Questionnaire: How Child Friendly is Your Home?

Inquisitive toddlers see the world in a different way. A bottle of bleach looks colourful and appealing, a socket is just asking to have a small finger poked in it, a switch needs to be flipped and a staircase is a great place to play.

It is up to the responsible adult in charge of the toddler to eliminate these dangers and there are many products on the market to help achieve this. Most stay-at-home dads will have invested in at least some of these products, but can more be done? Take our questionnaire to find out if your home is as child-friendly as you think it is.

Questionnaire

Question 1 – Smoke alarms cost around £15 each, while a carbon monoxide alarm is around £25, but both can save lives. Does your home have:

• a. Both?
• b. One or the other?
• c. Neither?

Question 2 – A kitchen can be one of the most hazardous rooms in the home for a toddler with a curious mind, but measures can be taken to make it safer. Appliance latches and locks can be fitted to refrigerators, freezers, ovens, dishwashers and microwave ovens, a cooker guard will stop young children touching the hob or hot pans, and an oven door guard will deny access to the hot glass. Does your home have:

• a. All of these?
• b. Some of these?
• c. None of these?

Question 3 – Many UK households have DVD players, video recorders and digital TV boxes, and shields and locks are available to protect little fingers. Does your home have locks or shields on:

• a. All of these?
• b. Some of these?
• c. None of these?

Question 4 – Plug socket inserts can prevent serious and even life-threatening injury and cost only a few pence. Does your home have:

• a. Inserts in all unused sockets?
• b. Inserts in some unused sockets?
• c. No inserts at all?

Question 5 – Stair gates will do as the name suggests and deny inquisitive toddlers access to the stairs. Does your home have:

• a. Stair gates at the top and bottom of the stairs?
• b. Stair gates at the top or bottom of the stairs?
• c. No stair gates?

Question 6 - Drawer and cupboard locks are under £1 each and can keep cleaning products and dangerous equipment locked away. Does your home have:

• a. Locks on all such drawers and cupboards?
• b. Lock on some such drawers and cupboards?
• c. No locks on drawers and cupboards?

Question 7 - Cable shorteners will remove the risk of tripping, electric shocks and strangulation accidents by tidying away long and dangling electrical wires. Does your home have:

• a. All cables tidied away?
• b. Some cables tidied away?
• c. No cables tidied away?

Answers

Rate your answers to each question, awarding two points for answer a, one point for b and nothing for c. Add up your total and find out what category you fall into.

• 14 points: You seem to be doing everything you can to make your home as child-friendly as possible.
• 9-13 points: You have taken a lot of worthwhile measures to make your home child-friendly, but there is room for improvement.
• 4-8: The measures taken to make your home child-friendly, although worthwhile, do not go far enough and more work has to be done.
• 0-3: Not nearly enough has been done to make your home child-friendly and urgent action is needed to rectify this.