Kitchen safety

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Kitchen safety Quiz for parents and carers Safety tips Young children are hugely curious – and one of the ways they learn is by putting things in their mouths. While childresistant caps are helpful as they slow young children down, they are not completely child-proof. Some three and four-year-olds can open them in seconds. So keep all cleaning products on a high shelf or in a cupboard with child-resistant locks. Young children can mistake tablets for sweets, so take care not to leave them out on work surfaces or in unlocked kitchen drawers. And try to avoid taking them when young children are watching – as they may want to copy you. Most medicines that need to be stored in a cool place don’t need to be kept in the fridge. Check the label. If it does need to be stored in the fridge, keep it as high up and hidden as possible. A young child’s skin is much thinner than an adult’s, so they burn much more easily. Little hands can grab at hanging leads, so use a kettle with a short or curly flex. And keep it pushed to the back of your work surface. A mug of tea or coffee can still scald a young child 15 minutes after it’s been made. So keep hot drinks well out of young children’s reach. And don’t hold a baby on your lap when you’ve a hot drink in your hand – in case they grab at the mug, and end up badly scalded. Pan handles can look intriguing from a toddler’s point of view. So use the rings at the back of the cooker, with the handles turned towards the back, so little fingers can’t grab them. And keep children away from the oven door to prevent nasty burns. If chip pans catch fire, they can cause horrific injuries and even start house fires. It’s safer to replace your chip pan with an electric deep-fat fryer. Oven chips are also a safer alternative. If you can’t do this, don’t fill your chip pan more than one-third full with oil. If you have young children around, it may be safer to keep them out of the kitchen until you have finished preparing the meal. You can use a safety gate across the kitchen door to keep small children out of harm’s way. If you have room, a playpen in the corner of the kitchen can also provide a safe haven. Small children's throats are much narrower than adults, so they choke much more easily. Cut food into small pieces and teach children to sit down when they are eating. Remember that even soft things like grapes may be too big for a small child’s throat – so put safety first by cutting them up. www.istockphoto.com/Feng Yu see next page for quiz
Kitchen safety Quiz for parents and carers Test your safety knowledge by walking around our imaginary kitchen and deciding how to keep your family safe. Choose from A, B or C below. Then check how well you did against the answers at the next page. 1 2 3 4 The door to the cupboard under the sink is open. You can see a bottle of bleach, with its child-resistant top fastened. Is this: (a) dangerous, because small children can open and drink cleaning products (b) OK because young children can’t open child-resistant tops (c) fine because you’ll remember to move the bottle later You decide to make a meal for your family. While you are cooking, the most important thing is to: (a) use every pan in the house (b) cook as quickly as possible (c) use the back rings on the cooker and keep pan handles turned towards the back You want to cook some chips for the family. What’s the safest way of doing this? (a) in a chip pan filled with hot oil (b) in an electric deep-fat fryer or using oven chips (c) under the grill You go over to the fruit bowl and see a bunch of grapes. You know that fruit is good for children so you: (a) hand the bunch of grapes to your toddler (b) eat the grapes yourself (c) cut the grapes into pieces so your toddler won’t choke 5 You decide to take a break and make a mug of coffee. You put your baby in the playpen while you drink this because: (a) babies don’t like the smell of coffee (b) a baby’s skin is 15 times thinner than an adult’s. They might reach for the mug and get badly scalded (c) you don’t want your baby to spill coffee on your crossword puzzle So how safe would your family be in our imaginary kitchen? See the next page for the answers. www.istockphoto.com/Huchen Lu
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Kitchen safety

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