Travel Safely With Toddlers This Holiday Season

When children first begin to crawl, their curiosity about the world around them triples as they explore any and everything. Pre-schoolers develop motor skills but they have poor impulse control and judgment. Children don’t have the strength, coordination nor maturity to avoid injury and their curiosity is a powerful force.

As a result, they enter one of the most dangerous times of their lives when they are at the highest risk for injury. Preventable injuries in the home are the number one cause of death of children. These injuries also transfer to any environment where you are with your infant or toddler. That can be a hotel room while on vacation, grandma’s house, a rental property, etc.

The same precautions that you take at home should be taken at any of these temporary locations as they all have dangerous sliding doors, toilets that can cause drowning, cabinets that should not be opened by a toddler and sometimes access to toxic products that can cause a poisoning.

Child Proofing needs to travel with you. We suggest you have a travel kit filled with door knob covers, electrical outlet covers, sliding door blocks, toilet seat locks, a first aid kit, a poison antidote, etc. to ensure the protection of your small children.

Also, should there be an accident while your child is with a caregiver, be sure you have a Medical Authorization form completed and notarized so that a caregiver can authorize medical care should you not be available. If, for instance, there is a poisoning and your child is rushed to the hospital while you are finally out for that long awaited romantic dinner, the grandmother cannot authorize care without a Medical Authorization. You don’t want the physicians just standing by waiting for you to arrive when they could be saving your child’s life. An emergency telephone list with details of your child’s blood type, allergies, etc. should also be with each caregiver.

There is absolutely no greater devastation than loosing a child and certainly that devastation is compounded when the loss is due to a preventable accident. Your question is not will your child find hazards, but when. Take the extra precautions today to prevent a trip to the emergency room tomorrow. Contact childproofadvice.com for a Travel Safety Kit perfect for protecting mischievous toddlers.