Baby Safety Is To Create A Safe Environment For Your Baby To Grow In,
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| “The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother." Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) |
Baby Safety generally implies that we protect our babies from common household hazards and dangers, yet there is a far deeper implication to our parental protection than meets the eye.
Baby Safety starts out with protecting our baby from the obvious household chemicals and hazards found in every home, but we must go deeper into the dangers that can affect your babies safety, how you can begin to change your thinking to recognize these dangers, and THEN what you should do to truly protect your baby in every vital sense imaginable.
Anyone familiar with this Preteen Thru Teenage Parenting Action Guide knows that we are never content to simply re-hash what you can read on any or every other parenting website, and we feel it would be a disgrace to even ‘go there’, as it were.
What we delight in is helping parents to look deeper at the parenting issues we face and to begin to have a fuller and more comprehensive view of the parenting process and what it is we parents are really fighting and striving and working for, and then to discover creative ways to solve yet another aspect of the parenting puzzle that most people will never realize is waiting to be solved at all.
That is how we realize exceptional parental excellence in our own lives, which will show in the lives and the laughs and the confidence and in the quality of the lives our children will lead.
It is this competitive parental advantage that we seek to deliver, so let’s get moving on the obvious and the not-so-obvious aspects of Baby Safety, and what we as parents should be doing about it.
Share Your Favorite Baby Names Story Do you remember those days?
Parenting Baby is a challenging and yet rewarding experience. It is the culmination of at least nine plus months of getting pregnant and living ultra-healthy while a baby grows inside of a lucky mother, and is often associated with risks taken to carry and deliver the baby, emotional and financial sacrifices, and for many women a winnable but difficult battle with Postpartum Depression once the baby arrives.
Some couples, who for various reasons may not be able to conceive children of their own or own their own, may have even just gone through the blessed rollercoaster of Surrogate Parenting in order to realize their dreams of having a baby.
Some parents may have adopted their baby or some may be tasked with raising a baby as a Foster Parent.
Whatever road you took to have your baby and to be a parent, the fact remains that it takes the better part of a year (at a minimum) to have a baby, it takes 18 plus years to raise your baby into a mature and responsible member of society, and it can take as little as just a few seconds to permanently harm or lose your baby in an accident or in a mishap too horrible to imagine.
With that knowledge firmly planted in our minds, we all must agree that there are few parenting topics more important than that of Baby Safety.
We as parents have a sacred duty, first and foremost and above all else, to ensure the safety and well being of the children we bring into this world, especially considering that among all living things on this planet, a human baby is among the most defenseless and most dependent on the protection of its parents for a great many years of its hopefully long life.
Baby Safety – ’The Usual Suspects’
Starting with the obvious, baby Safety involves parents protecting their children from household dangers and hazards that are so prevalent in every home, and which inevitably ceases to be hazards once our baby is no longer a baby.
These items are hazards to babies since the whole world is new and interesting to babies, especially once they begin to crawl and walk and generally become mobile.
Babies of course have no concept of good and bad liquids (milk is good and bleach is bad), boiling water or the warm water you bath them in, sharp knives, steep stairs, deep swimming pools, locking refrigerator doors, or so many of the items found within the walls of any normal household and that we adults by now take for granted.
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Even this innocent can of lemony household cleaner poses a threat to a baby who could get it into their eyes, lungs, mouth, or worse were they to get a hold of it for any length of time without a parent knowing about it.
All of these items are new to a baby, and hence the need for Baby Safety as only a loving and concerned parent can provide.
The first and most obvious way to protect our babies is to begin to think like a baby. (That’s not fair for some of you mothers to be thinking that your husband’s already DO think like a baby, though I’ve heard that one myself at times :-) ).
Imagine all the places your baby can get into and all the hazards they could encounter as they crawl and scamper about your home. It may help to actually get down on the floor with your baby and see things from their perspective.
EVERYTHING looks fun and exciting from a baby’s perspective, so for at least a few years you need to change your home into a childproof haven of sorts.
We will now start on a list of items that every parent should consider when they think of Baby Safety essentials. Your particular list will vary with your own household configuration, and with your own home’s ‘Haves’ and ‘Have Nots’, but at least this list can get you started, and you of course will need to finish the list for your own particular needs and then implement the fixes that your list contains to ensure a good start to Baby Safety within your own home.
• Latches or locks need to be put on all cabinet drawers where household cleaners, chemicals, knives, or other household hazards may be stored
• Stairs should be gated with sturdy hardware mounts on the gate, and also should be carpeted to protect against falls
• Spring-loaded electrical slide plates should be places over EVERY electrical outlet to protect against accidental electrocution
• Oven guards are plastic barriers that can be placed in the front of your over to protect against accidental burns by touching hot stove tops or by reaching hot pots and pans
• Crib sidings add an extra layer of protection against your child getting their hands, feet or worse through their cribs which can lead to injury
• Padding can be placed around low tables to protect a child who is just learning to walk
• Door knob covers can help ensure your child doesn’t open a door to another room of the house, or heaven forbid to the outside of the house
• No-slip bathtub decals can make bath time less hazardous for a ‘slippery fish’ from slipping underneath the water
• Curtain and blinds that have cords on them made of rope or nylon MUST be cut at the bottom so a loop of rope no longer exists. This is a major cause of accidental child strangulation and by simply cutting the loop of rope into two separate strings, this risk is eliminated
• Lead based paint that is chipping and cracking, or any toy made with lead based paint, should be eliminated from your home
• Door alarms can be installed on doors that lead to the outside of your home to warn you if a door is opened when you weren’t expecting it (eventually children do learn to work the door knobs)
• Pool gates, covers, and alarms are ESSENTIAL if you own a pool and have small children in the home
• Frequent vacuuming of floors and carpets can keep small choking hazards away from your child as he/she explores every inch of the floor he/she is crawling on
• Reservations to a luxurious day spa close to your home are a must for all young mother who . . . . . . well, er, I was just seeing if you were paying close attention and I guess you were – well done!
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Baby Safety – ’Drilling Down A Few More Layers’
And now it is time for the bonus round.
It is time to give you some of that unique, long-term, not-readily-discussed-anywhere-else parenting analysis and personal perspective regarding Baby Safety that should be a big part of why you enjoy coming back to this Website to read the latest information regarding all things parenting.
Baby Safety STARTS with protecting your child from the obvious household dangers that we discussed previously, but if that is all that you are doing to protect your child then I am afraid you are failing in the wider, broader and more permanent sense of Baby Safety.
I don’t suspect that any of you reading this page are failing in the least, but let’s take a walk down this road just in case you may know of some parent somewhere who could benefit from this discussion.
Baby Safety also implies that you protect your baby’s sense of well being, and your baby’s ability to feel of a mother’s love and to bond with its mother in a loving and trusting environment to avoid such parental tragedies such as Attachment Disorder.
Parents should protect their babies from loud noises such as overly loud or disconcerting music, the sounds of gunshots and other violence associated with video games, the sound of screaming and arguing from any member of the family, overly loud televisions or radios, and anything else that would serve to take away the peace and tranquility of a baby’s home, which should in all respects be a baby’s quiet and safe shelter from these avoidable storms. New mothers benefit greatly from this peace and quiet also.
Parents need to protect their children from anything else that can harm or disturb the safety of their child in any way imaginable.
Are there dogs or cats in the house? If so, is it safe to have them there near your newborn baby? Perhaps in your particular case the answer to this is ‘Yes’. You simply need to ask the question and make sure the answer is yes to ensure the level of Baby Safety your baby deserves.
Are there people who come into your home who are not good people?
Do you have association with anyone who may harm your child in any way, be that physically, emotionally, or even sexually?
Remember, a parent’s first and predominate duty that they owe to their children is to love and protect them, and that means to make sure, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that your children are indeed protected, all day long, every day long, and in every sense of the meaning of the word protected.
A parent’s duty regarding Baby Safety means that even if a close friend, or even a family relative, MAY pose a risk to the safety of your baby, that you prevent that person from having access to your child, EVER.
All it takes is one rough shake, slap or hit to permanently damage or kill a young child.
One act of cruelty or molestation can damage a child for the rest of their life.
I am not exaggerating this point and you should certainly be open to the possibility that such things can and do happen, even where it would be least expected.
And since I cannot name all of the ways and means by which a child may be harmed and by whom, let me leave this Baby Safety page with a secret weapon that all parents have, but mothers have this more so than fathers, and which should always be used and never discounted in the least.
A Mother’s Intuition is almost never wrong.
Men can get protective feeling and hunches also, but mother’s are much more in-tune to these feeling regarding their children than any other person alive.
Mothers, listen to your intuition and let it be a guiding light in your parental lives. Use it to protect your children as it will be speaking to you and you MUST be open to not only hearing it, but also ACTING upon what it tells you.
We don’t need to know or even understand why we feel a certain way, but when a mother’s instinct warns her that something is not right regarding the safety or well-being of one of her children, then that mother must listen to and act upon that intelligence that is almost always right, even if she can’t explain why she feels a certain way, and even if others try to tell her that she is wrong.
Baby Safety is Total Child Safety.
It is fair and right that we should use every tool at our disposal to protect, nurture, and keep safe, in every way imaginable, the children we are blessed to raise and parent to the best of our abilities, and then to do just a little more.
There is a lot more parenting wisdom to share. Here is another Baby Safety thought: Parents must protect their children from all harm and hazard, be that physical, emotional, psychological, or potential, using every tool at their disposal in order to provide the safe and nurturing environment every child deserves to grow up in at any time, for any reason, over and over again.
Baby Safety starts with keeping your baby safe from common physical and chemical hazards found in every home, but it also implies a deeper responsibility to protect your baby from harmful people, animals, and situations that could endanger your baby’s life or take away the peace and tranquility that should prevail in a home where a baby needs to feel safe and secure in order to develop bonds of love and trust so crucial in the early years of a child’s normal development.
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