Everything we have around us each day can be a danger if we don’t respect it properly and use it in the right way.
Furniture is no exception to this rule. In fact it is of particular interest as certain items of furniture can be very big and heavy. We have all read a news report at some point which tells of a child that has been pinned under some large piece of furniture that they were trying to climb up.
We should of course always watch our children, but even if your back is turned for a second or two it is surprising what they can get up to. Any item of furniture is very tempting for a child to try and climb on; bookshelves present a challenge to climb up for any child who is not yet aware of the danger.
But it isn’t just the large items of furniture that present a danger. A nest of tables can be equally dangerous if a child tries to climb on it. A recent news report online gave plenty of information regarding the kinds of dangers that children face when it comes to innocuous furniture items in the home. And it seems that the age group that is most at risk is the under six group – which makes sense when you think that most kids of this age want to be into everything.
Of course it is up to us to make sure that our homes are safe for any children that are around, regardless of whether we have kids of our own or not. The best thing is to look around your home and see how child friendly it really is.
Look at each individual piece of furniture and consider how safe it is. Items such as bookshelves should always be fitted to the wall so they cannot be pulled over. Nests of tables are made up of more than one table of course, so they can stand either alone or as a set. In any case they can be climbed upon, so the main thing here is either to keep them out of the way of children altogether, or at least to be around at all times just in case they do decide to climb on them.
So in answer to the question posed by the title of this article, furniture can indeed harm our children – but only if we let it. Many items of furniture do come with straps, screws or other similar items that must be used to attach that item to the wall. Unfortunately not everyone decides to actually use them for the purpose they are intended for.
In the end we should always make sure that furniture is made properly and secured properly. We cannot always prevent all accidents, but if children are properly supervised we should be able to keep them to the absolute minimum. And that should reduce the number of statistics we read about accidents involving furniture and children.