Anyone who has children, or who works with or looks after them in a professional capacity, will know only too well how important it is to keep them safe. Accidents can happen in a matter of seconds and it only takes a few moments of lack of concentration for a life-changing accident or incident to occur.

This site is designed to help you deal with safety issues for babies and children of all ages in a practical and down-to-earth manner. From keeping babies safe in the home and bathtime safety to implementing childproofing strategies and ensuring your child stays safe when out and about, we aim to guide and advise you on all areas of child safety.

1. Is Your Home Child-Friendly?

For first-time parents who are bringing a new baby home, making sure that your home is safe and child-friendly is of paramount importance. Aspects that you may have previously taken for granted, such as having glass doors in your home, suddenly become more of an issue when babies and toddlers are around, so look at what you can do to minimise the risks for your child.

Safety gates can protect young children from steep stairs, a fire guard can protect an open fire, child-safety locks can be added to low-down and easily accessible cupboard doors, and rugs can be moved to prevented tripping.

Similarly, if you have an unlocked garage or a shed full of gardening equipment and products such as weed killer or slug pellets, you’ll need to think of more appropriate ways of storing them, so that they’re fully out of the reach of young hands and mouths.

Careful storage of medicines and cleaning products should be implemented, too, and in the kitchen and bathroom, you may wish to look at how best to safely store essential cleaning products.

2. What About Your Garden?

If you’ve had a pond or water feature in your garden for years and enjoyed it, then you’ll need to consider its safety when you have children. It’s scary to realise that children can drown in even the shallowest of water, so it’s useful to investigate the options for making a pond or water feature safer or possibly to remove them until children are older.

If you’re moving house, on holiday or visiting friends and there’s a pond, pool or other water feature in the garden, do keep a careful watch over children and supervise them at all times.

During the summer months, when the weather is warm and your kids want ways to cool off, think about safety before using a blow-up paddling pool in the garden. As safe as they may seem, the water can still pose a risk, so ensure you supervise their use, too.

When assessing the safety of you garden, consider storing gardening equipment out of your child's reach, steep slopes or steps that could pose problems with trips and falls, and even the types of plants you’ve got growing in your garden, as some may be poisonous to children.

3. Do You Know What To Do in An Emergency?

If an Emergency Situation does occur, and your child, or a child in your care, has an accident, then knowing what to do in those circumstances can be a matter of life and death. If you don’t already have first aid knowledge, swatting up on basic first aid tips and techniques is highly beneficial. You might also like to consider going on a first aid course, such as those run by St John Ambulance.

4. Are You Choosing Safe Child Products and Equipment?

In your bid to do all you can to keep children safe and happy, another step to take is to consider whether the products and equipment you buy meet basic safety regulations.

Not all products are equal, but major manufacturers have basic safety standards to meet and you should ensure you buy these products to reduce the risk of safety problems occurring. This applies to items such as car seats, garden play equipment, high chairs, cots, children’s toys and more.

5. Are Your Children in Good Care?

It’s only natural to be concerned that your children will be in good care and kept safe when they’re with other people, be it babysitters, childminders, nannies or when at school.

To help ensure your children get the best standard of care, you can check out whether or not childcare professionals are registered, find out about school Ofsted inspections and check what safety policies organisations have in place.

6. Do Your Kids Know How To Stay Safe?

The next step in your bid to develop a safety strategy should be to ensure that children know how to stay safe, too.

From a young age, children can be taught what to do in certain situations, such as how to learn to cross the road, not talk to strangers and what to do if they should get separated or lost when you’re out and about.

For older children and teens, there are other issues that come into play, such as being aware that not everyone is who they say they are on the internet and the need to take care when using online chat rooms or social media. By keeping up with the facts yourself, you can help your children be more aware and knowledgeable and know what to do to stay safe online.

You may also like to help your child learn about keeping safe at school, including how to handle problems such as bullying and peer pressure.

7. Safe and Healthy Eating

Healthy eating involves more than simply learning about a balanced diet. You can ensure your whole family is provided with the best diet by implementing basic food safety and hygiene rules, such as using different chopping boards for raw meat, fish or vegetables.

In the case of children’s allergies, whether your own kids or those of friends or family, separating different foodstuffs is especially important. Coping with an allergy, especially one that’s diagnosed unexpectedly, can bring with a whole new way of life, but many families successfully adapt to living with children’s allergies.

8. Will Your Family Be Safe on Holiday?

Everyone needs a holiday and, for families in particular, it’s a great way to relax, unwind and enjoy some quality time together. But even when you’re on holiday, it’s important to keep safety in your mind.

When you’re first booking a holiday, check whether the location, accommodation and facilities will be suitable for your children. Being on the beach and open water, for example, may seem like a luxury to you, but it may not be quite so appropriate if you have young children. Not all parts of the world have the same child safety standards, so what you take for granted as the norm at home, may not apply abroad.

It’s good to try new things and share experiences as a family, but if your kids are inexperienced with water, have never tried surfing, boating, jet skiing or other typical holiday activities, having the right safety equipment and getting a bit of basic training can make all the difference. You should also be aware of the dangers of sun exposure and how to keep your children's skin safe in the sun.

9. Making Safety Judgement Calls

As a parent, there are times when you’ll need to make judgement calls and decide what’s best for you and your children. It may be on issues such as whether to have your child vaccinated, whether to allow them to do a certain activity or go on a school trip, but where safety is concerned, it’s normal to want to gather a balanced opinion first.

You'll find plenty of help and advice on the SafeKids website to help you make your own decisions, but if you're still unsure, you can ask our experts a question.

10. Living a Safe Life

Being a parent is a wonderful job, if at times a bit challenging! Keeping your kids safe is hard work, too, but with careful planning, practical steps, knowledge and wisdom, you can be armed with the facts you need and ensure the risk of many different types of dangers are minimised.

Whatever your safety query or concern, we hope that you’ll find answers within the pages of SafeKids and return again and again, to brush up your knowledge and find out what to do for the best in certain situations.