5 Backyard Safety Tips for Kids

There are many good reasons to pay attention to backyard safety for kids—yours and the friends and family visiting your home. Most importantly, of course, it’s crucial to keep everyone in your home—child and adult—safe.

Additionally, it’s important to consider protecting yourself against liability in the case a child is injured at your house.

Bosworth Insurance, in Tyler, Texas, is an experienced insurance provider who’ve insured multiple generations of East Texas families. Bosworth & Associates provides their customers with a range of insurance options from renter’s insurance, to medical insurance, to car and truck insurance, to homeowner’s insurance.

 

Summer in East Texas is the best season to enjoy backyard time—from swimming in the pool to backyard barbecues to enjoying all the fun outdoor play toys.

However, it’s also when kids—and their friends—are most likely to get injured in the backyard.

In addition to keeping your family and friends safe, it’s important to keep yourself safe from liability should someone else’s child get injured on your property.

 

Being proactive can go a long way in ensuring everyone has a good time and stays safe.

Here’s a list of backyard safety tips for kids and adults:

1. Supervised Water-Play Only

One of the leading causes of injury and death when it comes to kids playing outside is drowning. Pools play a big factor in this equation. Still, fountains, ponds, water features, wading pools, and even buckets of water can prove dangerous to children. All it takes is two inches of water, and a child can potentially drown.

 

To ensure water safety in the backyard:

• Make sure kids in and near water are always supervised by an adult or young adult.
• Keep pools behind locked gates or gates with childproof handles.
• Make sure kids who can’t swim always wear life jackets and only swim with an adult present.

 

When you’re done playing, make sure to empty or cover wading pools.

Water is an attraction for any kid. Make sure their water time doesn’t end in tragedy by allowing only monitored pool time and limiting access to any backyard area containing water.

 

2. Be Aware of Poison-Hazards

We don’t always realize it, but our backyard areas are potentially full of a host of poison hazards.

Anything from kerosene for the tiki torches, to gas for the grill, to backyard cleaning products, to weed control products can present a danger to children. It’s important to keep any poisonous items that might harm your children, or visiting kids, out of reach.

Keep poisonous products in cupboards or drawers that are locked and/or have childproof handles. Having emergency and poison control numbers readily available in case of accidental ingestion can be a lifesaver.

 

3. Burn Notice

There’s nothing better on a summer evening than grilling or roasting marshmallows around a backyard campfire. However, it’s also a time when burn injuries can easily occur. Burns can occur from a backyard BBQ, fire pit, chiminea, or any other backyard cooking.

 

To keep burn injuries from occurring:

• Build boundaries around fire areas.
• Teach whatever kids are around the heated area what parts of the grill cannot be touched.
• Always wear shoes to avoid stepping on hot coals.
• Don’t allow young, inexperienced children to handle sparklers, toasting sticks, or poke sticks into the fire.

 

A trip to the emergency room is a terrible way to end a fun day playing outside. Make sure kids know how to handle themselves around heated places.

4. Backyard Toys

When it comes to playtime in the backyard, some of the biggest liability concerns come from toys such as trampolines and jungle gyms. Whether you have renter’s insurance or homeowner’s insurance, if you have these large-scale outside toys, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re covered in the unfortunate event that someone else’s child is injured on your property.

While fun, trampolines count for a significant number of broken legs, arms, and worse. If you have such equipment, ensure all kids using them are supervised and aware of how to use them safely.

 

5. Cover Outlets—Inside and Outside

When we have little ones crawling around, it’s a general rule to make sure we have outlet protectors in all the indoor outlets to ensure a baby doesn’t get an electric shock.

But what about the outdoor outlets?

More and more people have eating and recreation areas in their patio/backyard spaces. If you have a crawling-age baby, make sure you put outlet protectors in your outdoor as well as indoor outlets.

If you’re concerned that the cost of insurance might be prohibitive to getting insured, contact your local insurance provider today. An insurance representative will walk you through what is covered, what your premium and deductibles would be, and what type of insurance you need for your unique family situation.

Playing in the backyard should be a relaxing, enjoyable experience for you and your guests. You can help ensure that experience by knowing you’re covered in case of the unexpected.

 

Contact your local insurance provider and fully enjoy your summer backyard time.