Home Safety
A two-year-old is not too young to start learning about safety. Your lessons should be delivered calmly and without focusing on the danger itself. Don't emphasize to your child how she might get hurt, but instead teach her how to stay safe. Say, for example, “You need to sit down in the tub, because it's slippery” rather than, “You're going to fall! Stop standing up!” You thus provide your child with a positive set of instructions as well as an explanation of why you're giving her these specific directions.
Essential
Be sure to keep electrical outlets covered, because toddlers will try to put their fingers (or objects) into them. Be sure wires and cords are secured so your two-year-old can't pull down a lamp, stereo, TV, or piece of electronic equipment.
If you want to reinforce a safety lesson, ask your child to teach you what you've just been teaching her. Give her a favorite doll or stuffed animal, asking her to pretend the doll is taking a bath. “How can you take care of your doll in the bath?”You can use this approach with all safety lessons.
When an unsteady toddler runs through the house without paying attention to her surroundings, she can easily fall and hit her head (or arm or leg) on the corner of a table, radiator, staircase, fireplace, or piece of furniture. If you have very sharp edges in your house, be sure to cover them with corner protectors (foam pads that stick to your furniture).
Toddlers often hit their heads on low tables, door knobs, the edges of chairs, and fireplaces. Remember, their heads are lower to the ground than yours, so though you might bump your knee on a chair, they will bump their nose or forehead. Two-year-olds have hard heads so bumps and falls from their height are usually harmless. Falls from higher heights are more dangerous, of course. As your child moves about the house, watch her in order to notice which objects are at her eye level so you can protect her from them.
If your child often plays in one or two particular rooms, minimize the amount of furniture she could run into. Make sure she has enough space to play the way she likes without hurting herself. You can start to teach her about areas of your home that are not safe for her to play in, such as the kitchen (near the appliances), or near the fireplace. Teach her also to stay away from burning candles. Never leave your two-year-old alone in a room with a burning candle.
Even when they are confident — and with good reason — about their walking skills, toddlers can easily slip or trip on steps. Staircase safety is very important because a child could fall down an entire flight of stairs if she overlooks a step near the top.
Safety gates can be secured across the top of a staircase prevent such accidents. Also consider getting staircase treads if you have hard wooden steps (which can be extra slippery). Your steps should have a railing that is easy for your child to hold onto as she walks up and down the stairs.
A two-year-old is nothing if not independent and curious, so if she sees a closed cabinet or door, she's going to try to open it and explore what's inside. Cabinets often hold dangerous items, including medicine, utensils, and cleaning products. To prevent your two-year-old from exploring the potentially dangerous contents of your household cabinets, it is essential that you purchase and install cabinet locks. You can buy cabinet locks in most hardware stores or through childproofing Web sites like
It is crucial to have a lock system in place if you have a gun in the house. If you do keep a gun at home, keep it out of sight and out of reach of your child. All guns should be kept locked and unloaded, with their ammunition stored separately.
Alert!
Guns are kept in nearly half of all households in the United States. Even if you don't own one, you can't always know whether the home your child visits has one. So it's vital to instruct your two-year-old about how dangerous guns are — and what to do if she comes across one.
No matter what your position on having guns, all children should learn the following rules from the National Rifle Association (NRA) about what to do if they come in contact with a gun:
Stop
Don't touch
Leave the area
Tell an adult
It's particularly important that your child know to leave any room that has a gun, especially if she is with another child who could accidentally pull a trigger. A three-year-old has enough strength to pull the trigger of a gun. Your child needs to know that she must always tell an adult if she or a friend has a found a gun.
Although most burns occur in the kitchen, children can also be burned if the water from a sink or bathtub faucet is too hot. Your home should have the water heater temperature set at no more than 75°F. Consider putting faucet covers on the bathtub and sinks (especially those your two-year-old uses frequently) so that she can't turn the faucets on by herself.
