Starting a daycare in your own home means making sure that your home is as safe as it can be. Even if you already have young children of your own, you probably still need to make adjustments to your home environment to ensure that you don't end up with a lawsuit on your hands. Here are five ways to make your home a safer place for your clients.
1.) Make sure your home is adequately stocked for a fire emergency
Keep at least one operating smoke detector on every floor of your home, and outside every nap area. Every fire extinguisher needs to have a battery-powered system for backup energy, in case the electrical power goes out in your home. Also, keep a multi-purpose fire extinguisher in the kitchen and furnace room. This will help you keep the children as safe as possible during a fire emergency.
2.) Keep your sleeping arrangements in order
Make sure that wherever the children are sleeping- crib, cot, bed, or mat- is up to par with your state's regulations concerning size and quality.
Put children out of the way of feet and cold drafts, to ensure their safety while they're resting. Also, children older than four years old cannot sleep overnight in a room with a child of the opposite gender.3.) Put Up Barriers
Children are naturally curious, and as a childcare provider it is your job to keep them from getting into dangerous situations. Put up barriers to any significant body of open water, such as swimming pools, drainage ditches, or ponds. Also, put up barriers to other dangerous places, such as fireplaces and holes. Make sure that your barriers are tall enough to keep your tallest children from getting through them.
4.) Keep Your Flashlights Equipped
This seems like a very simple tip, but in the case of a power outage at night, it is important that you have a reliable second source of light. Make sure your flashlights have working batteries, in case you need them in a pinch.
5.) Keep Your Lines of Communication Open
It is very important that you always have an open phone line, in case parents, legal guardians, or government officials need to reach you. Keep a working telephone in the house at all times, and it is best to have call-waiting and a working voicemail with a professional message for callers. Also, keep a list of emergency numbers close to the phone.
Five Easy Ways to Make Your Home Safer For Children