Category Archives: Burns

Door Alarms

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By Alan Zahniser

Door alarms can save your child’s life. They also provide the most inexpensive peace of mind you can get. When you put your child in a safe place, a door alarm can alert you if your child tries to get out, and most do try to get out at some point!  Door alarms can also alert you if an intruder tries to get in, to get at your property or your child.  Door alarms are an essential part of your home’s safety.

Risk Without Door Alarms. I live in a metropolitan area of about 2 million people. Law enforcement authorities signal a community-wide “Amber Alert” any time there is a missing child. During an alert, news outlets and electric highway signs post bulletins so everyone in the community can be on the lookout. One recent alert occurred because a toddler apparently pushed a stool to their apartment door, unlocked and opened the door, and then wandered away. Fortunately, this story had a happy ending because a good neighbor found the child and was able to return him. However, another recent Amber Alert had a tragic outcome – a family’s greatest fear. Both Amber Alerts could have been easily prevented with a door alarm.

Types of Door Alarms.  Door alarms and security systems have improved a lot over the years.  Today, door alarms range from professionally installed and monitored full house security systems to simple alarms you just stick on your door.

Professional Security Systems.  Today you may contract with a professional security company, depending on where you live, to install a security system in your home and monitor your home continuously.  They can monitor any doors, windows, and ways to access your home.   They may also offer other services you desire, such as fire or flood detection.  You may not have felt you could justify the cost of such a security system for your home prior to this time.  However, now you have children to protect from clever intruders.  You are also at risk of your children getting curious about or desiring to go outside and then getting lost or taken.  These risks may justify your family reconsidering and researching the option of a professional security system.  It may be more affordable than you think!  I have had them and they can really help you feel secure.   Check it out.

Simple Door Alarms.  I have also become a huge fan of simple door alarms over the past few years.  I have them all over my house.  There may be several types and manufacturers out there, but they all probably function similarly.  The door alarm type I like is about the size of the “Pink Pearl” pencil eraser I used to use in school. It is split into two parts lengthwise, with each part having an adhesive backing.  You attach one part of the alarm to the door and attach the other alarm part to the door frame.  Both alarm parts need to be within about 1/2 inch from each other when the door is closed.  One alarm part has a small switch on the side that can be set to “on” or “off”.  If the switch is set to “on” and the door opens, the alarm will sound.  I am amazed that such a tiny, battery-powered, inexpensive ($10 US) alarm can be so freakishly loud!  It is awesome, and perfect for protecting my children and keeping them where I put them!  The remainder of this article is about these little alarms and how you can use and install them.

Secrecy is the First Key to Security.  When installing any security device to protect your child, do not let your child see or figure out the device by watching you install it or by watching you explain it to someone else!  Little children see and remember everything.  Once your child can disable or defeat a type of security, it will no longer be effective for them.  Regarding alarms, do not let your child see how the alarm works, see or understand how the switch works, or get ideas on how to reach or disable the device.   Try to install these devices when your child is away, in bed, or away from the area.  Yes, it is OK to be sneaky when installing security devices.

Alarm Mounting Height. When you go to install a door alarm on your first door, you want to install it high up on the door.  Part of your security is that your child is not to be able to reach it, or to push a chair up to it, climb up on the chair, then climb up the back of the chair and reach it.  I measured from the floor up 70″ with my tape measure, marked the spot with a “sticky note” paper, and then  installed mine.  Now I wonder if my alarms are mounted high enough!  How high up on the door should your alarm be mounted?

Calculating Alarm Height.  How high up will your little one be able to reach in the next few years?  You might have your child face a wall and see how high they can reach on tippy toes.  You might mark the wall and remark how big they are.  At another time, add their reach height to the height of a chair they could push to the door, which is usually a dinner chair.  Try to install the alarm higher than what they can reach standing on the back of a chair they push to the door.  You might also find out the height the adults in the house can reach.  Hopefully, the alarm height you set will allow the adults in the house to also reach them easily, so they can reset the switches as needed as they go about their normal activities.  By installing each alarm in the house at the same height and with the switch always on the same side, the adults can get used to reaching up to the same height each time to adjust them.  I find as I go through my nightly house lock up procedure, I can easily verify that each alarm is set correctly, even in the dark, because I know just where to reach up to find each alarm.

Alarming Adhesive!  I have one slightly odd alarm installation.  It was my first one.  It was the one that taught me the adhesive works really well!  While I was trying to line up the first alarm piece to install, I got too close to the wall, and oops!  There it stuck – and continues to be stuck!  It was not exactly where I wanted it, but it was close enough.  Fortunately, it was the first of the two alarm pieces installed.  I was able to put the other alarm piece close enough to it and still have the door swing as needed.  I am glad it worked.  These alarms really are easy.  My tip here is to just plan out the installation a little, measuring for height, marking where it goes, and carefully sticking each piece so the door moves as desired.

Checking Out Your New Alarm. When I first went to a store for door alarms, I only bought two so I could check them out and make sure I liked them before I got more.  You also might want to start slow and check out what you buy before making a bigger investment.  If you get the type that have two alarm pieces, get them activated and play with them to see how close or far apart they need to be to sound the alarm.  Is it an alarm you can hear?  Is it easy to use?  Is it something you can install?  Is it something you can get someone else to install?  Where do you imagine you can install these alarms in your home?  Go ahead and install one or two of these alarms right away and see if they work as you desire.  If you are like me, you will go back to the store for more.  You may even get creative and think of more installations that will be useful.  Following are some ideas for installation.  I also describe where and how I installed alarms in my home that may be useful for you.

Recommended Door Alarm Placements.

1) Put an alarm at each external door of your home (front door, back door, garage door, patio door, etc.).

2) Put an alarm on the child’s bedroom door.

3) Put an alarm on the door of any room where your child is to stay at times.

4) Put an alarm on each door leading to an unsafe area of your home (garage, workshop, equipment room, basement, attic, medicine cabinet, room containing caustic or cleaning materials, room containing lawn or swimming pool chemicals, hobby room,  junk room).

5) Put an alarm on doors to rooms where your child could become injured or where it is not “child-proofed” yet (where they are at risk of injury or death from a fall or something falling on them, from a burn by fire, electricity, scalding, etc. or from drowning, suffocation, etc.).

6) Put an alarm on any door where your child might cause unwanted damage (glassware, antiques, fragile items, heirlooms, hobby items),

My installations.

Child’s Bedroom Door. I keep a door alarm on my toddler’s bedroom door and turn it on at nap time and bedtime. He is capable of opening his bedroom door now but he will not because the alarm sound freaks him out and he won’t try it. While I can probably hear the alarm wherever I am in the house, the baby monitor in my child’s bedroom also picks up and amplifies the alarm sound.

External Doors. I keep a door alarm on each outside door to my house (front, back, and garage). This assures my child stays in the house and keeps intruders out. It also keeps my child away from the in-ground swimming pool a few feet from the back door. I also have a swimming pool alarm and other pool safe-guards which will be discussed in another section.

Basement Door. I keep a door alarm on the front and back of my basement door. I keep the alarm on the front of the basement door to keep my child from falling down the stairs or getting into my dangerous tools or power equipment while I am up stairs. I also have an alarm on the back of the basement door. This way, when I need to work in the basement, I turn off the front basement alarm, go through and shut the door, then turn on the back basement door alarm. This way, if I am away from the basement door, I can hear if my little one is trying to open basement the door.

Workshop Door. I am building a workshop in my basement and plan to have alarms on both sides of that door also. Once built, I will be able to “alarm myself in” while I am working in the workshop. If I am using a loud tool or get distracted away from the door, my little one will not be able to slip into my very dangerous room without me knowing it. By the way, I can only do this workshop work while someone else is watching our child. The alarm will only sound if the child slips away from their caregiver and makes it to the workshop somehow. It can happen because at 2.5 years, he is very clever and very quick! It will be so worth having that extra alarm in the workshop!  That is my plan.  If you have a hobby room with dangerous items or a “stacked high” junk room, you might also consider putting an alarm on that room also.

Other Alarm Uses.  The examples above described how opening a  door will set off the alarm.  When the door was shut and the alarm pieces were within 1/2 inch of each other, the alarm parts were happy and quiet.  Only by separating the two alarm parts by more than 1/2 inch did the alarm go off.  The same alarm could also be used on windows, where children may be able to access them and get out, or where an intruder could get in. In these cases, the alarm placement should be in a place where the child or intruder could not reach it and disable it. Any other divider or partition that a child may move and leave their safe area would also be a candidate.  We can also put this small, battery-operated alarm anywhere we want to be alerted of someone’s movements.  This alarm can be used anywhere you can put the two alarm pieces near each other, so you will be alerted if the pieces become separated.  Following are some other possible alarm applications.  You may come up with more!

Sliding Doors.  The alarm can be installed on a sliding door similar to installing it on a swinging door.  Be sure to install at the device at the height used for swinging doors.  Also, make sure the alarm pieces will end up “near” each other when the door is closed, but will not be hit by the door or other alarm piece when the door is being opened or closed.  Intended here are external sliding doors, sliding glass doors, or partition doors.  Pocket doors are not a good candidate for this type of alarm.

Pocket Doors.  Pocket doors are designed to open by disappearing into a “pocket” where only the front edge of the door can be seen.  The other three sides of the door are hidden in the pocket.  When you close the door, the front edge of the door goes across and up against the frame of the door.  Since all four sides of the door are either hidden or moving, there is no side of the door where you can attach an alarm piece where it would not get knocked off or smashed.  A pocket door is therefore not a good candidate for this type of alarm.  The door or frame could be damaged or altered to accommodate one of these door alarm.  In an upcoming post, I plan share a subtle method for locking a pocket door so a child cannot access it, so an alarm will not be needed.

Sliding Windows.  Alarm pieces could be attached to a sliding  window and frame similar to how they attach to a sliding door.  Try to install the alarm at a height your child will not be able to reach to turn it off.  You may not be able to install the alarm as high up as you desire.  However, if you think a sliding window needs an alarm, I would install one, as far out of reach as possible.

Other Windows, Crawl Spaces, etc.  Recall the alarm works by keeping two alarm pieces together and then separating them to set off the alarm.  With this understanding and a little creativity, you can use the alarm to protect almost any area desired.  For example, you could attach the larger part of the alarm high up on a wall.  You could then make a little shelf next to the large alarm piece where the smaller alarm piece could sit.  You could then attach a string (or fishing line) to the small alarm piece and then run the string back and forth across window, crawls space, or area you want protect.  Attach the other end of the string to something rigid  with no slack, and make sure the rest of the string can move freely, all the way back to the alarm piece.  If the string is then bothered in any way while the alarm is on, the movement will pull the alarm piece off the shelf and the alarm will then sound.

Motel Doors.  If traveling, you could temporarily tape alarm pieces high up on a motel door or guest room door, wherever you are staying.  Painter’s tape may be able to attach the alarm pieces to the door where you want an alarm.  You should then be able to remove the painter’s tape after your stay without damaging the doors, paint, or woodwork.  Add a door alarm and painter’s tape to your trip’s packing list.

Camping Door Alarms.  If camping, you may be able to use door alarms to keep your child in your tent while you are sleeping by attaching the alarm pieces to tent flaps or zippers (perhaps by also using a string) that will help keep your child from opening the tent quietly.  Be careful your child will not be able to disable the device or be choked or injured by your solution.

Purchasing Door Alarms. The simple but effective alarm I describe can be purchased at hardware stores, electronics stores, or perhaps any store carrying baby safety equipment. The alarms may also be included with telephone or other electronic equipment at hardware stores. Online searches would also help you find them.  When in doubt, buy more alarms than you think you will need and you will likely find a place for them. If not, you can probably return any unused alarms to the place where purchased.

Warning Others About Your Alarms. It can freak out visitors to your home if they are not aware of the alarms and accidentally set them off. It would be good to explain to them how the alarms work and how to turn them off and on when they need to use a door with an alarm. It would also be good to put a sign on doors containing an alarm.

Door Alarm Signs. Having signs at your doors is a secondary priority and a courtesy for your future house guests. Do it after all alarms are installed and peace of mind is achieved. Once installed, put a small sign on both sides of doors that have alarms. Put whatever you like on the signs. For the side of the door with the alarm, my signs say,

Alarm Is On (In large bold print)
Turn it off by sliding switch on side down.

The sign on the back of the door, where the alarm is not,

Alarm Is On (In large bold print)
If you turned it off when you came out,
Please turn it back on when you go inside.
Thank you!

Creating and Attaching Alarm Signs. I made my sign for the front of the door and my sign for the back of the door on my computer so it would print on a single sheet of paper. I then printed a page per door, cut out each little sign, and used a small rolled up piece of painters tape and attached it to the back of the sign and to the door. I used painters tape, as it is intended to work well as tape and also be removed later without causing damage. While the tape is intended to be removed a few days after being applied, I just carefully removed one of the signs on my door after two years and no damage was done!

Protecting Signs from the Outdoors. My external front door sign is protected from rain or snow by a glass storm door. My back door has a large glass panel, so I taped the instructions for both sides of the door together, back-to-back. Then I used clear tape to attach both signs from the inside, so the correct message can be seen from the inside or outside. That way, the sign for the outside is protected by the door glass. Now I just need to be careful when I wash the inside glass to not damage the sign. If you do not have a glass door or storm door for your outside doors, a quick solution would be to put your outside sign in a zippered sandwich bag or other plastic covering. Attaching the sign a little above the door knob or latch may reduce the wind impact. It may be good to tape the sign/plastic all the way around the edges so water cannot get in behind it. Check this sign often for damage or loss and keep replacing it from time to time as necessary. Of course, you could also go to a sign maker and get a custom outdoor sign to display your message.

Intruder Prevention. By simply having a sign saying “Alarm Is On” with instructions on turning it back on, you will deter many would-be burglars. I recall watching an interview of a convicted career burglar  several years ago about his crimes. He said he first goes up to a house just to see if it has indications of a dog, an alarm, or lights on. If any of these are present, he skips it and goes on to the next house to check it out. He said he always found what he was looking for very soon. Having an outside sign about an alarm may provide you more protection than you realize. While we installed door alarms to protect our toddler, the ladies in our house said the alarms also help them feel much better about their overall security.

Alarm Discipline. If you install a number of door alarms at your home and keep them all turned off, it will be a wasted effort. You will receive no benefit and your child will be at risk. Door alarms are very important and need to be kept on. Most alarms should stay on always, such as the alarms to the outside and to dangerous places. You can easily turn an alarm off and back on as you go from room to room at times. You may decide the child’s bedroom door alarm and other inside door alarms can be turned off during the day, especially while you are with your child. As we shut our toddler’s door at nap/quiet time, also turn on that door alarm. We also must remember to top urn the alarm off if we must go into the room for some reason at night.

Nightly Routine. Each night, it is very important to verify that each external door is locked and each alarm is on. You should also verify the child’s bedroom alarm is on. The same person should do the checking or the job should be clearly handed off to someone else. In my house, it is my job to check the doors and alarms. If you are like me, some days when it is late and I do the checking, I get back to bed and realize my thoughts were elsewhere. I did not have a clear conscious memory of each alarm being set. When that happens, I must get back out of bed and do it again so I have a clear conscious memory of checking each lock and alarm. The rule is: If you do not have a clear conscious memory of checking each lock and alarm, it doesn’t count! You need to check again! Just make sure you check each one clearly the first time and you are done!

Door Alarm Conclusion. These alarms really are a huge part of your safety plan. Put them in place and you will be so glad you did. Look forward to some amusement as you and others will accidentally forget and sound an alarm sometimes. Have a laugh and let it remind you they are keeping your child safe!

Go buy a couple door alarms and install them now – – – it is easy!!!

Hot Water Heater Temperature

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By Alan Zahniser

Danger.  Your baby’s skin is thinner and more tender than an adult’s.  Hot water from any water faucet in your home can seriously burn or scald your baby’s tender skin and require hospitalization.  What a horrible experience that would be for your little one, and for everyone involved.  The problem is typically that the hot water heater in your home is set to a temperature that is too hot.

Why So Hot.  Many manufacturers or installers of hot water heaters initially set the temperature to be very hot, too hot.  If your household ever had a lot of hot water used, such as a lot of showers in a row so that you ran out of hot water, someone may have set the hot water temperature to be hotter.  If you are not the original residents of your home, the previous residents may have set the hot water heater to be too hot and that setting has never been changed.  Since our use of warm water is typically a blend of hot and cold water, we normally do not care or even realize the temperature of the hot water heater.  Now that we have a baby or little ones in the house, we must care a lot about that setting!!  The good news is, this hot water burn danger can be virtually eliminated in one easy step!!

The Best Temperature.  Our goal here is to set the hot water heater to a temperature of not more than 120 degrees fahrenheit.  This is still hot, but below the serious burn level children may suffer.  In my research, I found reports of a certain level of burns reported at about 125 degrees, and more severe cases at or above 130 degrees.  Setting the hot water heater to 120 degrees seems to be the accepted safe standard.  In fact, Washington State, in the United States, recently passed a law requiring manufacturers to preset hot water heater temperatures to 120 degrees.  As a result, the number of children hospitalized for hot water burns in a typical month reduced by half, or about 2500 children per month!!  While that is a great improvement, older hot water heaters and those set to high are still still burning 2500 per month in that state.  Other states without such laws yet put more children at risk.  Don’t let your children be at risk of painful hot water burn injuries.

Hot Water in Your Home.  Water coming into your home comes from your water utility company through underground pipes and into your building.  The temperature of the underground pipes and your building sets the temperature of “cold water”.  Some of that water is fed into a hot water heater that is a large tank of water heated up to  certain temperature.  When you turn on “hot water” at a faucet, you flow water from the hot water heater through pipes in your home until it gets to you.  Before you turned on the hot water, the water in the pipes and the pipes themselves probably cooled down to room temperature.  When you first turn on hot water, the water received is the room temperature water that was in the pipes.  As you start to feel warm water, you are receiving water from the hot water heater.  However, the hot water is not very hot initially because it was cooled by going through cool pipes.  As more hot water flows, the pipes will keep heating up, and the water at the faucet will keep getting hotter.  Once the pipes are about the temperature of the hot water, the hot water temperature at the faucet should now be fairly consistent.  The hot water will continue to flow consistently until the hot water is significantly depleted.  As hot water is pulled from the hot water heater, cold water is fed into it to replenish it.  Since the temperature of the hot water heater tank is now cooler, heaters will start up to get the temperature of the tank back up to the temperature of the temperature dial.

Find Your Hot Water Heater.  The first step is for you to identify your hot water heater.  It is typically a tall cylinder-shaped device placed beside your furnace, usually in the middle of your basement or somewhere in the middle of the home.  Some homes may have multiple hot water heaters for different areas of the home.  If you have multiple hot water heaters, each will need to have the temperature set by the procedure described here.

Identify Temperature Dial.  Identify the temperature setting dial on your hot water heater.  It is typically a knob that rotates with an arrow pointing to the temperature setting.  My current water heater has a setting range from “Hot” to “Hotter” to “Very Hot”.  Most hot water heaters I have seen are just as precise!  At least the hot water heater dial lets you know which way to turn the dial to make the temperature hotter or less hot.  That is normal and OK.  We have an easy way to figure out how to set the temperature.  We will do this by testing the water temperature at a sink faucet.

Identify Sink to Test.  Find the sink that is about the closest to your hot water heater.  We want to test the hot water temperature as it comes out of this closest sink.  Testing cbd products water farther away may be less accurate, as hot water tends too cool as it travels through longer pipes to other locations.

Test Water Temperature.  Test the water at a time of day when your home has not been requiring hot water for a few hours, so the hot water tank will be closest to the temperature of the dial setting.  Get a drinking glass or a similar small container that will fit in your chosen sink.  Also get a simple meat thermometer that has a 120 degree setting on it.  Run hot water for a minute or two to be sure the water seems to be at its hottest. Now put the glass under the faucet so it fills with water and will start running over.  Slow the rate of water flow so minimal air bubbles are in the cup.  Put the meat thermometer in the water of the cup while the water continues to flow into and out of the cup.  The meat thermometer should soon settle on a temperature, reflecting the temperature setting of the hot water heater.  If the temperature is 120 degrees or less, your hot water heater is fine.  You are done.  Good job!

If Water Is Too Hot.  If your water temperature is more than 120 degrees, go back to the hot water heater and move the temperature dial to a slightly less hot temperature.  That is all you can probably do for this day.  Ideally, you will now need to wait a day or so for the hot water heater to be ready to test again.  Let showers, baths, washing hands, doing dishes, etc. pull more hot water from the hot water heater so the hot water heater to need to heat up the water again.  This time, the water will heated up only to the new temperature you set.  Once you feel the hot water heater is stable at the new temperature, go back to your sink and test the water temperature again.

Tankless Water Heaters.  A more recent development for some homes are tankless water heaters.  A tankless water heater heats up water at a faucet only at the time it is needed.  It does not need to store water in a tank.  Even though these devices work differently than a traditional hot water heater, they still need to have their hot water temperature set to 120 degrees fahrenheit or less.  With traditional hot water heaters, warm water is achieved as a blend of cold and very hot water.  With a tankless water heater, the temperature should be set to a desired “warm” temperature.  Then, when you want warm water, you simply turn on the “Hot” water faucet only.  If you desire slightly cooler water, then you could turn on some cold water also.  Therefore, the tankless heater should be set to a temperature much less than 120 degrees.  Many tankless systems have a digital degree setting that should be fairly reliable.   However, it may be affirming to use the glass and meat thermometer technique to verify the actual hot water temperature Is below 120 degrees.

Future Hot Water for Dishwashers, Laundry Washing Machines.  Automatic dishwashers usually wash with hot water.  Because of their hot water requirement, dishwashers typically heat up their own water so there is no need for hot water to come from the hot water heater.  Laundry washing machines are able to use hot water from the house, but most laundry detergents today allow you wash with cold water.  It may be more green to wash in cold water.  If hot water is needed, the 120 degrees from the house hot water should be sufficient for your laundry.

Future Hot Water for Showers.  If you turned down your hot water heater to 120 degrees, you may not have enough hot water if multiple people need to shower at about the same time in the morning.  If that is the case, see if people can take showers at different times of the day, to spread out the usage.  Also, have everyone use the gentlest spray possible, and use the coolest shower temperature possible.  All of these approaches will help your utility bills and be better for the environment anyway.  However, if you still cannot get the needed hot water for your showers or other needs, consider buying a larger water heater.  If you do replace your water heater, go through this procedure again to set its water temperature to no more than 120 degrees.

When Visitors Come to Stay.  It is common practice to turn up the hot water heater when more people stay in the home who need showers, etc.  If you are unable to schedule hot water needs sufficiently or adjust hot water usage, you may need to change the water heater setting.  Take the following steps: Mark the current hot water setting with a pencil, piece of tape, or whatever before you can before you change it.  Let everyone know the hot water will be very hot.  Be extra careful bathing your children or using hot water around the children to make sure they cannot get burned or scalded.  Make a note to yourself to change the hot water heater back to its previous setting.  A day after you change the setting back, test the temperature with your cup and meat thermometer, adjusting as needed.

Trivial note.  We call the device that heats water for our homes a “hot water heater”.  I think the term is a bit redundant.  Shouldn’t we just call it a “water heater”?  We all know the outcome of a “water heater” is “hot water”.   … just a thought!

Cleaners and Chemicals

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By Alan Zahniser

Babies and small children put almost everything they can into their mouth.  Upon first learning to crawl, my baby first went to his bottom dresser drawer knob, grabbed it, and then put his mouth on it.  He then did the same to his brass closet door hinge.  These are two items he could see from his crib.  He probably studied them from afar for awhile and was curious to check them out as soon as he was able.  When he could, he did.

In these early days of mobility, there is no reasoning with your baby.  They do not understand words like “no” yet.  They are excited about the opportunity to explore.  They are driven only by their curiosity and ability.  They have no fear.  They do not know about danger yet.  There is no pausing to consider possible consequences of their actions.  They live only in the present moment.  If they have opportunity to get into something of interest, they will go for it.  It is up to the parents and caregivers to assure these little ones have a safe environment and are guided only into safe situations.

Cleaners and chemicals are very dangerous to children.  Like anything else in this very oral stage, if your baby can access something of interest, even if we know it to be a dangerous chemical, they will try to consume it.  Their action can be fatal or cause serious or permanent injury to  your precious little one. The risk of such a tragedy can be easily avoided because the problem is very easy to fix.

For your baby’s safety, remove all cleaners and chemicals from your home that are 4 feet from the floor.  I call this the “Four Feet From Floor” rule, abbreviated FFFF.  Go through every room carefully.  Get on your hands and knees and see things as the baby will.  Check floors, closets, drawers, cupboards, closets, everywhere.  For example, until now it may have been convenient to keep drano behind the toilet.  Now you must remove the drano to an entirely different part of the home that will be inaccessible to your baby, such as the basement or garage.

While we teach you how to use fences, doors, latches, and other techniques to provide barriers to certain parts of your home, no safety method is foolproof.  You may be getting something out of a bathroom and your quick little one will slip in behind you and get into something bad in just seconds.  You may have a guest visit who doesn’t quite latch an important door, and the baby gets into that room and accesses something bad before you realize it.  If a cleaner or chemical is around, at some point your little one can possibly get into it. Therefore, please take a few minutes to implement FFFF.  You do not want to one day sadly say “if only …” because the FFFF step was not taken.  Remove these items far out of the reach of your little one now.  Implementing FFFF is one of the most important and urgent steps you can take to protect your child.

While removing the chemicals and cleaners, also remove any other items you do not want in your baby’s mouth.  For example, while removing the drano, you will also want to remove the toilet brush and plunger.  For every item you see, ask yourself, “Is it OK for this to be in the baby’s mouth?”  If the answer is no, remove it.

Move these dangerous items to a centralized safe area, such as the garage or basement.  I used this project as an opportunity to better organize these items, putting some items in upper cupboards in the laundry room, and others in a cabinet in the garage.  A minor exception was the toilet plunger which we latched safely in the cabinet below the bathroom sink.  For this item, we had to weigh out our need for quick access compared to the baby’s small chance of accessing it.  We also organized shoe polish items into a plastic box, kept high out of reach.  You may also need to reason out where to put certain removed items in your particular space.

For my new centralized cleaning supplies, I tried to organize them into logical groupings.  I then used 3″ x 5″ cards and a marker to label each of the cupboard and cabinet shelves.  A nice benefit is I can now find cleaners or chemicals easily when I need them.  Putting them in one central location is actually convenient.  It is an easy habit to remember to return items as soon as I am finished using them in the house.  I also found so many duplicate items in my gathering effort that I do not need to buy certain cleaning products again for several years!  You may find similar surprises.

For me, the greatest benefit of this project is the peace of mind of knowing my baby cannot get into cleaners, chemicals, and other bad things they should not put in their mouth.  I hope you find the same peace of mind when you finish your FFFF project!

Happy Hunting!!!  🙂

Electrical Outlets

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By Alan Zahniser

Electrical outlets pose a serious danger to little children.  Children have a natural curiousity and always seem to find things to put into little holes.  The immediate jolt of electricity from such a connection can severely shock and injure a person, possibly stopping their heart and resulting in tragic death.  CPR may be needed to resuscitate, if it is even possible.  TIP: LEARN INFANT AND CHILD CPR.  It is very important to always prevent children from accessing electrical outlets.

Alternative 1: Safety cover plugs.  An easy inexpensive solution is to purchase safety cover plugs for every outlet within reach of a child, typically within 4 feet of the floor.  When you need to use one of these outlets by an appliance, you must first pry the safety cover plug out of the outlet.  A prying technique to remove these plugs is to use one of the flat posts of the appliance plug and pry behind the face of the safety cover plug then twist the appliance plug so you can then remove the safety cover plug with your fingers.  Then you can plug in your appliance.  When finished using the appliance, get into the habit of immediately unplugging it and replacing the safety cover plug.

Alternative 2:  Safety cover plugs with tabs.  Some safety cover plugs have tabs that can help you remove them when needed.  Less prying is involved.  However, be careful to test any safety cover plug you consider to be sure your child will not be able to remove it.  Like Alternative 1, you must always remember to replace the safety cover plug when finished using the appliance.

Alternative 3: Safety outlet face plates.  The face plate of an outlet is the rectangular cover on the wall that contains the outlets.  Standard outlet face plates can be removed and replaced by safety outlet face plates.  Safety outlet face plates have a surface panel for each outlet that normally blocks the outlet but can be rotated or slid over to let you plug in your device.  Upon removing the device plug from the outlet, the face plate surface panel should rotate or slide back over to block the outlet holes from little hands.  Safety outlet face plates will cost a little more than safety cover plugs and require a minor one-time effort to install them.  However, future access to the outlets will be easier and the spring back panels that block the outlet holes when unplugging your device will more consistenly protect the outlet without relying on someone’s memory to put back the safety cover plug.

Alternative 4:  Safety Outlets.  If you plan to build a new home, remodel an area of your home, or if you are able to replace outlets, consider installing safety outlets.  Safety outlets look similar to normal outlets and actually cost about the same as normal outlets.  However safety outlets have a barrier just inside each outlet hole that prevents objects from being pushed into the hole.  The only way to get through these barriers is to apply firm pressure to both outlet holes at the same time, such as what you do when you plug in an electrical device.  These devices should prove to be among the most difficult safety devices for your little one to overcome.  Like many good safety devices, your little one will likely become frustrated and move on to something else to do.

Assessment: Safety cover plugs of Alternative 1 and 2 are inexpensive and easy to immediately protect your children from electrical outlets.  I am on my second set of children and they worked great for both.  The biggest problem is for the adults or older children who use the outlets on occasion to have the focus and discipline to remember to put the safety plug back in the outlet after unplugging their device.  Despite my safety focus, even I sometimes forget to immediately replace a safety cover plug.  Visitors or others in the home are also likely to forget to replace safety cover plugs.  Once an electrical device is unplugged, that outlet is completely unprotected and a serious danger to your little one.  For some reason, outlets are very attractive to little ones.  Perhaps they see the holes in the wall and believe something must go in it.  All it takes is one bobby pin or paper clip.  As I follow my curious busy baby around, if he sees an unprotected outlet – he goes for it!  At that point, I pick him up to remove him from the danger and scramble to find and replace the missing plug or grab one from my drawer of extras.  Because even I am not perfectly consistent in replacing outlet cover plugs, I am compelled to believe safety outlet face plates or safety outlets are a safer and more reliable long term protection.  Once installed, safety outlet face plates and safety outlets are also easier to use by adults and any visitors needing to use outlets.

Recommendation: 4-step solution.  (1) Immediately protect your home by putting safety cover plugs in every outlet in your house, in every room where your child may possibly obtain access.  Keep extra safety cover plugs in some nearby central drawer so you can replace a safety cover plug that might wander off temporarily, only because you or someone else forgot to replace it!  When an unprotected outlet is discovered, it is more important to plug it with a new plug than to hunt for the missing plug.  (2) Once you have every outlet protected with a safety cover plug, identify the few outlets per room you may actually need to use for vacuuming, a baby monitor, an https://buycbdproducts.com or phone charger, etc.  For these used or occasionally used outlets, install a safety outlet face plate or safety outlet.  Make this installation effort a high priority project.  However, if you get delayed from implementing safety outlet face plates or safety outlets, perhaps because you are an otherwise busy parent, at least the outlets will be protected by an outlet safety cover plug in the meantime.  (3) Strategically arrange furniture to block outlets as much as possible, so most outlets will not even be seen or reachable by your child.  See furniture section in this website for more related safety tips. (4) for any new construction or outlets needing to be replaced, install safety outlets.

Installation: Outlet safety cover plugs and outlet safety face plates can be obtained from department stores, home hardware stores, online, or wherever child safety devices are provided.  Try each item out to make sure they are of good quality and will do the job (or take them back for a refund).  Installing outlet safety cover plugs requires just a good thumb.  Simply push!  Installing an outlet safety face plate typically requires just a flat head screwdriver to remove the screw from the old face plate and install a new safety face plate in its place (lefty loosy, righty tighty).  Be careful not to overtighten the screw in the face plate as overtightening can easily crack the face plate.  Just make sure the face plate is snug to the wall and stop tightening.  Save the original face plates you remove because you may want to put them back some day if you decide to relocate or as the children get older.  Safety outlets should be installed only by a qualified person and their installation is no different than installing normal outlets.

Bonus Outlet Tip: Keep a box of outlet safety cover plugs in your car or diaper bag so when you take your child to a place that is not child-proofed, you can use your outlet safety cover plugs to quickly protect your child from those outlets while your child is there.  You can take the plugs out when you leave.