Hello!

53 Comments

There is nothing more hazardous in the home than poisons that must be kept around the house for some practical purpose.

No matter how careful you are or where you place household poisons, there is always a chance that your kids will get into them unless you take the following precautions to heart:

Understand the legalese of the packaging industry.

“Child resistant” packaging is far from safe. The reason that a packaging is not called “childproof” is because the manufacturers know that kids are quite able to get into it. Note this and keep child resistant packaging as far away from your curious children as you possibly can.

Do not leave any of your bottles, even innocuous vitamin bottles, on the shelf.

Kids love to imitate adults. If they see you taking these, they will want to take them as well. They may take too strong of a dosage or take the wrong bottle. Do them the favor of cleaning the countertops and taking your daily vitamins out of their sightline until they are old enough to understand what is actually happening.

Store all of your medications in a locked cabinet, even first aid

As stated before, depending on the packaging of a bottle is not smart.

Add an extra layer of protection by keeping all of your potentially dangerous bottles in a locked cabinet that is well out of the reach of your kids.

Even items such as mouthwash should be kept in locked cabinets – they can be quite lethal if they are taken in large enough amounts.

Keep all of your medicines in their original containers

If you place potentially dangerous medicines in other containers, parents may become confused as well as your babies. If you are confused, you will not be able to direct your kids in the right way. It is much better to simply keep everything in its original container and out of the reach of your kids.

Keep records of how many pills are in your medicine containers

Your kids may not tell the truth all of the time if they get into your medicine cabinet. The only way that you will be able to tell for sure is if you have a good, working inventory on your side.

Find another way to get rid of rodents

If you have small kids in the house, then you should never put down roach poison or rat poison on the ground. The tablets are large enough that kids can find them and put them in their mouths.

If you entertain adult company, be sure to clean up immediately after

Your guests may sometimes just forget where they leave their alcoholic containers. This can be trouble if your kids get to them before you do. Make sure to have rules about how guests should behave even if your kids are in bed. Be sure to double check the house after all guests have left for extra glasses or other alcoholic containers.

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.
  • Lots of good solid advice here. All pretty much common sense, but doesn’t hurt to be reminded

    Reply

  • You have to be careful!

    Reply

  • Always important information to know!

    Reply

  • Interesting article, you can never be to careful and no matter how careful you are things happen and kids can move so fast, I recall having an ant infestation and used Ant Rid, which you put in a little lid and the ants eat it and take it back to the nest and it kills them, great for kitchen ants and works extremely well, however it is honey based to attract them, this also attracts toddlers, I had carefully placed the lid under the fridge thinking It would be safe, NO, came into kitchen and 14mnth old sitting on the floor sucking on the lid with his face covered in honey and dead ants!!, I rang poison info and apparently it will give the child an upset tummy but they need to drink a bottle of it to do any real damage, so we were ok, needless to say, I used talcum powder for the ants after that and lived with the ants.

    Reply

  • Thanks again for sharing this very important article; have shared info with friends.

    Reply

  • better to be safe than sorry for sure

    Reply

  • All poisons and chemicals need to be used with the utmost care, however I was caught out with my twin boys who were about 9 months old, we lived in the country and had an incredible amount of ants everywhere, I used antrid in a jar lid and slid it under the fridge, thinking that no one will find it there, I put a couple more around, under the washing machine and in places which I considered were inaccessible, however I did not plan on the determination and little fingers of twin toddlers, I came into the kitchen to find both of them licking the lid and with their faces covered in dead ants, I called poisons information and apparently it is a common call, the main ingredient is honey, so the thing that attracts the ants also attracts the children!!, fortunately because it is only a small amount the worse that would happen was a tummy ache, my children had no ill effects from it, but we no longer had antrid in the house, and it probably made me a lot more aware,

    Reply

  • Some great tips here ones that we all need to be reminded off

    Reply

  • I put up all medicines in a high cupboard and chemicals are in a high cupboard in the shed and laundry locked up high from little people.

    Reply

  • Thanks for sharing this article on a very important issue. It is important to protect our children from all hazards in the home, backyard and car.

    Reply

  • Have never thought of keeping a pill inventory before. Good point.

    Reply

  • I find bottles such as Cough Mixtures are hard to get open and often have to get some-one to open them for me, especially if they have never been opened before.
    Getting off the subject of poisons, childrens play scissors are not necessarily safe either. I know a 4 year old boy who managed to cut up a very thick paper (almost as thick as thin cardboard), yet her own parents couldn’t get them to cut it. The boy had left the scissors on top of the paper after he did it. The other scissors in the house were locked up so he couldn’t have used them.

    Reply

  • Mine are all put up high but I use homemade cleaners anyway

    Reply

  • Re rodent poison, not only can children get it, pets can too or they can catch and eat mice or rats that have eaten the poison too Your child could find and play with a dead rodent too.

    Reply

  • If you are hosting a big party it can be hard to keep an eye on your little ones and mingle amongst the adults as well. Ask adults not to leave their drinks in reach of children. Some people don’t like their youngsters having soft drink either, especially if they have any allergies.
    If you feel you may be unable to speak to everybody before they start drinking, I would be inclined to make a couple of signs to put up in prominent places. Your guests should respect your wishes.

    Reply

Post a comment
Add a photo
Your MoM account


Lost your password?

Enter your email and a password below to post your comment and join MoM:

You May Like

Loading…

Looks like this may be blocked by your browser or content filtering.

↥ Back to top

Thanks For Your Star Rating!

Would you like to add a written rating or just a star rating?

Write A Rating Just A Star Rating
Join