Tips To Cope With Children At Home

There are plenty of things you can do to go on keeping stress at bay as your children grow older, and prevent it from damaging your relationship with them and your enjoyment of watching them grow up.

Do all you can to make your home childproof. Every year one in five children has an accident at home that is serious enough to require medical treatment, and the vast majority of these occur between the age when a baby starts to crawl, and about 4 years, by which time most children will have learnt to recognize the major dangers around them. During this time when children are especially vulnerable, as they indulge their natural curiosity and explore their surroundings, while still innocent of the fear which acts as a natural brake, you can make life safer for them as well as less stressful for yourself by taking some simple yet effective precautions:

• In the kitchen, tit your cooker and hobs with special guards. Some ovens feature special childproof switches. Make sure ilexes on kettles and other kitchen equipment are carefully coiled, not hanging over the work surface, and that saucepan handles on top of the stove are turned away from the edge, well out of reach.

• In the bathroom, make sure that the medicine cabinet is locked, or fitted with a child-resistant catch.

• Gates and barriers on the stairs will prevent falls.

• A playpen is invaluable for ensuring that your child is safe and happy during those moments when you are busy and cannot give him or her all your attention. An easily portable playpen is most useful.

• All the windows in the house should be fitted with locks, and all fires and heaters protected by guards.

• Keep precious knick-knacks high up well out of reach.

Get out as much as you can with your children: join a mother and toddler group; make shopping easier by going with a friend; join a car pool when the children get to school age.

Try to avoid the all-too-common stress situation that can arise when the children seem to have taken over completely. Watch out for this: keep part of your life separate from children, to listen to what your partner’s day was like, however much you may be longing to let off steam about yours, and make sure that he gets to share in the fun of childcare as well as some of the chores. And if you can possibly arrange it, do your best to get out together on your own fairly regularly, and even away on a few days’ holiday by yourselves from time to time.

More Stress At Home