This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. All opinions are 100% mine.
I have teamed up with Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company to help educate you on ways to Make Safe Happen for your family. For this campaign they have collaborated with Safe Kids Worldwide, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the American Red Cross to educate caregivers (that’s you!) on four critical at-home safety risks. This month we are focusing on Poison Prevention.
We often think of the safety of our children while we are at a playground or in a store but our homes just give us the feeling of security and we often do not consider poison prevention. It’s important to remember that poison prevention starts in the home. My mother was a nurse and worked for years at our local Poison Control Center. She would occasionally tell me snippets of the calls she received. It is eye opening to know that 9 out of 10 poisonings occur in the home. Children have a way of getting into everything, even household items that can be dangerous and as Parents we need to be aware of where the danger lies in order to prevent an accident.
While we all know that medications can be poisonous to children were you also aware that laundry packets are? We have those as well as dishwasher packets at my home and I hadn’t even considered they could be dangerous! Hand sanitizer is an item that has recently emerged as dangerous to children and many schools no longer allow it in classrooms but we have a young baby at our house and use it at home for quick germ prevention. At our house we have lots of toys with button batteries in them as well as our key fobs for our cars. I have made a concerted effort to remind my kids to keep those toys out of their mouths and I always keep our keys up out of reach. Neither my husband nor I are smokers but Uncle Jay is and when he visits he sometimes leaves his E-Cigarette on our kitchen counter. I will be letting him know that he needs to keep it in his motorcycle or up out of reach when at our home.
We have listed below 3 simple tips to help keep your children safe:
Use Safety: Although you may be familiar with many of the items that are poisonous, there are many more that also need to be kept out of your child’s sight and reach. It’s best to avoid even using chemicals in front of kids, especially if they are five years old and younger.
Safe Storage and Disposal: Keep any household cleaners or medicines in the original containers, out of sight and reach, and in a locked cabinet. Immediately dispose of old or unused chemicals and medicines.
Be Prepared: If you suspect or know that a child has ingested or come into contact with any poison, call the poison Help Number. Take a moment to save the Poison Control number to you phone: (1-800-222-1222).
Are you interested in learning more about protecting your family from accidents at home? Make Safe Happen partner. Nationwide Children’s Hospital, has developed an app with the safety experts in their Center for Injury Research and Policy. The App includes room-by-room safety checklists and links to recommended products. You can also create to-do lists, set reminders and track your progress.
I suggest taking note of the number for the Poison Help Line and keeping it by your home phone as well as in your cell phones for quick access.
Poison Help line: 1-800-222-1222
You can connect with Nationwide on Facebook and Twitter. Find more information on poison safety on the Nationwide Make Safe Happen website.
If you are anything like me your kids are the most important things in your life and having as much information to help prevent accidents is so important. I will definitely be educating myself further to help protect these little people and their baby sister. Do you have any questions about poison prevention? I may not have the answers but I will sure try to help!
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