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Is There Really Such a Thing as Being Too Careful When It Comes To Your Children?



There are all different styles of parenting.  Mine is a very cautious approach.  Even though my children are allowed to play on the monkey bars at the playground, I still cannot help but to remind them to be careful.  Whether you share my parenting style or not, I am sure you have been out in public and have thought to yourself, "That child is going to get hurt and will be making a trip to the emergency room.  I would never allow my children to do that."  Still, no matter how careful you are, no parent is perfect.  Even though I have been accused of being over-cautious when it comes to my children, thanks to Safe Kids Worldwide, I have come to realize that I have risked my children's lives several times in recent months.

You may have heard me complain how it is only March and my family has suffered through two serious flu and stomach bugs this year.  Between our 3 children, we were administering over-the-counter fever reducers multiple times per day for at least a week.  Because of this, we left the medicine on my husband's desk where it was easy for us to grab when needed.  The problem is that, it would have been easy for any of our children to grab also.  Even though we had the childproof caps on, that really is not a guarantee that our children could not have figured out how to open the bottles.  After all, they are often too smart for their own good.  We usually keep our medications in the medicine cabinet in the upstairs bathroom.  We even have a locked medicine cabinet where we keep any prescription drugs.  That is where all medicines should be, whether someone in the house is sick or not.

According to the infographic below, 86% of medicine poisoning of children were due to the children getting into adult medications.  That number is making me move everything, including my over-the-counter decongestants, pain relievers, nasal sprays, inhalers, and vitamins into the medicine cabinets.  Keeping them in an out of the way drawer is not safe enough.  I feel very lucky that we have never had any incidents involving our children and medicine poisoning.

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A few things I do to keep my children away from medications . . . 
  • Keep over-the-counter medicines on the upper shelves of the medicine cabinet.
  • Keep prescription medications in a locked medicine cabinet.
  • Complain about what a terrible taste my medications have, so our children will not be tempted to try them out of curiosity.
  • If possible, avoid buying medications that look like candy.
  • Teach my children not to touch other people's handbags, backpacks, and other bags, which could very well be carrying some type of medication.
  • Have the emergency poison control number (1-800-222-1222) programmed into our home and mobile phones.
  • If I accidentally drop a pill, I keep looking until I find it, no matter how small it is.
  • Avoid giving my children more than one medication at the same time unless their doctor or the pharmacist tells me it is safe.
In addition to the things listed above, I have learned from Safe Kids Worldwide that I should also take a good look around when my children visit other people's homes, especially their grandparents, who are most likely to have medications sitting around.  Just because your house has been childproofed, it is unlikely that other people's homes are as safe as your own.

For more helpful tips about keeping your children safe, visit www.SafeKids.org and Safe Kids Worldwide on Facebook.


I wrote this review while participating in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Safe Kids Worldwide and I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation.