The kitchen is the heart of every home. It is the place where family members gather and have long hours of discussion over a cup of coffee or a plate of pasta. But, it can also be a place of many hidden and potential dangers, especially for kids. Many utensils kept in a kitchen can prove to be extremely dangerous for your kids. For instance, things like knives, blades, hot pans, oven etc, can prove to be harmful for your child if proper precautions are not taken in storing them. The purpose of this piece of writing is to educate you about the dangers that lurk in your kitchen and the things you can do to avoid them.
What you are going to need:
To make your kitchen safe for your child you will need a few things. They are as follows:
1. A large countertop area
2. Low cabinet meant specifically for children
3. Bright colors for the kitchen walls
4. Hardwoods for the kitchen floor
5. Plastic utensils for the use of the children
Procedure:
Here is how you can create a kitchen that is both safe and friendly for children:
1. Install a large countertop:
Install a large countertop in the kitchen with rounded edges. Rounded edges will protect your children from getting cuts and bruises when they are playing around the kitchen. The next thing which you should have in the kitchen is a low cabinet where your kids can store their kitchen utensils easily.
2. Have low cabinet:
The point of keeping the height of the cabinet low is to ensure that your children can reach it easily. Many times children get hurt while taking things out from cabinet because they are located at a higher place.
3. Make sure your kids use plastic utensils:
You should also make sure that the children use only plastic utensils and none made from metals or glasses. Sharp-edged metal and glass utensils can cause harm to your kids. Plastic utensils, on the other hand, are blunt and safe to be used by children. Plastic containers are also unbreakable. So, even if your children drop them, which they tend to do quite often, they will not break.
4. Keep dangerous kitchen equipments under lock and key:
The drawers where you keep sharp tools like knives and other cutting equipment should always be kept under locks or keep those sharp utensils at a high place out of their reach. This is to prevent the children having access to those things. We all know how catastrophic the result can be if children gets access to things like knives and other sharp utensils.
5. Separate working area for the kids:
Have a separate area within the kitchen where the kids can help you out with your kitchen work. But, under no circumstances, should they be allowed to use knives or come in contact with the fire. You would have to make sure of that. Also make sure that you keep the kids away from hot pots and pans.
6. Separate pantry for kids:
Create a child-friendly pantry in the kitchen which should only be used to keep food stuffs for your kids. This way, you won’t have to worry every time your children ventures into the pantry. For this same reason, you can also designate a one or two shelves in the fridge just for your kids.
Things to keep in mind:
1. Always store sharp utensils, harmful chemicals and medicines out of the reach of your children. If you do not have cabinets high-up then have the cupboards where you keep these things always under lock and keys.
2. Always keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen for emergencies.
3. Keep some toys in the kitchen so that you kids can play around.
4. Have a place away from the fire where the children can comfortably sit.
5. Store food at an easily reachable spot, so that the children can eat something on their own whenever they feel hungry.
