Family | VIVIAN KIRKFIELD – Writer for Children

Happy Holidays, everyone! With the passing of Halloween, I feel we are really into the official holiday season…Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza…all celebrating life, family and love!

As much as we love holidays, they do bring additional safety concerns, especially when there are preschoolers in the home. As families gather, there may be even more young children in your home, so read this list of 10 crucial holiday tips for parents of preschoolers. Then, check them off the list as you make sure you take care of each safety measure to prevent accidents and ensure your family has a safe holiday season.

Check your smoke detectors (you should have 1 on every level of your home) and replace the batteries, if needed. Fire is the 2nd leading cause of unintentional death in the home. Each year, thousands of people die in residential fires. You should also have at least 1 fire extinguisher in or near the kitchen…and make sure every adult and grown child knows how to use it. Sit down and write out a family escape plan…and practice at least once a month.
Check your houseplants. Holiday plants like Poinsettia and mistletoe are POISONOUS! Make sure you keep ALL plants out of your children’s (and pet’s) reach. If you suspect your child has ingested plant material that might be poisonous, call your local poison control center immediately.
And on that note: Check to see that you have a list of important phone numbers (doctor, poison control center, hospital, 24-hour nurse line, several friends or family members who can be called upon at a moment’s notice to drive you somewhere or take care of your child temporarily). Then make sure this list is posted where it will be highly visible, near a phone…and keep a pen and pad of paper there as well.
Check to see that you have an emergency first aid kit…and make sure there are several working flashlights with fresh batteries.
Check that there are guards around open heaters and fireplaces and make sure no fabric (like curtains or bedspreads) or decorations touch lamps or night lights.
Check that all electrical outlets that are not being used have plastic plug covers and keep cords, wires and power strips out of your child’s reach. With holiday decorations, we often add many more items needing electrical power. Be careful not to overload power strips or circuit breakers.
Check that scissors (for doing holiday crafts and wrapping presents), knives and other sharp objects are locked up or in high cabinets. The same goes for cleaning supplies and items like potpourri oil. We get so busy during the holiday season, but we want to make sure our little ones are safe.
Check that pot and pan handles are turned away from the outer edge of the stove. Use the back burners when preschoolers are in the house. Involving your children with the holiday food preparation is great fun (and wonderful for building their self-esteem), but we want to make sure they are doing the measuring and mixing in a bowl at the table, not pouring the ingredients into the pot on the stove.
Check that decorations that are within reach of preschoolers have no little parts or pieces that can become detached. Soft stuffed decorations with sewn on ribbons are beautiful and festive. Perhaps you can put away the precious glass ornaments until your children are older…or you might decide to make a lovely display of those breakables on a high shelf, visible to adults, but unavailable to little ones. Homemade ornaments will be treasured for years (we still have several that our children made over 20 years ago). They can be made of paper, ribbon, yarn, felt and clay. The joy you all feel when crafting today will become a very important part of your families’ holiday tradition.
Check that your holiday schedule is not overwhelming, for you and for your child. Entertaining, attending holiday services and events, shopping, preparing the house for guests…these activities require extra time, energy and money…and add stress to our lives that are already often on the edge. Changes in routines can wreak havoc with your children’s tempers…and yours. So don’t feel you have to do EVERYTHING! If purchasing cupcakes from the store instead of baking them yourself for your child’s nursery school holiday party makes life a little easier for you, do it! Remember to take time for yourself…try to get enough sleep…eat as nutritiously as you can…walk or dance at least 30 minutes 4 times a week…and breath deeply.

I’m planning to do at least 2 more holiday themed posts: 5 Tips for Safe Holiday Toy Selection for Your Preschooler and 7 Critical Tips for Safe Holiday Shopping and Traveling with Preschoolers. I’ll also post some of the eco-friendly craft projects and child-friendly healthful cooking activities you can do with your preschoolers this holiday season.

I noticed an article on MSN’s home page about skills teenagers should master as they approach the age when they will leave home to go away to school or out on their own to work. I think it is a big mistake to wait till our children are teenagers to teach them these important life skills. Except for car maintenance, every single skill can and should be introduced and taught to our preschoolers. I think back to my own childhood and am saddened to realize that my mother did not expect me or my sister to help clean the house (although she did suggest it once or twice) and we were not taught to balance a checkbook or keep to a budget. She cooked all of the meals and did not teach us to cook, plan menus or shop for ingredients.

What are those life skills that every child should begin to master at an early age?

CLEANING THE HOUSE: show your child what to do and let him help…of course, if you are using toxic cleansers, perhaps you can switch to more eco-friendly (and child-friendly) green cleaning solutions. Check out one of my earlier posts for some simple suggestions.
DOING THE LAUNDRY: even a toddler can help sort items for the laundry…darks and lights for example…putting dirty clothes in the hamper…folding towels…matching socks…what great opportunities for science and math experiences!
COOKING: little ones LOVE to help in the kitchen…measuring, mixing, learning about what ingredients go into making various meals and accompanying you to the store to discover that green bananas should be yellow with spots if we want them to taste sweet and what a ripe melon smells like.
MANAGING MONEY: every young child should have a piggy bank where allowances (if your family does that) and money earned or received as gifts are kept…it’s easy for kids to “want” everything…but life is about making choices and that is a part of money management that little ones can be taught…if Johnny wants something that costs $1.00 and he only has 50 cents in his piggy bank, he will have to “earn” the rest or wait until he has enough by saving allowance or gift money. Older children should learn to balance a checkbook!
MAKING APPOINTMENTS AND MANAGING A DAILY SCHEDULE: you can make a chart that shows the daily schedule…breakfast time, lunch time, doctor’s appt, playdate, bedtime…use pictures cut from magazines to help your child identify what is happening during the day…young children feel less stressed when they know what to expect and what is expected from them…for children who have trouble settling down and getting ready for bed, this might be a life-saver!

So, don’t wait to start teaching your child these important life skills…begin when he is a preschooler and life may be much smoother in your home as your child grows up. He or she will definitely thank you…self-sufficiency and mastering tasks and skills are cornerstones in the foundation of high self-esteem.