Data released by the Child Accident Prevention Trust shows that as many as one million children are admitted to hospitals each year following accidents at home. Here is a handy guide to help you to make your home toddler-proof/child-proof and minimize the risk of accidents. For more information and regular updates related to safety, you can also check out the website of the Child Accident Prevention Trust.

Kitchen

Kitchen is the most dangerous room as far as a child is concerned. This is because toxic as well as harmful household products like bleach are stored in the kitchen. Therefore, you must ensure that such products are stored in cupboards that have child-proof latches. Additionally, the drawers that store knives and other dangerous objects should also have safety latches.

As your children grow older, a child-proof lock may not be safe enough. Therefore, store dangerous chemicals either in lockable cupboards or outside the house.

Keep blenders, kettles, coffee machines and other appliances at the back of the worktop. Ensure that the cables of these appliances are tied up and tucked away out of reach of children.

Use the hobs’ back burners and ensure that the handles of the saucepan face the back.

Do not allow your children to wander around in the kitchen when you are cooking or handling hot water, etc. Never cook when you are carrying hot items or holding your child.

Ensure that hot items are kept away from the edge of the worktop and avoid using a tablecloth. Your child may pull out the table cloth.

Use high chairs with straps, but do not leave your child unattended.

Make your rubbish bin child proof.

Living room

Avoid open fires. Use a hearth gate or a fireguard. Keep all firelighting products safely.

Cover furniture’s and tables’ sharp edges with special protectors.

Keep poisonous house plants out of reach of children.

Secure things that can topple to the walls.

Stick visible markers on patio glass doors. Use only safety glass.

Bathroom

Use non-slip bath mats or bath dots. Never leave your children unattended in the bath.

Use water at the right temperature.

To prevent toddlers from falling into the toilet bowl, fix toilet locks. This also prevents seats and lids from falling on to your child’s fingers.

Keep all medicines, vitamins, beauty products, and cleaning agents out of reach of children.

Bedroom

Never leave your baby in the cot for too long. Put the baby in its bed before it can climb out.

Never leave your child at the top in a bunk bed till the child is five years old.

Avoid using clothes with draw strings as night dress.

Always unplug hairdryers, hair straighteners, etc. after use and keep them out of reach.

Nursery

Use a bed guard when your little one moves from the cot to bed. Use soft close toy chests with air gap.

Place furniture away from windows. Small children are tempted to climb out.

Everywhere In the House

Fix safety gates at the top as well as bottom of the stairs or other places where you want to restrict access to your child.

Never store items on stairs.

Ensure that the cord strings on blinds/curtains are not looped.

In the garden

To avoid accidental drowning, cover ponds by infilling with sand or circling with a fence.

Never leave your child unattended wherever there is water.

Always keep the shed locked.

General advice

On doors, use finger guards.

Make sure that your home complies with all fire safety standards.

Install adequate numbers of smoke/carbon monoxide detectors. Check them frequently.

Ensure all dangling cords are out of your children’s reach.

Who does not love their bedroom? You need to feel absolutely comfortable when you are in your bedroom because this is where you relax after a hard day’s work. When you lie down on your bed in the night, you should be able to feel calm with things that you love most surrounding you. In fact, you should make your bedroom a sanctuary. Of course, you need to put in some work to bring it up to that level. The aim of this article is to provide you with some tips for creating a perfect bedroom of your own.

Install Good Lighting

Proper lighting is essential to make your bedroom a place to relax, so you might want to fit a dimmer switch in your bedroom to adjust the light levels as and when you need to. This helps you to reduce the brightness of light when you feel like relaxing and increase the brightness when you want to read or do anything else. It is also a good idea to fix lamps on either side of the bed in order to have evenly balanced lighting in your bedroom. Additionally, hanging a drum pendant light from the ceiling can help when you need overhead lighting and can really complete the look.

Get Rid of Clutter

It is absolutely important that you clear off clutter from your bedroom. You should remove items that you really do not need or those that are just taking up space. You are not required to throw these items. You can keep them somewhere else; your office or in storage areas. Clutter can give you an unsettled feeling.

Add/Remove Furniture

Determine whether the furniture that you have in your bedroom are all required or you need to add any other piece. For example, if you feel that the desk in your bedroom is not required and adding a chair would help you to read using the natural light from the sun, then remove the desk and add a chair by the side of the window. Adding the right type of furniture and removing those that are not required helps you to make your bedroom a soothing place.

Remove the Electronic Gadgets

TV and other electronic gadgets can be distracting and steal away the calmness that you should experience in your bedroom. Your sleep will be affected as you may spend time watching your favorite TV shows for a longer period of time. Therefore, eliminating these gadgets would make your bedroom more peaceful.

Add a Few Art Pieces

It is a good idea to add at least one item that you can stare at and enjoy its beauty. You could either add a piece of art or a well-designed bookcase. You have a number of options available to you when it comes to adding a piece of art. Probably there would also be nothing stopping you from like printing your own posters for the bedroom wall. However, you must ensure that it blends well with the décor of your bedroom.

Ensure That Your Room Smells Great

Your room may have an amazing look, but it won’t be really beautiful without the right kind of fragrance floating around. You can either place some candles or pot-pourri on your nightstands. The best scent to have in a bedroom is lavender. This is because it provides healing properties in addition to making your bedroom smell great.

All said and done the key thing to do for creating a beautiful bedroom is to add your character to it. This is what will make you feel absolutely comfortable in your room.

Walking is important for both you and your dog. Walking for about 30 minutes a day makes you healthy and feel happy as well. Walking does not only make you feel good, but also helps you enjoy increased energy levels, reduces stress, lowers blood pressure and maintains the health of your heart. However, you need to be aware of certain issues when you take your dog out for a walk. These are as follows:

#1: If you happen to meet farm animals when walking with your dog, you must keep it under control and on its lead. Leave sufficient space in between the farm animals and your dog. If the animals show any kind of aggression, leave your dog and allow it to run away. Moreover, you should also quickly leave the field.

#2: Do not allow your dog to foul open access land or any public place. Train your dog to go in your yard prior to taking it out for a walk. Dog mess spreads some terrible diseases and infections. This is because dog poo may contain microscopic Toxocara Eggs (as many as one million!). The symptoms of Toxocaris infection, especially in children, include nausea, dizziness, epileptic seizures and asthma. Serious infections can cause eye damage and even permanent blindness.

Unwormed dog poo may harbor parasites that can cause harm to farm animals such as cows and sheep. Clear up the mess and dispose it into a dog bin in case your dog gets caught short. If you don’t have access to a bin, ensure that you don’t leave the mess behind. Also, do not put it in a bag and hang it on a tree. Dispose it at home in a safe manner.

Children, cyclists and pushchair and wheelchair users make use of the countryside throughout the year.

#3: Landowners may take action if your dog strays into their property or causes worries to their livestock as it is considered to be a serious offence. Special rules apply to access land and dogs are to be kept on a fixed lead which is less than 2 meters.

#4: Small children may get frightened if a dog comes bounding towards them. Some adults who do not appreciate inquisitive noses and muddy paws also might find it frightening even though you know that your dog is being friendly to them. Be considerate and put your dog on its lead as and when you see people coming towards you.

#5: When going out walking/riding with your pet dog on bridleways, byways and restricted byways, be on the lookout for horseriders, especially in the narrow sections. Many people do not know that barking dogs and those that are let loose can frighten horses. Frightened horses can cause problems for themselves, riders and others, especially if they take flight or rear up. You can prevent this from happening by ensuring that your dog responds to your recall at all times. Therefore, you need to either keep your dog a fixed as well as retractable lead or keep it in sight provided you have confidence that the dog will respond to your control signal or command or signal.

There are a number of reasons as to why you should live in the countryside. In this article, seven of the pros of living in the countryside are discussed. If you are finding it difficult to choose the right environment or thinking of moving to the countryside, then you will find this information to be useful.

#1: Less of noise pollution

In the countryside, the noise pollution levels would be much lower compared to that of a city. You are not likely to hear many irritating sounds such as those from horns, sirens, people bustling around, etc., in the countryside. You will be able to lead a more peaceful life.

#2: Purer Air

The air in the countryside is a lot cleaner, purer and fresher. You would be able to see more number of stars clearly in the night in the sky as the atmosphere would be less polluted with dust, smoke and fog, among others.

3. Slow Pace of Life

Life moves at a slow pace in the countryside. This allows you to lead a stress-free, relaxed life and enables you to enjoy some of the little things in life. You will also be able to connect with the nature as you will have a lot more of time with you. Heart related diseases caused by stress are more prevalent among people living in the urban areas than those residing in the countryside.

#4: Availability of Fresh and Pure Food Items

In the countryside, you can create your own organic farm or vegetable/fruit garden. You get to enjoy eating homegrown fruits and vegetables, drink fresh milk and eat fresh meat. If you live in a city, you will have to be satisfied with food items that are kept in cold storages.

#5: A Better Environment for Growing children

Your children will benefit greatly, if you start living in the countryside. Their activity and fitness levels will definitely be better. This is because pollutants, stress and the number of fast food restaurants and crimes will be much less compared to that in cities.

#6: Availability of Space

Generally, you get to enjoy more space in the countryside. You will not feel restricted as in the case of living in an apartment. The homes in the countryside are more spacious with gardens, pools, and many other facilities. Even with all these facilities, country homes are cheaper compared to those in the cities.

#7: Good for Your Health

You will enjoy peace of mind because of the reduced levels of air and sound pollution. Incidence of hearing problems, allergies and lung diseases will be less than that you will experience in a city. In general, you will enjoy better health because you will be eating more of fresh, homegrown fruits and vegetables instead of processed foods.