Do you know that almost seventy thousand kids, most of them below four years of age, suffer injuries in the kitchen every year in the United States? While most responsible mothers try to keep their kids out of the kitchen at all times, it is almost impossible to keep your kids, especially the younger ones out of your kitchen for good. When you go into the kitchen, your kids are bound to follow, and this is especially unavoidable if your kids are very small and there is no one else to look after them while you work in the kitchen. Therefore, the best thing to do is to make your kitchen as safe for your kids as possible to keep your little ones from coming into harm’s way. Some tips on how you can go about kid-proofing your kitchen are:

Keep Dangerous Things Out Of Reach: A kitchen is full of things that a small kid can hurt himself with. Bottles of cleaning liquids and powders, extra strong spices and condiments, knives, scissors and other sharp objects can actually prove fatal for your kids. The best thing to do is to keep these things out of reach of your children. Put cleaning liquids and other toxic solutions in a high and inaccessible cupboard that you keep locked. The same goes for strong spices and knives and scissors. They should be kept locked inside a drawer when you are not using them. Getting a safety latch on all your shelves and cupboards is advised.

Always Switch The Stove Off: When you are not using your stove, then make it a practice to switch off the main gas supply, making sure that your kids do not have access to the knob or switch that facilitates this. However, if you do not have this option, then you might have to go for something more complicated like removing the knobs from your stove or installing childproof knob covers whenever the stove is not being used.

Follow Safe Cooking Practices: A lot of accidents involving small children happen when the parents are also present in the kitchen. To prevent your child from harm, make it a habit to cook on the back burners whenever your children are in the kitchen. Always keep the handles of the pots and pans on the stove turned in so that your kid does not accidentally pull down a hot pot on top of herself.

Remove All Other Hazards: A lot of things that are seemingly safe can prove to be a hazard with small kids around. These include small step stools that your kid can use to reach for things that may harm him, very heavy objects like a mortar and pestle set, marble rolling pins and small appliances like coffee makers and toasters whose cord your kid can pull. Make sure that these things are always pushed towards the back of the counter where it is practically inaccessible for kids and with the cords being equally inaccessible.