Today is National Safety Day – Launched by Lindam

Being safety conscious as they are, the lovely peeps at Lindam decided to find out just how exactly modern lifestyles and safety statistics interact. And this is what they found:

New Research Shows Modern Lifestyle To Blame
For Accidents Involving Children

Being a busy Mum of two myself, who – on top of being a mum and partner – works, volunteers, studies (to be a Breastfeeding Counsellor) and of course writes blog posts sporadically, I can see how this might be the case. I can also see how the statistic ‘seven out of ten mums are being forced to regularly leave their children playing unsupervised while carrying out household chores‘ came about.

That might not seem, at first glance, too much of a problem – after all how long does it take to do a quick hoover or a bit of washing up? But then you see this statistic:

’40 per cent of parents admitted that their child had been injured around the house whilst they were busy cooking, cleaning and juggling aspects of domestic life’

and you realise that actually, perhaps that is a bit of a bad thing.

Ashamedly, I have to stick my hand up and admit to being one of those parents. In fact, from the list of THE TOP 10 MOST COMMON CHILD ACCIDENTS (here they are):

1. Tripped in the garden
2. Fallen off the sofa
3. Fallen off the bed
4. Slipped on a floor
5. Hit head on a sharp corner
6. Shut fingers in a door
7. Injured when fighting with sibling
8. Fallen down the stairs
9. Smashed glass
10. Burnt on the cooker

we can unfortunately tick off…er…all of them.

I will now hang my head in shame.

And why have these incidents happened? Well, not all of them were due to distraction. I and my family do have the unfortunate problem of being hypermobile and terribly clumsy, which does account for a marked increase in injury rates. But even so, looking at THE TOP 10 MUM DISTRACTIONS WHILE CHILD HAD ACCIDENT list:

1. Cooking
2. Being on the phone
3. Other children misbehaving or requiring time
4. Working from home
5. Cleaning
6. Hoovering
7. Ironing
8. In the shower
9. Hanging out the washing
10. Getting dressed

I again have to hang my head and admit to 8 of them. (It would be 9 if number 8 said bath, and the only reason number 7 is inapplicable is because I refuse to iron anything…).

 

Claire Rayner spokeswoman for Lindam said: “Many accidents experienced by young children in the home come about because Mum is understandably not able to keep a constant watch. She can’t be in several places at once and the results show that it only take a minute for an accident to happen. It’s therefore about using safety products to make the home as accident-proof as possible and allow Mums at least some peace of mind. It’s so easy and quick to put in place some very simple safety equipment such as stair gates, corner cushions and cupboard locks to ensure that parents can rest a little easier knowing that their children are protected.

“We have launched our first Safety Day as we are committed to reducing childhood accidents in the home and we feel it’s these small but important steps that can go a long way to reducing the amount of childhood accidents in the home.”

Wise words, Claire Rayner, wise words. And thanks to the gentle little push the above ashamed-ness has given me, hopefully my children at least will benefit from if not a less distracted mother, at least a more child friendly home. (Although I have resolved to try and be less distracted as well. I reckon perhaps its a good excuse not to do any cleaning phoning people…)

To find out more about Lindam Safety Day and helpful tips to help reduce accidents visit www.Lindam.com or like the Facebook page Lindam_UK 

 

Words in black are mine, and words in blue (< apart from that one) are nicked from somewhere else. But you know all of it makes sense.