I've been musing over a little parenting tip I came across for a few weeks now and I've decided to put it to a 'PlayPennies vote' to find out what you think.
One of the first pieces of safety advice you're given when your little baby becomes mobile, is to fit all plug sockets with safety covers so they can't poke thier curious fingers into the holes.
I've lost count how many of those covers I've bought over the years, I'm still finding them in the dark corners of various drawers.
This is all very easy to do in your own house but what do you do when you go to someone else's house, or go away on holiday?
Do you go armed with complete health and safety arsenal and checklist, so you can make wherever you 're going to conform to issued guidelines? Or, do you watch your little one(s) like a hawk and spend the entire time on alert? And what if you take your eyes off them at just the wrong time?
SO! You've gone away, or to someone elses house, and there they are, UNCOVERED plug sockets! You didn't go prepared for every danger scenario and you don't want to have to trail around after your child like a shadow. What do you do?
How about sticking a plaster over offending plug sockets? It will certainly do the job of covering the holes and preventing little fingers from being poked in. BUT by doing this will it make the plug socket INSTANTLY more interesting and something worth investigating? Especially if you've only got Toy Story plasters to hand!
Genius? Or asking for trouble?
And then how about THIS for some food for thought - that using socket covers in the UK is actually creating danger!
I think the answer is this - there's no 'one size fits all' solution to these things. You know your child best and you must use your judgement, and whatever trusted information you can lay your hands on, to make a judgement on how best to keep them safe and whether ideas like this will work or just be like a red rag to inquisitive little minds.
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