Is your Kitchen Safe for your Child?
By Homehelp Guru
HDB flat's kitchen or private apartment's kitchen is compact and small. It is the busiest place in the house that you, your family and even your guests will be to walk pass. Hence, keeping the kitchen safe while fully utilised the limited space is the biggest concerns for new mommies and daddies.
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In Singapore, most of the HDB flat's kitchen or private apartment's kitchen is compact and small. It is the busiest place in the house that you, your family and even your guests will be to walk pass. Hence, keeping the kitchen safe while fully utilised the limited space is the biggest concerns for new mommies and daddies.
Like my husband and I, we seldom cooked in our small kitchen when we just moved in to our apartment. We wanted to keep our kitchen clean, tidy and "oil-free". Most of the kitchen cabinets and drawers are empty and the activities we have in the kitchen are mainly, visiting the refrigerator for fizzy drinks, microwaving the TV dinners, boiling drinking water, feeding our puppy, etc. However, when our baby girl born last year and my new maid has arrived, things are piling up in the cabinets and the function of the kitchen has totally changed . Hence, the kitchen safety issue becomes more important than other aesthetical aspects. The following is a kitchen safety checklist which I have prepared for my family and my maid:
Tods Fencing Gates
Install a child-safe fence or gates at the entrance of the kitchen, so that the kids will not able to go into the kitchen unattended.
You can also put your child in his/her playpen while you are cooking or washing in the kitchen.
Flooring
The kitchen floor must be oil-free and not slippery at all time.
Put a non-slip floor mat or rug in front of the kitchen sink or the wet area.
The Stove
Install a stove guard and stove knob covers to prevent your kids touching the hot burning stove as well as the knobs.
Buy a fire extinguisher and keep it in your storeroom, it might come in handy when emergency or accident occur.
Electrical Appliances
If you have a dish washer, over and/or microwave within a child's reach, the lid of the machine must be closed and locked. You might also want to install a adhesive lock on the refrigerator doors.
Kitchen Cabinets
Install a slow release hinge for your cabinets doors. If the cabinet door handles are within your child's reach, you may want to fix a lock / belt on these doors as well.
Glassware , sharp and other hazardous objects
All the breakable, sharp and hazardous objects must be put in the lockabel cabinets or drawers and they must be out of your child's reach.
Do not put table cloths or mats near to the edge of countertops, as your child might pull them and everything on top of it to himself/herself.
Plastic bags have to be folded and keep away from children at all time.
