Accidents don't always happen during business hours

Reading the newspapers and watching television reports people often worry about how safe a world this is for our children to grow up in.

Teenagers are stabbing each other, paedophiles are roaming the streets and dangerous dogs are on the loose ready to eat little children.

It seems there is so much scare mongering going on that many parents worry about letting their children go out of the house.

Health and safety regulations also stop our children from enjoying themselves, as local government busy bodies tell us what we can and can't do.

That said we don't like to see our children get hurt and of course all of us try to prevent any serious injuries, but we can't watch over the little ones all the time.

The truth is that kids experience more accidents in the home than anywhere else, with 67,000 children having accidents in the kitchen each year, whilst 58,000 have an accident on the stairs.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) believes these are the most serious accidents that children endure in the home.

RoSPA say children's accidents can cost as much as £200 million pounds a year to treat with traumatic visits to Accident and Emergency.

Stairs are always a tricky area as children love to jump on and off steps, and again a little bump on the head can be an invaluable lesson not to mess about.

For toddlers crawling about parents can fit safety gates as well, which in some cases are hard for adults to get open let alone small kids.

The kitchen is an altogether different proposition as the hazards within this room of the house could potentially scar a child for life.

Education is the main weapon of prevention as the child needs to know in no uncertain terms that this pan is hot, or this knife is sharp and very dangerous.

That's easier said than done but accidents in the kitchen need to be prevented, as learning from experience here could be disastrous.

The difficulty for some parents can be the layout of the house, for if Mum is preparing the evening meal, sometimes it means having the child in the kitchen with her so she can keep and eye on him or her.

In an ideal world you don't want kids playing in the kitchen, but it isn't always practical when only one parent is in the house.

The key is to not to leave the child unattended in the kitchen when pots are boiling, as scalding is just the most horrifying sight.

Treatment from burns and scalding can be an ongoing process, as recovery may be long and painful with many left with permanent scarring.

In fact hot drinks cause most scalds to children under the age of five, as a child's skin is much more sensitive than an adult's, so a hot drink can still scald a child 15 minutes after being made.

The other thing is to lock away medicines or at least make sure they are out of reach, and likewise detergents and other toxic substances.

So whilst Gordon Ramsey might be the scariest thing for adults in the kitchen, remember there are some real dangers for kids too.

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