deep water for them to drown. There's ongoing debate about whether children should wear floaties and life vests, but it's generally recommended that kids take swimming lessons at a young age to learn how to navigate water safely.

**Choking Hazards**

Choking hazards are another common risk in the home, particularly among young children who are prone to putting objects in their mouths. The most common choking foods include grapes, popcorn, nuts, and grape tomatoes. It's essential to be aware of these hazards and take steps to prevent them. One simple solution is to use a blind cord winder on traditional blinds with dangling cords, which can easily wrap around your child's neck and cause suffocation.

**Furniture Safety**

Heavier furniture poses a significant risk to young children who may climb on it or get knocked over by an adult. IKEA dressers have become notorious for their tendency to tip over and trap children beneath them, resulting in fatal injuries. To prevent this, make sure all heavy furniture is anchored securely to the wall using specialized kits. This includes TV stands, armoires, credenzas, and any other piece of furniture that could pose a risk.

**Chemical Poisoning**

Certain household cleaning products can be hazardous if ingested by children, leading to serious health problems or even death. To minimize this risk, make sure all cleaning supplies are locked away in cabinets or containers that your child cannot access. There are many child-proof cabinet locks available on the market, including ones that require no drilling and won't damage paint.

One popular option is a device with a clip that attaches to the handle of the cabinet door, locking it securely in place. Another effective solution is a product specifically designed for this purpose, which can be installed over existing handles without requiring any drilling or damage.

**Choking Hazards: Identifying and Pulling Out Objects**

Carter has learned how to identify choking hazards and pull them out of her hand, thanks to the LifeVac device. This vacuum-style tool is designed to dislodge objects stuck in a child's throat, providing immediate relief. If you can't take a CPR class or want an added layer of safety, this tool is worth considering.

**CPR and First Aid Training**

Finally, it's essential for parents to have basic CPR training in case their child goes into cardiac arrest due to drowning or another accident. While not everyone needs to be certified, having some knowledge of first aid techniques can make all the difference. YouTube has many resources available for learning basic CPR techniques.

**Conclusion**

Creating a safe home environment for children requires attention to detail and a willingness to take proactive steps to mitigate potential hazards. By implementing these simple solutions – such as installing pool alarms, using blind cord winders, anchoring furniture, storing cleaning supplies safely, and being aware of choking hazards – you can significantly reduce the risk of accidents and ensure your child's well-being.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello and welcome back to my channel so today's video is one of if not the most important video that i've ever filmed just on a personal level based on something that happened to our family over the past weekend this video needed to be made i'm going to be sharing today all the things you can do around your house and outdoors to make it as safe as possible i don't want anyone to be paranoid or living in fear but the whole point of this is that if you're aware of these things you can put safeguards in place to greatly reduce the chance of anything happening to you or a family member so we're gonna go ahead and get started with the most common household safety hazards you guys have any guesses what it might be i was actually surprised to read this but it is slips trips and falls falls around the home account for 40 of household injuries so the first thing to tackle and be aware of are rugs around the house they can not only be slippery but if the corners are popped up that could be a tripping hazard so any rug that's in your house that's not anchored down by heavy furniture should have a rug grip so this is what they look like they're extremely inexpensive and they're just these strong double-sided adhesive one side goes on the rug the other side goes on the floor so it will stay in place the corners aren't popped up and just makes them that much safer so make sure you have these on all the rugs in your house next let's talk about stairs for me and having two young kids this scares me the most like i'm always so worried about the stairs so first and foremost if you do have kids you need your safety gates at the top and bottom of your stairs second is making sure there's no clutter on your stairs i know it's very common to put things on the stairs to remember to bring up or down but that could be very dangerous and a tripping hazard and then just make sure your stairs are well lit if you don't have a dedicated light on your stairwell like we don't actually so we have these motion sensor lights on the stairs so as you're walking up and down it will automatically light up the next most common cause of falls around the house are due to loose cords hanging around so i would just do a once over around your house and make sure there are no rogue cord that somebody could trip over and if there are you want to get these cord wrappers so you could just wrap any excess cords another very common cause of slips and falls is in the shower and tub so it is a must that you have a grip at the bottom of your tub and with your rug grips don't forget to put those on the rugs and bath mats in your bathroom as well the next common cause of falls in the home that maybe is not on your radar is falling from windows there is usually a screen but that's not strong enough to hold a child's weight if they decide to lean against it so what you want to do is have these window stoppers and that just prevents the window from being opened high enough that a child could fall out of it and last thing if you do have kids in the house we now have a rule of no running in the house most of the injuries that have happened in this house with my son carter who's four have happened when he's been running next home safety hazard to be aware of are glass doors maybe this is on your radar maybe not so if you have any large glass doors a very easy solution for this is to put some kind of a decal on it so that you can tell there is actually glass there or another solution is adding a screen so just to add that layer of visibility next are burn hazards around the home so first just checking your water heater and there's usually a little indicator on there where you can set the maximum water temperature in your house but what that will do is it will make it such that the water can only get so hot even if you turn it up to the maximum amount the next thing that we have is this little floating seal and this is what i use when i give the kids baths to make sure that the temperature is appropriate and he just floats in the water and will alert you an alarm will go off if the water is too hot two other common burn hazards around the house are of course your stove so what we do is we cook on the back burners not the front burners because carter can reach the front burners with his hand and another situation to be aware of just in the summer time is burned on hands and feet due to the very hot asphalt outside capri was crawling around in the shade recently and we were watching her and she got over to a step and put her little hands on the step and it was a stone step in the sun and that burned the bottom of her little hands thankfully we got to her really quick and it wasn't too bad now let's talk about fire hazards and it just so happens that one of my girlfriend's husbands is a firefighter and i saw them yesterday so i kind of interviewed him about what he sees most commonly and he said the number one is actually electrical fires in the house and what can happen is that we use our outlets a lot and they can become loose so the wiring in the back can get loose and that can spark an electrical fire so if you have any outlets in your house that are starting to get loose definitely call in an electrician to get that looked at deep frying turkeys has become a trend but he said those can actually be very dangerous and serious fire hazards so just be aware of that candles of course you never want to leave unintended and of course leaving the stove on and i have to say this is an issue in our house not naming names or pointing fingers but a certain person in my household likes to always leave the stove on do you turn the burner off yeah of course i always turn it off next thing you want to check your water heater wherever that's located go check it and make sure there's no clutter around it because that could catch on fire you need that area to be fully clear nothing near the water heater also near your dryer so the back of your dryer dryer vents all of that before fire safety in the kitchen we have a fire blanket and a fire extinguisher which i recommend in all households and then upstairs we have this fire emergency kit and this contains things like a glass breaker a rope so if we ever did have to evacuate from the second floor we could so that is what this kit is for and fifty dollars is more than worth my peace of mind on this we just keep this in the master bedroom and of course it should go without saying but i'm still gonna say it make sure your fire alarms are all working next let's talk about carbon monoxide they call this the silent killer because it's a clear odorless gas and very minimal levels are required to be toxic so incredibly important that you have a carbon monoxide detector both upstairs and downstairs if you have a two-story house the most common sources of carbon monoxide in the home is from your car so starting your car in a closed garage and having the door open you never want to do that okay now moving on to kid specific home hazards to be aware of because look if you have a kid you know anything that can happen will happen and we had the scariest situation of my entire life happen over this past weekend carter fell into the deep end of a pool at a pool party i was not there at the time he was there with ryan ryan just was talking to somebody for one second carter fell in the deep end and thankfully another dad saw him and called out to somebody who went in and saved him i don't even want to talk about it too much because it's a very sore subject i was actually up almost all night last night crying but that's why this video is that much more important get your kids in swimming lessons they have the isr lessons which are more faster and more intense and they teach your child if they were to ever fall in the pool how to get to the edge and save themselves and then of course there's regular swimming lessons teaching them how to swim so we're looking into both but regardless we are getting him in something as soon as humanly possible hopefully this week the only reason he hadn't had them yet is because of covid so we're just getting on it now i'm trying not to beat myself up over it but i will tell you that is hard and so putting out this video in my mind if it could potentially help any single person out there just be more careful and avoid something like this happening that's my hope if you have a pool make sure there is a fully enclosed fence around the pool or a pool cover that is specifically designed to also hold weight just having the pool alarms you know that's not enough and this is not just for pools this also applies to your bathtub do not leave your kids unattended in the tub even for a minute it does not have to be deep water for your child to drown so there is some debate out there whether or not children should wear the floaties and life vests because there's the idea that it can become a crutch if they were to fall in they would feel like they would float so it almost makes them feel invincible when they shouldn't so the better option is to get your child in swimming lessons at a very young age next up is a potential choking hazard from the cords on your blinds so if you have the traditional blinds with the cords hanging down you want one of these blind cord winders and this will just wrap up all the excess cord so it's not dangling and there for your child to potentially get wrapped up in choke on so very very easy solution next up is anchoring your furniture i think most of us out there have heard the story of the ikea dressers over the past several years that have fallen over and killed several children i mean kids they climb they crawl on things so heavy furniture if they're climbing on it it could fall over and trap them just not a situation you want to take any chances on so this applies to any heavy loose furniture that your child could climb on if you have large mirrors that are propped up against the wall make sure those are anchored wherever your tv stand is that needs to be anchored and of course any dressers armoires credenzas things like that they all need to be anchored they make these kits and this could save your child's life next step is to be aware of chemical poisoning if you do use chemical cleaning products make sure they are locked away so they're either stored somewhere where your children cannot reach them or if they are on a lower cabinet the cabinet needs to be locked child proof so they have different ones out there these are the new popular ones but these don't require any drilling and they don't damage the paint on your cabinets because i did have to remove some of them and the paint was just fine they're adjustable in the middle so you can size them based on the size of your cabinets and there's just this little clip you push it so these now are some of the most popular just because they're easy to install and also easy to use and damage free the other type that i like is this guy because again it doesn't require any drilling and you just put it over the handles lock it up and lastly i'm going to touch on in today's video is choking and identifying choking hazards i've actually trained carter now how to identify choking hazards and pull them out of capri's hand if she ever does get her hands on anything some of the most common choking hazard foods for children grapes popcorn nuts grape tomatoes i'll put the full list here on the screen if you have kids you must know basic cpr if you can't take a cpr class which i do recommend that you do we did before carter was born you can look up basic cpr techniques on youtube i'll actually put a link down below to a video we took it one step further because this is a really big fear of ryan so we bought this thing it's called the life vac and it's this special designed vacuum where if a child was choking you would put this on them and pump and it's designed to dislodge anything stuck in the throat i know this was not the most fun video of all the videos i've done but so so important if you don't have all of these things already on your radar just start today start right now so i don't want to be living my life in fear and paranoia i just want to be aware and i want you all to be aware so you can put the safeguards in place these are easy fixes easy things you can do to make your home safer so if you did enjoy this video please thumbs up make sure to subscribe to see part two and also share this with the people in your life to make sure they're being safe as well so with all of that said thank you as always so much for watching and i will see you soon with a new video byehello and welcome back to my channel so today's video is one of if not the most important video that i've ever filmed just on a personal level based on something that happened to our family over the past weekend this video needed to be made i'm going to be sharing today all the things you can do around your house and outdoors to make it as safe as possible i don't want anyone to be paranoid or living in fear but the whole point of this is that if you're aware of these things you can put safeguards in place to greatly reduce the chance of anything happening to you or a family member so we're gonna go ahead and get started with the most common household safety hazards you guys have any guesses what it might be i was actually surprised to read this but it is slips trips and falls falls around the home account for 40 of household injuries so the first thing to tackle and be aware of are rugs around the house they can not only be slippery but if the corners are popped up that could be a tripping hazard so any rug that's in your house that's not anchored down by heavy furniture should have a rug grip so this is what they look like they're extremely inexpensive and they're just these strong double-sided adhesive one side goes on the rug the other side goes on the floor so it will stay in place the corners aren't popped up and just makes them that much safer so make sure you have these on all the rugs in your house next let's talk about stairs for me and having two young kids this scares me the most like i'm always so worried about the stairs so first and foremost if you do have kids you need your safety gates at the top and bottom of your stairs second is making sure there's no clutter on your stairs i know it's very common to put things on the stairs to remember to bring up or down but that could be very dangerous and a tripping hazard and then just make sure your stairs are well lit if you don't have a dedicated light on your stairwell like we don't actually so we have these motion sensor lights on the stairs so as you're walking up and down it will automatically light up the next most common cause of falls around the house are due to loose cords hanging around so i would just do a once over around your house and make sure there are no rogue cord that somebody could trip over and if there are you want to get these cord wrappers so you could just wrap any excess cords another very common cause of slips and falls is in the shower and tub so it is a must that you have a grip at the bottom of your tub and with your rug grips don't forget to put those on the rugs and bath mats in your bathroom as well the next common cause of falls in the home that maybe is not on your radar is falling from windows there is usually a screen but that's not strong enough to hold a child's weight if they decide to lean against it so what you want to do is have these window stoppers and that just prevents the window from being opened high enough that a child could fall out of it and last thing if you do have kids in the house we now have a rule of no running in the house most of the injuries that have happened in this house with my son carter who's four have happened when he's been running next home safety hazard to be aware of are glass doors maybe this is on your radar maybe not so if you have any large glass doors a very easy solution for this is to put some kind of a decal on it so that you can tell there is actually glass there or another solution is adding a screen so just to add that layer of visibility next are burn hazards around the home so first just checking your water heater and there's usually a little indicator on there where you can set the maximum water temperature in your house but what that will do is it will make it such that the water can only get so hot even if you turn it up to the maximum amount the next thing that we have is this little floating seal and this is what i use when i give the kids baths to make sure that the temperature is appropriate and he just floats in the water and will alert you an alarm will go off if the water is too hot two other common burn hazards around the house are of course your stove so what we do is we cook on the back burners not the front burners because carter can reach the front burners with his hand and another situation to be aware of just in the summer time is burned on hands and feet due to the very hot asphalt outside capri was crawling around in the shade recently and we were watching her and she got over to a step and put her little hands on the step and it was a stone step in the sun and that burned the bottom of her little hands thankfully we got to her really quick and it wasn't too bad now let's talk about fire hazards and it just so happens that one of my girlfriend's husbands is a firefighter and i saw them yesterday so i kind of interviewed him about what he sees most commonly and he said the number one is actually electrical fires in the house and what can happen is that we use our outlets a lot and they can become loose so the wiring in the back can get loose and that can spark an electrical fire so if you have any outlets in your house that are starting to get loose definitely call in an electrician to get that looked at deep frying turkeys has become a trend but he said those can actually be very dangerous and serious fire hazards so just be aware of that candles of course you never want to leave unintended and of course leaving the stove on and i have to say this is an issue in our house not naming names or pointing fingers but a certain person in my household likes to always leave the stove on do you turn the burner off yeah of course i always turn it off next thing you want to check your water heater wherever that's located go check it and make sure there's no clutter around it because that could catch on fire you need that area to be fully clear nothing near the water heater also near your dryer so the back of your dryer dryer vents all of that before fire safety in the kitchen we have a fire blanket and a fire extinguisher which i recommend in all households and then upstairs we have this fire emergency kit and this contains things like a glass breaker a rope so if we ever did have to evacuate from the second floor we could so that is what this kit is for and fifty dollars is more than worth my peace of mind on this we just keep this in the master bedroom and of course it should go without saying but i'm still gonna say it make sure your fire alarms are all working next let's talk about carbon monoxide they call this the silent killer because it's a clear odorless gas and very minimal levels are required to be toxic so incredibly important that you have a carbon monoxide detector both upstairs and downstairs if you have a two-story house the most common sources of carbon monoxide in the home is from your car so starting your car in a closed garage and having the door open you never want to do that okay now moving on to kid specific home hazards to be aware of because look if you have a kid you know anything that can happen will happen and we had the scariest situation of my entire life happen over this past weekend carter fell into the deep end of a pool at a pool party i was not there at the time he was there with ryan ryan just was talking to somebody for one second carter fell in the deep end and thankfully another dad saw him and called out to somebody who went in and saved him i don't even want to talk about it too much because it's a very sore subject i was actually up almost all night last night crying but that's why this video is that much more important get your kids in swimming lessons they have the isr lessons which are more faster and more intense and they teach your child if they were to ever fall in the pool how to get to the edge and save themselves and then of course there's regular swimming lessons teaching them how to swim so we're looking into both but regardless we are getting him in something as soon as humanly possible hopefully this week the only reason he hadn't had them yet is because of covid so we're just getting on it now i'm trying not to beat myself up over it but i will tell you that is hard and so putting out this video in my mind if it could potentially help any single person out there just be more careful and avoid something like this happening that's my hope if you have a pool make sure there is a fully enclosed fence around the pool or a pool cover that is specifically designed to also hold weight just having the pool alarms you know that's not enough and this is not just for pools this also applies to your bathtub do not leave your kids unattended in the tub even for a minute it does not have to be deep water for your child to drown so there is some debate out there whether or not children should wear the floaties and life vests because there's the idea that it can become a crutch if they were to fall in they would feel like they would float so it almost makes them feel invincible when they shouldn't so the better option is to get your child in swimming lessons at a very young age next up is a potential choking hazard from the cords on your blinds so if you have the traditional blinds with the cords hanging down you want one of these blind cord winders and this will just wrap up all the excess cord so it's not dangling and there for your child to potentially get wrapped up in choke on so very very easy solution next up is anchoring your furniture i think most of us out there have heard the story of the ikea dressers over the past several years that have fallen over and killed several children i mean kids they climb they crawl on things so heavy furniture if they're climbing on it it could fall over and trap them just not a situation you want to take any chances on so this applies to any heavy loose furniture that your child could climb on if you have large mirrors that are propped up against the wall make sure those are anchored wherever your tv stand is that needs to be anchored and of course any dressers armoires credenzas things like that they all need to be anchored they make these kits and this could save your child's life next step is to be aware of chemical poisoning if you do use chemical cleaning products make sure they are locked away so they're either stored somewhere where your children cannot reach them or if they are on a lower cabinet the cabinet needs to be locked child proof so they have different ones out there these are the new popular ones but these don't require any drilling and they don't damage the paint on your cabinets because i did have to remove some of them and the paint was just fine they're adjustable in the middle so you can size them based on the size of your cabinets and there's just this little clip you push it so these now are some of the most popular just because they're easy to install and also easy to use and damage free the other type that i like is this guy because again it doesn't require any drilling and you just put it over the handles lock it up and lastly i'm going to touch on in today's video is choking and identifying choking hazards i've actually trained carter now how to identify choking hazards and pull them out of capri's hand if she ever does get her hands on anything some of the most common choking hazard foods for children grapes popcorn nuts grape tomatoes i'll put the full list here on the screen if you have kids you must know basic cpr if you can't take a cpr class which i do recommend that you do we did before carter was born you can look up basic cpr techniques on youtube i'll actually put a link down below to a video we took it one step further because this is a really big fear of ryan so we bought this thing it's called the life vac and it's this special designed vacuum where if a child was choking you would put this on them and pump and it's designed to dislodge anything stuck in the throat i know this was not the most fun video of all the videos i've done but so so important if you don't have all of these things already on your radar just start today start right now so i don't want to be living my life in fear and paranoia i just want to be aware and i want you all to be aware so you can put the safeguards in place these are easy fixes easy things you can do to make your home safer so if you did enjoy this video please thumbs up make sure to subscribe to see part two and also share this with the people in your life to make sure they're being safe as well so with all of that said thank you as always so much for watching and i will see you soon with a new video bye\n"