I always get frustrated when I hear about a young child being injured or killed due to ignorance, lack of common sense, lack of action, or just plain old stupidity.

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The home is a very dangerous place, especially for inquisitive, curious children. Just think real quickly of some of the things that are in your home that can cause injury or death:

• gas (explosions)
• carbon monoxide (from fireplaces, gas furnaces and dryers, etc.)
• electricity (electrocution)
• water (drowning)
• garage door openers (injury or death to children and pets by crushing)

If you have children in your home, please, please, please childproof it. It also doesn't hurt to start teaching your children at an early age about safety in the home.

This news clip is about a teenager who stoked the fireplace using a can of gasoline, resulting in the property burning down and the death of three young children. My Partner knew the father of the children, Greg Van Buskirk,  from College Station, Texas, when my Partner had a word processing business there and Greg was a regular customer.

Here are just a few things you can do, in no particular order, to help save the lives of our next generation of Americans, the ones who will have to support us in our old age (LOL):

• Crawl through your home to see it from a child's viewpoint.
• Install protective covers on electrical outlets, or special childproof outlets.
• Install special clips on drawers and cabinets.
• Don't leave pet food or litter boxes in areas where children play.
• Secure televisions, stereos, computers, bird and animal cages, and anything else that is large that children could pull over. If necessary, close the doors to the rooms where that stuff is or....
• Install gates in hallways and doors.
• Install special clips on toilet seats to prevent them from being opened.
• Protect the fireplace with a door with a childproof latch.
• Eliminate sharp edges from tables and desks.
• Use one-piece doorstops rather than the ones with the little rubber tip that can be removed and swallowed.
• Don't let children play with mommy and daddy's shoes, belts, or scarves.
• Tie window blind cords up out of reach.
• Make sure that any handrails or guardrails you have in your home have gaps between vertical bars that are no larger than four inches. If you cannot afford to upgrade your handrails and guardrails to modern standards, have clear plastic or strong netting installed on them to prevent children and pets from getting their heads or bodies caught between the vertical rails.
• Make sure that all the knobs on your drawers and cabinets are tight so that they cannot be removed.
• Keep cleaning chemicals, insecticides, laundry detergents, etc., in a cabinet high out of reach. Do not store them in sink cabinets, even if the cabinet has a childproof lock on it because that lock might break or fail. Not worth the risk.
• Make sure that all bookcases are secured to the wall so that they can't topple.
• Remove bookcase shelves that are close to the floor to prevent children from climbing up on them.
• Make sure that your kitchen range has an anti-tip device on it so that a child can't open the oven door and crawl up on it, causing the range to tip over.
• Keep furniture away from windows and install window guards.
• Keep excessive items out of your child's crib when s/he is sleeping to prevent suffocation.
• Install video and/or audio monitors in your child's play and sleeping areas. Not a bad idea to install them in each room of the home.
• Many injuries occur outside from children falling on concrete, asphalt, or rocks. Make your child's outdoor playground more user friendly with mulch, pea gravel, sand, or grass.
• Make sure that outdoor fountains are properly secured to the ground, and that any upper sections are secured to the lower sections. Children are naturally attracted to water, moving water, and the sound of moving water. They love to try to climb up on the fountain to see the pretty water and sounds.
• Make sure that outdoor ponds are protected. Children, and even adults, have drowned in as little as one inch of water when they fall face down and are knocked unconscious or otherwise are passed out.
• If you have a pool and/or spa, install a cover and complete fencing with lock guards and audible alarms on doors and fences to warn when they are opened.
• Never leave a child unattended in a bathtub or, for the newborn, a sink with water in it.
• Supervise your children, regardless of how much childproofing you've done. Children are creative and resourceful, and nothing you can do can completely prevent them doing what they're not supposed to do. You don't want that to end in injury or death.

Some of Jim's blog entries

1. Buy-and-bail loan fraud
2. Is it okay to climb a tree on someone else's property?
3. Is 13 YOUR lucky number?
4. Representing two buyers on the same property simultaneously
5. Slow down, look around, and pay attention
6. Are you as drunk as a bee?
7. Are you a food label reader?
8. Pets are wonderful support, but not very good drivers
9. Do you prefer roses or rotten eggs?
10. San Diego Plant Atlas is now online
11. The common sense gene is missing from the gene pool
12. Is there a conflict here?
13. You mean I've been subsidizing the sports stars?
14. We could learn from history if we'll just take time to study it
15. Excessive furnishings and storage create fire hazards
16. Is Active Rain trying to tell me something, or am I just weird?
17. Make every Friday "Backup Friday"
18. STOP THE INSANITY!
19. If you can't get to it, you can't tell how old it is
20. Your digital camera can do so much more than just take pictures
21. It's hard to believe Zoey's already been here a year
22. It's hard to believe Sophie's been gone a year
23. Is THAT the house?
24. Don't trust, do verify
25. Please help me identify this type of architecture. Craftsman? Victorian? Modern?
26. Southern California fire season is just around the corner
27. Welcome to my home
28. If you could easily get rid of your child, would you?
29. Wow! Nice underwear
30. There obviously is no financial crisis if Zoey has been pre-approved for a $5,000 credit card
31. Is there trash in your trash can?
32. Private, gated, fenced, coded subdivisions
33. What's in a name?
34. Location, location, location? Ha! Views, views, views
35. Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam
36. Did you put that on the disclosure form? "I didn't think I needed to."
37. If you needed to hide from someone, could you do it in today's world?
38. A home is like a child
39. Should I stay or should I go now. Remodel or move?
40. Water, water everywhere, or is it?
41. Always on the lookout....
42. Are you prepared for an emergency?
43. Four secrets to getting and keeping online customers
44. Holding an open house with fleas
45. Tuesday laugh session with the "treadmill kitty cats"