The Latest

Created to raise awareness about the potential dangers children face inside and outside of their home, National Child Safety and Prevention Month is recognized every November. With families spending more time at home than ever—and upcoming holiday celebrations bringing visitors—now is a great time to reevaluate the safety of your space. Sandlin Homes has rounded up a list of hazards and precautions you can take to ensure your home is safe for children of all ages. 

Well-known hazards and prevention

Welcoming an infant or young child into your home is an exciting and sometimes overwhelming time. Once they become mobile and are able to grab, climb or pull things that pose a threat to them, it’s time to cover the basics of childproofing. 

• Baby gates: Once your child starts crawling, they’re on a mission to explore and learn as much about their surroundings as possible. Baby gates help parents and caregivers block off features that are dangerous to small children, like staircases and pools. You can also use them to block off entire rooms that you’d rather your child not enter without supervision, including bathrooms and kitchens. 
• Childproof locks and latches: Houses are designed with low cabinets throughout kitchens, bathroom, laundry rooms and more to provide ample storage space. For infants and toddlers, those eye-level doors are ridiculously enticing. By installing traditional latch locks or new magnetic locks, you can keep your child safe from glass cookware, cleaning supplies and finger injuries. 
• Vent and outlet covers: Small hands are always looking for things to grab or poke, and some of their favorites include floor vents and outlet covers. Both pose their own set of hazards that parents are obviously wanting to avoid at all costs—plastic covers for both outlets and vents are simple, inexpensive ways to prevent accidents from happening. 
• Furniture anti-tip kits: After crawling comes walking, and after walking comes climbing. While some brands include anti-tip kits with their furniture pieces, it’s important to secure additional pieces to the wall when children live in your house, even as they get older. 

Things you might have missed

We’ve covered the first things that come to mind when childproofing your home, but there’s other hazards that you might have missed and are just as important to keep your family healthy and safe. 

• Pantry ingredients: Many ingestible items you use in everyday recipes can be extremely harmful when ingested or handled improperly. Cinnamon and other powdered spices can cause choking or damage to eyes and ears. Ensure that spices are stored out of reach, in either a child-locked cabinet or high in the pantry. 
• Window treatments: If you live in an older home, chances are your window treatments might include blinds with cords. These cords should either be shortened or the treatments should be replaced altogether with new, cordless options to prevent entanglement. 
• Batteries: Any devices with coin lithium batteries (also known as button batteries) should be kept out of a child’s reach, as they can be fatal if swallowed. Also, secure any devices with standard batteries (like remotes or flashlights) so they cannot be easily accessed. 

A safe home for your family

The safety of your children is priceless. No matter their age, it’s important to feel confident that you can keep them happy and healthy in your home. Sandlin Homes builds houses for buyers at every stage of life, and offers floor plans that will meet your family’s needs from crawling to driving and beyond. Check out our website to browse the homes we have available in the Dallas-Fort Worth area now and the plans you can select to be built in the community or lot of your choice. Contact us today to get started!