Keeping the holidays safe for your preschooler
Last updated: November 2012
Safety-wise, holidays with an adventurous child can be an unnerving experience. Small toy parts, hard candy, breakable ornaments, candles, and poisonous plants such as mistletoe can make the season a minefield for safety-conscious parents.
How to get through it? You'll have to be particularly vigilant, especially if you're spending the holidays with friends or family who aren't up on the latest childproofing techniques.
Here are some holiday hazards to avoid:
- Fire infatuation. Make sure that lighted menorahs — and all lighted candles — are out of reach. (You might even decide to forgo candles this year.) If you're planning to spend time in front of a roaring fire, use a fireplace screen and keep matches and hot pokers out of reach, too.
- Extended reach. Your growing child will find tabletops, shelves, drawers, and other previously out-of-reach spots enticing — particularly when they know that's where you keep the holiday goodies. (Remember to look up now — as well as getting down on all fours — when you're childproofing.)
- Be sure to hide electrical cords behind furniture or buy a hide-a-cord device. Keep your floors clear of decorations that your child could choke on. And keep everything potentially breakable or dangerous out of his reach.
- Display out of reach (and in a spot your child can't climb to)any poinsettias or other holiday plants wrapped in foil and decorative ribbons — these are potential choking hazards.
Contrary to popular belief, the poinsettia plant itself isn't poisonous (though the sap can cause skin irritation); mistletoe and some varieties of holly, on the other hand, are toxic, so either opt for other kinds of decorations or keep them well out of reach.
- The kitchen is a popular place to be during the holiday season. Keep your child away from the hot stove by setting him up with his own cookie-making equipment (Play-Doh or leftover cookie dough) at a separate table, or invest in a set of child-size pots and pans for more pretend kitchen play — away from your work area.
There are plenty of "real" cooking tasks for your child to help with, too, like "kneading" the bread dough or mixing the cookie dough with a wooden spoon. Just make sure you work together away from the stove and other hazardous equipment.
- Remember that visitors' handbags and shopping bags are tempting and have not been childproofed. Stow them in a safe place to keep your child away from medicines, lipstick, ribbons, gift tags, and other forbidden items commonly found in them.
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