Child Safety, First and Always

As the parents of two very young children, my wife and I often size up up how to keep our kids safe....s ometimes, perhaps too much, but our concerns are almost always justified.

Bike Helmets: While driving in our car locally from Post Road onto Mamaroneck Road we were astounded to see a young girl (no more than 10-years old) riding her bike downhill towards the intersection next to a crowd of aggressive cars, without wearing a helmet! Her father and another young girl appeared just after her, not a helmet in sight.

According to Helmets.org, New York State requires all bike riders under the age of 14 to wear a helmet.

In the neighboring Town of Greenburgh (including Edgemont and Hartsdale), they've taken the issue even further by requiring all bike riders to wear a helmet no matter their age, while in the Town of Eastchester helmets are required for all bike riders under 19.

In Greenburgh you may have even observed street signs that advertise the local law, yet in the Village of Scarsdale there's no public effort to build awareness for wearing a helmet. The only place in Scarsdale we've observed helmet mandates was once on the Bronx River Parkway when it was opened for bike riding, and only at a checkpoint where a Westchester County Police Officer was present.

If you've got a kid with a bicycle, or even just a scooter, get a helmet and make sure they always wear it when riding.

Child-Safe Windows: We just made quick friends with our new neighbors; they've got kids, we've got kids, so we went next door for a party.

I trailed my 3-year old inside as he bolted upstairs to follow the noise of kiddie chatter so he could get in on the action. While downstairs I (neurotically) locked their front screen door. On the second floor of their house I immediately observed open windows everywhere, completely accessible to the children. I immediately started closing windows.

It's been 23 years since the musician Eric Clapton lost his son Conor, who had fallen out of and apartment window. A two-story house might not be as tall, but all it takes is one fall.

We have a variety of child safety locks installed throughout our home's windows, specifically on the second floor, ranging from inexpensive locks you can buy at Home Depot or online, to more custom "chain door-guards" that limit the range on windows that require winding a handle to swing open. We also remove all winding handles when not in use to prevent our kids from accessing those windows.

Additionally, if you've got a home alarm system, it can be helpful to add secondary magnet strips to all sliding windows so they can remain slightly opened while appearing "closed" to the alarm system, this way when a slightly-opened window is opened even more, the alarm will sound. In our house, when a window or door is opened, we know.

If you've got kids in your house, get child safety locks installed on every window and use them, and if you're in a house without them, don't take your eyes off of your kids.

Electricity: The other day I heard a scream from another room and ran in to find my and our son, who had just gotten electrocuted. Luckily our kid's science experiment was short-lived as the circuit breaker cut the power from an extension cord we had forgotten under our bed — I only discovered the power was out later when, downstairs, I found our refrigerator wasn't on.

My mother likes to joke that when I was a kid, I stuck a key in an electrical outlet and got shot across the room. While that's probably an exaggeration, some argue I'm still recovering.

If you've got little kids you need to put safety covers in all open electrical outlets, and make sure all accessible extension cords are covered as well.

Street Access: The NY Post recently reported that on Father's Day, 6-year old Tess Burstein, was accidentally hit and killed by a car in Watermill, NY, while crossing the street — without adult supervision. Our hearts and prayers go out to the family in grieving, and we should also take this moment to pledge not to let our young children have access to any street without supervision.

No matter how calm or quiet a road may seem, it is not safe for little children.

Does your young child play in your backyard? Do they have access to the street out front or neighboring properties? Consider installing a fence or gate to keep them safe.

Sharp Objects, Cleaning Products and Medications: We have a beautiful set of butcher knives that had always sat in a block on our kitchen counter — but no more. Now that our son has the ability to reach the counter, those knives have been moved to higher ground.

We've also installed child safety locks on kitchen cabinets where we store hazardous cleaning products, and have moved all bottles of medications to higher shelves. Hire a handyman or just do it yourself, these are easy projects that you should not put off.

We also have gates to close-off access to rooms and stairs, but as our older son has now gotten tall enough to scale the fence, we've taken the time to install keyed-locks on desk drawers to keep him out of the things he shouldn't have access to.

It doesn't end: We just retired our changing table for our 10-month old. A few weeks ago while I was changing his diaper, he squirmed out of my grip and then fell chin-first into the table's wooden frame and bit his tongue open with his first two teeth. Now I change him on our bed. I noticed at his daycare they use a much larger changing table that is cushioned from corner-to-corner and lacks any hard material that could harm a baby.

A good friend who's got kids a decade ahead of ours likes to remind me that as they get bigger so shall the problems. I'm sure he's right. But with a couple of fearless babies in our house we've got to be ever-vigilant in protecting them now, and it's not easy — they always seem to find the weakest link, but it's our job to keep trying.

Take child safety seriously!

This article was contributed by concerned Greenacres dad Jamie Kayam.