Kids at a certain age are very finicky, active, and curious. This can lead to them trying out things that they see adults do without actually knowing what to do.
Most of the time, this is what leads to unintentional injuries and accidents. Electricity is a very dangerous thing to mess with, and one wrong move can lead to severe injuries, or at times it can even be fatal.
Here are a few things to keep in mind and teach your children so they can stay safe when handling electricity if needed:
Electrical Safety at Home
An effective way of keeping your children safe from incidents involving electricity maintenance is to educate them. Before you start covering all the electrical sockets with tapes and plastic, teach your children several things that they should know.
This helps them learn how to be disciplined when it comes to handling electricity, but this also teaches them how to be responsible without repressing their curiosity, which might be dangerous if left unattended.
Teach your children that:
- They should never stick their finger in a power outlet, even if it isn’t turned on
- Keep metal objects out of electrical appliances like toasters, microwaves, and ovens.
- Never pull an appliance or device out of the socket by its cord. Always pull from the plug.
- Avoid placing objects near a power outlet
- Never plug anything if your hands or the cord are wet. Always dry them off.
- Keep your hands dry when plugging something
- Before cleaning an electronic, unplug it.
- If an electrical cable looks worn out, tell an adult immediately
Electrical Safety Outdoors
You can keep an eye on your children 24/7, even if you want to. This means that there are instances where you aren’t around to tell them what to do, especially when they’re outdoors.
The safest option is to teach your children what to do when outdoors so you can be confident in letting them play around even if you aren’t around. Teach them how to handle things properly before it’s too late.
When outdoors, tell them that they should:
- Stay in places where adults or other children can see them at all times
- Never fly a kite if there are electricity costs and power lines around.
- Do not climb on electricity posts or hang on power lines
- Do not open outdoor electricity outlets
- Do not plug in a lot of cords on extension wires
- Stay away from unstable looking or slanted electricity posts
- Do not climb trees near power lines
- Stay away from places and fences with signs of electrical dangers
- Never throw objects at power lines.
Electrical Safety at School
We’re often confident with leaving our children at school because other adults are capable of supervising them like the teachers. But like us, even though they’re required to keep an eye on the kids at all times, there are just moments that are unavoidable where no one is keeping an eye on them.
To ensure that no mishaps and accidents occur, teaching your kids to be responsible with electronic devices and appliances even at school is a MUST. One tiny little accident and everything can go wrong. Always reminds them of this, also when they’re at school.
You can never be sure what appliances and devices the school use, and you should teach your kids to be responsible enough to deal with them on their own or to be disciplined enough to wait for a supervising adult if they’re unsure of what to do.
Teach them that:
- You should always ask a teacher to help you when handling any electrical device.
- Ask the teachers to put plastic safety caps on all electrical outlets that aren’t currently being used.
- Do not use an electrical appliance if it feels very hot or smokes coming out or near it.
- Tell a teacher or a guardian if they think there is something wrong with an appliance or device
- Always ask a teacher for permission before plugging in appliances.
- If possible, the teacher should always be the one to plug in the appliances and devices.
