Parents/Educators:  This month Elmer talks about safety around the home. It’s important to instill children with a sense of the importance of safety at an early age. That’s why we encourage you to take some time every month — a half hour or so — to look around the house with your child.

Let your child identify and list anything they might see as a safety hazard. It’s a good habit to develop for them to be able to identify potential problems before they become an issue.

What’s a safety hazard, though? Around the home, it can be a simple matter of clutter or inattention built up over a month or so. Some examples of this can include:

• smoke alarms with the batteries not working;
• inaccessible fire extinguishers or a lack of extinguishers in general;
• heavy items hanging over beds or chairs; or
• piles of rags or paper not being properly disposed of, which can become a fire hazard

Even simple matters like storage of fuel, matches and sharp tools can have an impact on the overall safety of the home.

It's important to teach children about safety at a young age. It will not only prevent accidents and injuries, it will also build responsibility and awareness for them in the future.