THIS week’s tragic drowning of two siblings in a Joburg Florida
home swimming pool while their mother was inside the house has highlighted the
importance of child-proofing one’s home.
According to the Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Southern
Africa (CAPFSA), “every child has a right to grow and flourish in a safe
environment without the threat of being hurt”.
“Children are not mini-adults. They have to be watched over at all
times,” says CAPFSA director Professor Sebastian van As.
Wendy Walker of Babyproofessionals agrees. “Children are vulnerable
because they don’t know any boundaries. All it takes is a momentary distraction
and anything can happen.”
Walker says she and her husband Bruce started the business when she
was pregnant and wanted her child to be safe. “My husband and I did a full
assessment of our home after extensive research.
That’s when we realised there
were so many difficult areas that had the potential to be dangerous,” says
Walker.
Since then, they have started a company that does the same for
other parents. They also provide equipment like magnet locks, safety gates,
table-corner covers, door-slam protectors and other gadgets to help safeguard
children.
Here are some of the guidelines for parents and guardians to follow
in order to make the house child-safe.
- Get on your knees (at child level) and crawl through your entire
home and identify hazards and decide how to deal with them.
- Remove the hazard.
- Guard the hazard.
- Last resort is to watch your child within grabbing distance
- Make the change. Do this as soon as possible.
“Just remember it is no use having created a physical safe home
without applying safe behaviour and good habits.
Hazards change in the home according to the child’s age and
development. Therefore you need to create a safe home for children looking at
different risks at different age groups,” adds Van As.