Keeping Your Kids Safe Around Blinds and Shades

There is a common known fact that windows with shades and blinds can pose a potential hazard to children because of the cords on them. Whether the cord is inside or just a simple pull cords in the front or the rear, they can become looped around a child's neck and cause strangulation. Most of the time the strangulation in Roman shades happens when a child places his or her neck between the fabric and the rear cords. In the simple roll up blinds, strangulation occurs when the child’s neck becomes entangled in the freestanding loop. It is extremely important that parents and anyone who has children visitors must examine their blinds closely to make sure there are absolutely no cords that can be accessible to children. You must always check every possible area, such as front, side, center and rear of blinds to make sure all cords are out of reach. Here is a list of a few tips to be sure and follow when you do have children in your home in order to be sure to avoid any accidents. Be sure to not place any beds, cribs and furniture in a child’s bedroom or playroom close to any windows. When shopping for shades for your home, be sure and check out cordless honeycomb shades. These types of shades have inner cords that are completely inaccessible, as the fabric covers both the front and the back sides of the cords. Roller shades are another great option for a home with children because they are lifted and lowered by pushing and pulling the bottom of the shade. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has teamed up with the Window Covering Safety Council to offer a voluntary corrective action plan which will cover all Roman style shades and roll up blinds to prevent the potential hazard of any strangulation to children. They are offering anyone who is interested, free retrofit kits for Roman style fabric looped and flat panel shades and roll up blinds online. With the help of these types of organizations there will be fewer accidents when it comes to these types of blinds. If you have just your average mini blinds that come with the standard cord, with a plastic piece holding the two strings together, I recommend you cutting the longer string into a much shorter one and keeping the two strings separate. If the strings are short enough that even an older child cannot reach, then you are safe. By leaving the strings separate you are just taking extra precautions to avoid any strangulation.   The most important thing to consider when having shades or blinds is to make sure no child can reach the cords and be sure to take any precautions you can to assure any child that comes into your house is safe around your windows. When you have small children that best advice to follow is to not let children play around or with your windows or blinds. Many accidents can be avoided if everyone would follow these simple steps when having blinds in their homes. If you are not sure if the blinds in your home are safe for children you can always contact the Consumer Product Safety Commission to see if they have had any reported problems on your particular blinds, or you can always research online to find all the information about your particular blinds.