According to new research, the majority of mums think that toddlers should learn about the importance of child safety.
Parents are concerned about their child's knowledge of safety in the home, with 78 per cent saying education should begin with children ages one to three.
The survey, conducted by Direct Blinds, polled more than 200 mothers across the UK about the importance of child safety in the home. Of those asked, 54 per cent believe a child should be at least 12 years old before being left at home unsupervised. While there is no legal age, child safety experts recommend parents evaluate the maturity of a child before leaving them home alone.
In addition to education, mothers were also asked to rate rooms and child safety products in order of most important and most dangerous. 64 per cent believe the kitchen is the most dangerous room in the house and 59 per cent rate the stair gate as the most important child safety product.
Sheila Merrill, public health adviser at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said: “Home accidents send nearly a million children to A&E across the UK each year and half a million of these visits involve under-fives. Attempting to completely ‘child-proof’ a home, however, is an unrealistic and undesirable aim; children’s skills develop constantly and what keeps them safe one day, might not do so the next. From an early age, it’s also really important to help children learn about hazards and how to deal with them because these are valuable lifelong skills.
“RoSPA advocates that homes are made as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible. Without going over the top, various items of safety equipment, such as safety gates and fireguards, can help with this when they are introduced at the stages of a child’s life when they are most needed. On blind cord safety, it’s preferable to install blinds that do not have a cord, especially in a child's bedroom. Where there are corded-blinds, the pull cords should be kept short and out of the reach of young children, for example by using one of the many cleats, cord tidies, clips or ties that are available.”
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