When you bring a child into your home, you want to do everything you can to protect them. Children are precious gifts and while you can’t foresee every possible accident, there are things you can do to safeguard the children in your home. Electricity is a major part of everyday life in any household. However, it can also pose a number of dangers to babies, toddlers, and children. Electrical products were designed for adult use and convenience, not for a baby’s safety. As you go about babyproofing your home, use this guide to cover all of the electrical items that need attention.
Electrical Outlets
The 2014 National Electric Code began requiring new and renovated homes to include tamper-resistant (TR) receptacles, great news for parents looking to upgrade or seek out a new home. However, for individuals living in older residences that have not undergone any remodeling, electrical outlet protection is an essential part of your home safety strategy.
Electrical outlets are placed all over the house for convenience. Some of them are high for kitchen and bathroom uses. Others are low and at the perfect height for a baby to explore. Children love holes and their curiosity tells them that all holes need a finger, a coin, or something else stuck into them. Babies who stick their fingers or another item into an outlet can receive a life-threatening electric shock.
The good news is that there are a number of options to baby-proof all of those low, dangerous electrical outlets, none of which are difficult or costly. You can choose based on price, the type of outlets you have, aesthetics, or reviews. Here are a few effective options:
Caps
The cheapest solution is to buy a packet of outlet caps that fit into the outlet like an electrical device. They plug the holes and cover the outlet so that baby can’t poke anything inside. These caps are easy enough for an adult to install and remove, but babies don’t have the dexterity to get beneath them.
Safe Plate Slide Covers
You can easily install the slide covers and forget about them until you need them. They fit standard outlets and include a sliding cover that prevents babies from putting their fingers into the outlet.
Cords
Where there are electrical outlets, there are cords, and babies love to yank on things to see what happens. But when a child pulls a cord out of an outlet suddenly, shock is always possible. There are several things to do in order to prevent children from yanking on electric cords.
- Use Furniture: The easiest way to hide cords it to move furniture in front of the outlets and hide the cords. It might make the room look a bit more awkward, but it can work for now. However, there are cords that won’t be easy to hide and for those, other options are best.
- Outlet Cover: The outlet cover is a clear plastic cover that fits over the cords and outlets. It allows only adults access to the cords when it is time to remove them.
- Budget Cord and Outlet Cover: This cover slides over the regular plugs when they are not in use and slides open to reveal the outlets when you need them. It keeps cords in place and babies safe.
- Power Strips
Some rooms simply need more power and power strips are commonly used around TV areas and other regions of the house. Power strips are usually kept on the ground and they have bright lights, which makes a baby automatically think it’s a toy. There are several options available for child proofing power strips.
- Move it: Adjust your cords so you can put the power strip up behind the TV and against the wall, out of sight and out of reach of any little hands.
- Child Proof Power Strip Cover: This device fastens around the power strip to protect the plugs from any child’s curious nature. It is adjustable in size and can even be mounted to the wall.
Children are curious by nature and until they learn all the safety rules regarding electricity, they need to be protected in as many ways as possible. Parents can watch them as much as they can, but no one sees everything and dangerous situations can happen in a split second. Use these baby proofing tips to give yourself a start on making your home as safe as possible for those precious children.
Contact us for help with your home’s electrical updates.
