Childproofing Your Home During The Holidays

How can Christmas wrapping and trim be a danger to my children?

We have small babies, and it's Christmas time, it's best to be a minimalist when decorating for safety reasons. When wrapping gifts, just use wrap. Stay away from decorating the gift wrap with bows, with ribbon that could pose a strangulation hazard, any type of tape that they could ingest and choke upon. Don't decorate the gifts with ornaments; the child will have access to that and if they are glass, they could break and choke. It's just not safe. So it's easier to go with, again, less is more with the Christmas holiday.

What are safe Halloween costume choices for children?

Choosing a safe Halloween outfit for your child is pretty easy nowadays because it seems that the manufacturers are getting pretty wise to child safety orientated outfits. Make sure that the Halloween outfit fits, that if your child is a size 4T, buy a 4T, because you don't want them to be tripping on something that's too long. Also make sure that if the Halloween outfit comes with a mask, your child wears it at home but not when they're out parading that evening on Halloween night when it's dusk and they're not able to see. It's important that they are able to see peripheral and straight ahead. And then, also make sure that the Halloween outfits are fire retardant, because many people have Jack'O Lanterns or other types of paper lanterns to light their way and you don't want their little outfits catching on fire.