RoSPAs latest campaigns - all parents should take note

[worldgonecrazy]

RoSPA has three campaigns currently running which are of importance to parents, particularly parents of toddlers:

A campaign to prevent death of toddlers on driveways Key points in the advice are to keep keys where children can't reach them, to not leave children in parked cars, to always park in gear and to take extra care when reversing.

A campaign to remind parents and carers to keep nappy sacks where they can't be grabbed by babies. It sounds so obvious but it's not something I even thought of when I was at this stage of parenting.

A reminder to parents to keep hair straighteners and curlers away from small fingers.

Stay safe.

Do people really need to be told these things?

Unfortunately yes, otherwise there would be no children killed on drives by parents/carers/family, 12 babies would not have suffocated on nappy sacks, and 9% of toddler burns (survey at one hospital) would not have happened. No houses would have looped blind cords.

I don't think it hurts to be reminded that accidents can and do happen. We can't remove all risk to our children, but we can minimise it by not doing stupid things and learning from the tragedies that befall other families.

Take extra care when reversing? Someone who doesn't take care when reversing (or going forwards for that matter) as a matter of course, quite honestly shouldn't be in charge of a car at all. I'm not rubbishing RosPa - there are some hidden dangers in homes that aren't obvious -but things like keeping red-hot hair tongs out of reach surely go without saying?

There's a shockingly high rate of child deaths on driveways in Australia. Part of it's because most houses have drives rather than relying on street parking. Lots of big cars here; very high, so small children not seen. Most drives are open to the garden/yard. Invariably it's a reverse accident, so happens when the car is leaving the drive rather than entering. I can say this with some confidence as I'm one of the few drivers I know who reverses into their drive, so as to exit more safely. Because of ginormous parking bays, Australian drivers are not as adept at reversing as the average Brit and avoid it like the plague.

Getting off the point here, but there's a campaign to have reverse obstacle alarms for cars, DH's car has this, and it's excellent, even beeping at objects to the side.

The short term sensible thing is to separate the drive from the rest of the garden, and this is the case in my house.