Safety with Medications and Cleaning Agents

These leaning agents and medications have been labeled as poisonous.

Recently, my daughter had a worksheet that had multiple copies of a skull and crossbones.  She colored and cut them.  Then, she brought them to me.  We taped the pictures on some items.  I taught her that she is not allowed to touch them.

That got me to thinking about my brush with poison and forbidden items.

One thing that I determined as a mother-to-be is to keep my family safe.  That has always been priority number one.  I have very important reasons for that.  When I was seven years-old, my father had suffered a heart attack and died on the way to the hospital.  As if that weren't bad enough, my youngest brother, and I hope he doesn't mind my mentioning it, was poisoned. 

That day, and the events that followed, really were a big impact in my life.  I value life.  I try to live my life like everyday could be my last day alive.  The people I am entrusted with are precious to me.  I am overly protective of family members and friends. 

That's why I think it's important to keep medications and cleaning agents out of reach of children.  I still remember seeing my not-even-two-year-old brother bent over, while my cousin made him vomit the poison.  I also remember how mad my dad had been previously when we kids had spilled the sugar on the floor.  I believe that in our defense, the sugar was within our reach.  I think it was too harsh for my dad to have spanked us so hard.

I now keep all cleaning agents, medications, and yes, even the sugar, out of reach of my own children.  I have always made sure to keep those things way up high.  I cringe when I see parents leave their cleaning agents under their sink or on the floor in the bathroom.  I also cringe when I've seen ideal kitchens with the cleaning agents like Ajax and Palmolive under the sink.  My mother had the sugar under the sink, which was within our reach.  We kids played with the sugar and suffered a bad consequence.

I guess you could say that I have internalized two traumatic events.  

 

My siblings and I received spankings after getting into the sugar.  The sugar was under the sink.  My brother poisoned himself.  The reality is that my father had used the poison and left it outside on the porch where my tiny brother access to it.  I associate spilled sugar and accidental poisoning with anything that could be under the sink or within a child's reach as a bad combination.

 

 

I  keep poisonous materials out of reach of children.

 

I decided the best place for the vitamins, minerals, all-purpose cleaners, and cough medicines in my home turned out to be ideal.  I have a pantry in the hallway, which is centrally located.  The top shelf houses the cleaning agents, which include, for example the toilet cleaner.  Medications are on the next shelf.  The third shelf is for vitamins and minerals, and the last shelf is currently for paper and plastic products.

The lock is too high for my youngest, who is five years-old.

 

The door to the pantry started sticking a few years ago.  The door was shaved.  The door stayed ajar.  Now, we have a lock on it to keep it closed.  Bonus: the lock is too high for young children to reach.

Well, I hope I have compelled you all to keep your medications and cleaning agents out of reach of all children.  I know that there are locks available for the lower cabinets. I just think it's not worth the chance that your children could get poisoned if they open those locks.  I don't think anyone would want to see a child choking on poisonous liquids and/or pills.  Would anyone like to see a child having to vomit out poison?

How about it, my readers?  Do you have poisonous items out of reach of children?  Even out of reach of visiting children?  I encourage you to do so.  Please don't even trust the organic cleaners.  It's not worth taking that chance.

I pray that God's wisdom and peace fill you all, my beloveds.

This entry is for the Family (Fun) Fridays series.