10 Tips for Child Safety in the Kitchen
For many Cincinnati home owners, the kitchen is their favorite room in the house. But kitchens are also full of potential hazards for small children. We’ve put together this list of ten tips for child safety in the kitchen to help keep your kids safe.
- Let’s start with the obvious: always supervise your children in the kitchen. Kitchen’s are full of potentially dangerous items – everything from sharp knives to dangerous cleaning chemicals. For younger children, consider installing safety gates to prevent entry into the kitchen when you’re not around.
- Store household cleaners out of reach. Many Cincinnati homes use the cabinets under the sink as their designated cleaning supply cabinet, but if you have small kids in the house, find a cabinet out of reach to store cleaners. Consider adding child safety locks to any cabinets that store hazardous cleaners.
- Don’t store treats above the stove. Kid’s are both resourceful and curious, so keep items that your children may be interested in investigating away from the stove to avoid potential burns.
- Avoid using small refrigerator magnets which your child could choke on.
- Keep a fire extinguisher in your kitchen and on every floor of your home.
- Keep knives, scissors, and other sharp utensils out of reach, locked, and in a separate drawer from “safe utensils”.
- Equip your kitchen faucet with an anti-scalding device to avoid potential burns at the sink
- Always face pot handles toward the back of the stove so that your child can’t reach up and grab them.
- Put a lid on your trash can. Keep recyclable bottles in a separate container out of your child’s reach. Items with sharp lids such as soup cans or tuna cans should be immediately tossed in the outside trash.
- Pay careful attention to concentrated cleaners and single use laundry packets. These items should always be stored out of sight from your children and never handled by your kids.
What steps do you take to prevent child injuries in the kitchen? Let us know in the comments below.