Hidden Hazards in the Home

 

If there’s one thing you learn quickly about once your child is mobile, it’s hidden hazards around the home! Suddenly, you see your home through different eyes – and need to make a lot of changes. Or, you do if you’re me, any way.

This is an ongoing process whereby S is constantly finding new ways to terrify me, and I’m constantly trying to foil her plans. Things like the TV being within her reach weren’t a problem until recently, when she’s realised she can point her peanut butter-smeared fingers directly onto the screen when she wants to show me something!

I used to just leave my laptop wherever, while I made dinner or nipped upstairs or answered the door – but just recently she’s realised that the keys make quite a satisfying “clicky” noise when she taps thm.

Just recently I’ve discovered I need to double-check the washing machine and tumble dryer are empty before I put anything into them – she likes to play pretend and put her toys in there.

Most terrifying by far though, is when she tries to climb up the shelves of the book case. The six-foot book case that I’ve always worried seems to lean out from the wall slightly.

And then there are the smaller, every-day toddler things like spilling drinks on electrical items, colouring in the carpets with the one non-washable marker in the house, dragging toys across the wooden floorboards and – a current favourite – swinging from the bedroom curtains as if they are rope, and not precariously attached to a very old plaster wall. (I remember my mum telling me off for that one when I was small, and I never understood why – now I know!)

Legal & General have come up with this clever Interactive House which points out a lot of hazards in a much less mischievous way than a toddler. It also includes things like safeguarding against burglary and suchlike. You can have a go by clicking the link – you don’t have to enter a policy number.

All of these things become such a big deal when you become a parent, don’t they. Before, if my washing machine packed up I would just take a wander down to the local launderette of an evening, bring a good book and a bottle of water and have an enjoyable evening while I waited for my clothes to wash and dry. These days, the thought of my washing machine dying strikes fear into my very heart! It’s not just that there’s less spare cash around to replace these things, but the thought of how I would cope without them until I got them repaired or replaced! Before, getting insurance was something grown-ups did; now it’s essential to facilitate a decent night’s sleep, free of worry about appliances or spillages or whatever else!


Vicky Charles

Vicky is a single mother, writer and card reader.

2 Comments

Elizabeth Rebecca · 16/06/2015 at 22:21

That interactive house is such a clever tool – I think that there are a lot of things that we very easily overlook as hazards in the home.

Lizzie Dripping

    Vicky Charles · 17/06/2015 at 09:20

    Agreed Elizabeth! Until I had S I didn’t think about half the things I’ve noticed since she became mobile!

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