Poison Control: Up, Up, and Away

Make your home safer by keeping danger out of reach

From the LifeMinute Team

March 16, 2015

Up, up, and away! It's a concept that Rosie Pope wants you to remember. The Pregnancy and Parenting Lifestyle Expert is joining with Tide and Gain to help educate parents for Poison Control Week on how to keep your home safe and keep your kids safe. And the number one rule is simple: Keep harm out of arm's reach.

"No matter what it is, whether it's laundry packs, detergent, other household cleaning products, anything that can be dangerous, you need to keep everything up, up, and away, out of your kids' reach to keep them safe," explains Rosie, "It's easy when we first have a child to think about all these things, but as your child gets older, and you have more, and life's very busy and full, sometimes we forget to keep our house safe as much as we need to."

Rosie suggests making safety a regularly scheduled habit around the home. "You need to remember, you know, every three months or so when you replace those batteries in your smoke alarm, to also sweep through your house and make sure it's safe and everything's up, up and away. It's something you have to do on an ongoing basis," says Rosie, "Also remember, it's not just the bathroom [and] it's not just the kitchen that is dangerous. There are also other rooms, like the laundry room, that things need to be kept up high...I think we often think about plug sockets but we don't necessarily think about detergent. Everything needs to be up, up, and away."

And perhaps the best way to figure out what needs to be kept up high is to get down low. "Get down on your knees and look at your world through your child's eyes, and you'll see a whole host of things you probably didn't realize were there and that you need to take care of," says Rosie, "I also believe in educating our kids why we're keeping things up, up and away, because they can really understand -- you know, 4, 5, 6 years old -- they can help you if they see one of your younger children doing something that's dangerous."

Educating those outside your household that you bring into your home is just as important, too. "Whether it's in-laws or sitters or grandparents; everybody needs to know your household rules to safety," recommends Rosie, "So there's a lot of things that we can do, but most importantly we have to remember to keep doing them and keep doing this 'up, up and away' concept. You know, keep it in your mind and keep refreshing yourself to keep your kids safe."

And in a worst-case scenario situation, the best thing you can do is be prepared. "You need to have the numbers on hand to be able to help your kids and get them the care you need," explains Rosie, "So, make sure you have your Poison Control number, your pediatrician number, and have it in many places in your house in these rooms, whether it's the laundry room or the kitchen, to make sure that it's very easy for everybody, not just yourself, to be able to call."

Looking for more information on how to keep your house safe? Then check out PGeveryday.com.

Sponsored