Christmas safety with toddlers isn’t really something I’ve ever thought of, as much as I love the Christmas period it gets insanely busy – like 2 school plays in one day kind of busy – and then stuff gets over looked. I know, I’ve done it. I’m doing it RIGHT NOW.
One thing that really shouldn’t be overlooked in home safety – hey, I hear ya, yawnnnnn, but its the truth and at Christmas more than ever I start to ignore stuff like safety and when I do remember I rapidly forget again. So what the hell am I wittering about with “safety”? Well last week Edith watched me climbing up on things to fix decorations to the walls or tops of doors (1. Yes, we’ve put our decorations up in November, sorry not sorry and 2.) I like to hang things on the door so that Adam whacks his head every day because I’m that kind of awesome wife) and I noticed that almost as soon as I had done it, she would copy. We’re talking leaning over banisters, climbing on chairs and standing at the edge… pretty dangerous for a one year old without a safety monitor. Since then I’ve been meaning to sort a few bits and bobs out in order to make them a bit safer for Christmas
Tether your tree
We’ve all seen the Elf gif, and quite frankly, when your kids are bat shit crazy like mine there is always a small risk that they will decide to dive into the tree. Christmas trees have a mix of glass baubles, pointy decorations and electrics, not to mention that they are heavy. If a child tries to climb one and it topples, its going to be all levels of bad.
If you can climb on it, can they?
Think outside the box and don’t let your kids watch you doing any crazy shit. If you are going to put something in a high ceiling, use a ladder not a chair that a child could easily drag over and lean over a balcony or bannister. Same applies to the roof decorations, if you have a balcony invest in something like an antigrabbity to stop children from climbing on it and potentially having a fatal fall. The same goes for a bannister. If they have seen you lean over it, climb on it or balance on it, assume that they will copy you. We’re very lucky as we don’t have bannisters or balconies high up in our house, but we used to and it is oh-so-dangerous if not secured. Also think IN the box, did you climb on the arm of a sofa? Did you get on the kitchen counters? We all do it, but if you did, expect your little ones to do the same (just like Edith!)
Electrics
Geez, Christmas is basically steroid season for electrics – it’s insane. If your house is like mine you will have plugs in every socket, lights switched on and all sorts of flashing, singing, dancing things. We like Christmas, sue me. Ensuring that your little ones either know not to play with sockets or can’t if they are too young is essential. The temptation to unplug the dancing santa and shove his lead in your mouth is extreme.
Tinsel
Tinsel is my jam, yes, it gets everywhere and there was that incident a few year ago where the dog ate some and had sparkly shit for days, but hey, it’s Christmas. The only problem with that is that the dog got off lucky and one of the most dangerous things for animals, and their less furry but equally vulnerable human baby counterparts, is tinsel. Ingestion of tinsel can cause a huge problem for the body, so if you are using it go steady, make sure it isn’t low enough to be grabbed or licked, and sweep it up.
Did you leave it lying around?
I’m not mentioning any names (ahem, Adam) but one year we hammered a nail into the wall to put up a couple of new decorations – by we I hope you understand I mean me, it was me – and I passed the hammer back to someone who was supposed to put it back in the tool draw… but didn’t. Que a rapid dash to Toby who was trying to hit the cat with it. Seriously, its calamity central here.
So what else can you think of?
H x
*Collaborative post
Not som.ething I really thought about, but with neice coming over all the time this is something I should consider
So many good tips, I hadn’t thought of any of this before!
Great advice here, its something that can be forgotten over the Christmas period but its worth remembering these things
We never really thought about this with our first. He always seemed to have bucket loads of common sense and was very aware of danger. He’s three now and is still the same. His sister on the other hand is batshit mad and has been since the day she toddled. She doesn’t give a… if she can fall off it/hurt herself/someone else that actually encourages her to do it. Last year she dove into the Xmas tree and started chewing on the branches. We had smashed baubles almost daily and now she’s 2 she’s SO MUCH WORSE. Great tips though hopefully they’ll see her through until the new year and I know work experience will see us through!
Child safety in general can be a challenge let a lone all the extra stuff out for Christmas. My biggest challenge when my kids were growing up was tree decorations and lights! Oh and glass snow globes, many many broken snow globes. Great post thanks for the tips!
Luckily for this year I can have a Christmas with stuff about but next year when the baby is less of a baby I will need to remember these x
people would assume there’s nothing dangerous around christmas but it’s just the little things
Oh good lord I know I shouldn’t laugh but trying to picture Tobby with the hammer chasing the cat lol
But safety is important and it’s something overlooked in the busyness of the festive period
Jeeze we haven’t thought about some of these ‘issues’ My mummy used to dress me up in tinsel and hang me from the tree! Joking…(not joking) We’d hate for ‘elf and safety’ to come knocking on our door! 😉
Whilst we are decking our homes for christmas you are absolutely right in saying taking into child safety is very important. Some very good tips here which are well worth noting.
Haaa I spat my drink out when I read about the dog and the tinsel, proper belly laughed lol x
we like to put ceiling decorations up and use drawing pins and often my husband will drop a few and forget to pick them up and later on someone will nearly stand on one. So I am always there now picking them up as he drops them
We have a mezzanine level in our home that has a balcony rail which leaves me petrified- off to check out the anti gravity!
Great tips! My little brother is 4 so we’re constantly having to make sure everything is safe around him.
Such a good advice, it’s true that one doesn’t think about this kind of things before you actually need to think about it, but reading your post I realized how dangerous Christmas can be for a toddle!