Childproofing Your Home And Electrical Services | Wilmington, NC
When it comes to keeping your children safe there’s probably nothing you wouldn’t do, right? You want to make sure that you’re doing everything you can to make sure your children are safe, comfortable and happy in your home. And that’s why childproofing is so important. You want to make sure that you’re doing everything you can to keep your home childproofed for your children, no matter how old (or young) they might be. So make sure you’re following these tips for your Wilmington, NC home and your electrical services.
Newborns and Infants
At this age, there isn’t a whole lot that you really need to do because your little one isn’t moving yet. Still, this is a good time to start taking the initiative and getting in the habit of making safe decisions. Make sure you put plugs in your wall outlets when they’re not being used. Don’t overload wall outlets, which can increase the risk of electrocution, and pay attention to how you leave electrical appliances around your Wilmington, NC home. Don’t leave cords stretched out where they could easily be grabbed.
With infants, you are going to be watching for the time when they finally start rolling and crawling because that’s when you really need to make sure you have things childproofed in your home. That’s when they will start grabbing everything they can and putting things into their mouths. Keeping outlets covered is going to protect them from putting anything into those outlets. Keeping cords out of the way keeps them from pulling something down on themselves or pulling things out of the outlets, which could leave the outlet open or increase shock risk.
What About Toddlers?
As your children get a little older and start moving around the space more you definitely want to be sure you have the space childproofed. Your electrical services don’t change but your child definitely does. And you need those electrical services to continue functioning but still be safe for your child. So, make sure you still have those outlet covers and you still keep electrical appliances out of the way. Don’t leave cords anywhere they can be grabbed or pulled as toddlers are going to be even more likely to do this. They’re also more likely to do it intentionally, not realizing it could be dangerous.
With toddlers, you can also start out explaining why electricity is dangerous and helping them understand what they can and can’t do. You want to get started making them understand why the rules are in place and why they aren’t supposed to be touching anything electrical. While they may not understand, it’s going to do better for them than simply saying ‘no.’ You’ll be able to work towards the time when they’re old enough to actually do anything with the electricity by impressing on them early about the potential danger.
Schoolage Children
Once you get to school age children you might want to start letting them use electricity in some ways. Now, that doesn’t mean they should be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want. You may still want to supervise them, especially in the younger years. But this is a good time to continue explaining the potential dangers but also start showing them the proper and safe ways to interact with electrical services. Your children are going to need to be plugging things in and unplugging things, as well as using electrical appliances at some point, so start early showing them how.
This is a time when you can show them how to use appliances like blenders and can openers as well, which means they’ll be using electricity and they may be plugging the units into the wall and then unplugging them to put them away. This is going to give them a much better respect for electrical services and it’s going to help them understand how these appliances work, how electricity can be used in a positive and productive way, and more. You’ll be able to help keep them safe at this point as well as in the future by going over these things early and often.
Young Adults
Once your child gets to be in middle school especially (but probably late elementary school) they’ll start using electricity entirely on their own. They’ll use so much of the electrical services that you’re probably going to wish that they wouldn’t. But you need to make sure they know how to do it right. They need to know what can and can’t go into the outlets. They need to know how to plug in and unplug different items. They need to know how to follow all the safety rules that go along with using any type of electrical services in your Wilmington, NC home. After all, you want to keep your home safe.
You want your family safe and at this point in time your older children are likely going to have no problem with that. They should be able to use any of the electrical services in your home with ease and they should be able to make sure that the space is safe for their younger siblings as well. You want to make sure they understand why it’s important to protect younger individuals from electricity and recruit their help to do it.
If you’re not sure how to get your electrical services ready for a little one you’re not alone. Many people just aren’t quite sure what to do. The good news is, you can reach out to a professional to find out more and to get started on anything that might need to be done. So, if you want to childproof your electrical for a toddler or for an infant, you need someone to help. That’s where Mister Sparky of Wilmington can help you. Our team can come to your home whenever it works for you and help you make the right decisions on services to keep your entire family safer in your home.