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Keeping Kids Safe Around the Holidays
1. Remember that mistletoe, holly and other plants are poisonous, and thus can be a hazard for both children and pets. If you bring these plants into your home, keep them up high where pets or small children can't access them.
2. If hosting guests, ask people if they have any medication with them when they arrive at your house. If so, collect it right then and there and store it in a locked cabinet so that it isn't accessible to children.
3. If some of your guests are smokers, have them give up their lighters or Zippos and store them in the same place as the medications (or another area inaccessible to children).
4. Be on the lookout for signs that a child is playing with fire, such as burnt matches underneath the bed or charred material in dark places such as closets.
5. When visiting a relative, always ask if there is a gun in the house, and if so, how it is secured. Accidental shootings involving children spike around this time of the year, as kids stumble upon a relative's gun that their parents didn't know was in the house. This might also be a good time to go over gun safety with your kids.
6. Knives, scissors, box-cutters, and other sharp tools tend to get a lot of use during the holidays as people wrap presents or open packaging. So store these cutting tools in a safe place and be mindful about where you set them down, especially if you have toddlers in the house. (Children this age love to pick up things and walk around with them, which combined with their clumsiness can equate to disaster.) Be sure to teach older kids the proper way to carry a sharp object, (carefully with the point down), and keep kid-friendly scissors around so that kids can help under adult supervision.
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