When your children reach the point of crawling and walking, it's important to take time to go through your home and identify any potential hazards that the youngsters could reach with their newfound mobility. One of your areas of focus should be on the blinds throughout your home, especially those on windows that are close to the floor. You want to be sure that your children don't get tangled up in the blinds out of curiosity, risking a potential injury and damage to the blinds. Here are some methods that you can use to make sure that such incidents do not occur.

Install A Hook Or Cleat

One of the easiest ways to make your blinds less tempting to your children, and thus reduce the risk of any issues, is to install a hook or cleat on each window frame. These terms are often used interchangeably to describe a small plastic or metal hook that is screwed to the frame and serves to gather up the cord that would otherwise hang down. Children will often be tempted to grab this cord, given that it can hang down to their level, but wrapping it around a hook/cleat high on the window frame will take the cord out of a child's reach.

Change The Cord For A Wand

An alternative to installing a hook/cleat is to remove the cord entirely, exchanging it for a wand. The wand is a long piece of plastic that is turned to adjust the blinds and can be used interchangeably with the existing cord on certain styles of blinds. Typically, you can just remove the cord and mount the wand in its place. The child may still be able to grab the wand, but there won't the risk that he or she gets caught in the cord and gets injured.

Relocate Furniture

The above methods are especially useful for windows close to the ground, such as bay windows. In many cases, children are unable to reach higher windows, but this isn't always true if you have furniture close to the windows. Conduct a safety audit of your windows and blinds by assessing which pieces of furniture are close. Children might be able to climb onto these pieces of furniture and grab onto your blinds, the cords, or any other parts of the blinds. Altering the layout of the room is a simple way to make the blinds unreachable to your children.

For more information, contact local professionals like Ardy's Gallery of Window Coverings.

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