When you have children, horror stories in the press about child fatalities take on a little more prominence. What once seemed like over zealousness or moral panic, quickly becomes something new entirely. The most innocent-looking household appliances become a potential hazard. If you’re not convincing your child that the DVD player doesn’t really need to be fed the crusts from their toast, or rescuing them from the dizzying heights of the dining table for the umpteenth time, you’re on Lindam’s Amazon store buying up the entire range.
Having had a neighbourhood friend fall from a window when I was a child, window safety is definitely one of my bigger fears as a parent. I keep their bedroom windows locked and don’t keep any furniture near the upstairs windows - my Dexter has some serious climbing skills and I just don’t trust him not to mount a dresser to get a better vantage point for spotting his beloved cars. His room also has blackout curtains so no dangley bits for inquisitive little fingers.
Heidi’s room however, has venetian blinds that really terrify me. This wasn’t our choice. This is a rented house and the room was previously used as an office. Although Heidi’s cot will eventually live against a far wall (she’s currently still in with us) I can still foresee this being a problem as she gains more strength and becomes as adventurous as her big brother.
It seems I’m right to be concerned. Stats from RoSPA reveal a worrying number of incidents involving children and blinds including a number of fatalities:
At least 28 children in Britain have been strangled to death by cord blinds since 1999
15 of those deaths have occurred since 2010
It takes just 20 seconds for a child to be killed by a blind cord
It’s surprisingly easy to make a blind cord safe. Cleats, chain-break connectors and cord tidies are readily available safety devices that either break under pressure, tension the cord or chain, or provide the facility to store cord out of reach. All of these will negate the risk of strangulation and give you peace of mind that you’re babies won’t face a terrifying ordeal like this cute little chap who appeared in the Daily Mail last year.
SOURCE: Daily Mail
Also, most responsible manufacturers like VELUX blinds will come with a choice of operations - all of which are entirely safe for little people. They also do a Disney range which would probably look far more age-appropriate than the current ones in Heidi’s room.
Far from wanting to wrap either of my children in cotton wall, I want them to have the freedom in life to explore safely. I find it heartbreaking that our streets are now virtually soundless rather than full of laughter as they were when I was growing up; there’s no thump of a football against a garage wall or cries when a knee is scraped.
No I definitely don’t to wrap my children up in cotton wall, but I don’t want them wrapping themselves in a blind cord either.
