Do You Have a Fire Safety Plan?

During the formative years of your child it is important to bear in mind fire safety in his her bedroom. To this end here are a few tips that you should keep in mind.

Avoid synthetics. That goes for everything from toys to clothing to decor. Synthetics burn faster, hotter and produce much higher quantities of toxic fumes than natural materials.

First and foremost consult with your local hardware store to acquire as class 'A' fire retardant paint. This will help stop the spread of fire on the wall surfaces. Also avoid the use of carpet, they are all synthetic in nature and produce copious amounts of toxic gases under fire conditions. Natural hard-wood floors are preferred.

The baby’s clothing is also important to consider. Choose natural cotton fibers and avoid synthetics. Synthetic fibers will actually melt and fuse to the skin under fire conditions.

Keep plastic toys outside the baby’s bedroom for this same reason. In general make certain that anything in the baby’s room is made of natural fiber or wood.

Install inter-connected smoke alarms with one in your baby’s room and one every else. The current fire code requires one working smoke alarm on each level of the home and one outside each sleeping area. However, there is no such thing as too many smoke alarms.

Have interconnected smoke alarms. That means that if one goes off they all go off. They make these in a wireless format now and they are CSA listed and inexpensive. This doubles the effectiveness of your safety plan.

I know this sounds mundane and repetitive but PRACTICE A HOME ESCAPE PLAN! Have two ways out of every room, have a plan about who mom is going to get and who dad is going to get, how you will get out and where you will meet in the event of a fire.

If bedrooms are on the second floor consider rope ladders as means of escape. Make sure your windows open to allow you to get out. Train your children to leave pets and toys and just get out.

Unless you live in an urban core you must realize this…… it will take the fire department seven minutes to arrive…… you have three minutes to get out.

Plan, plan, plan, practice, practice, practice. The key is early fire detection, a well planned escape route, a meeting place and a way to survive.

Parenting Tips
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Should You Open a Home Day Care Center?

Many moms who need extra money often think about opening their own daycare center. However this is not as easy as it seems even if you are thinking of opening up a very simple operation in your home.

The first thing you need to do is write a business plan. This does double duty as a guide as to how you will conduct the business as well as a document you can also show investors.

You also need to include your rent or mortgage costs plus the cost of making this business legal. There can be many permits and regulations that come with costs, fees and dues that must be paid for before you can even open the doors of a day care center. This is why more stay-at-home moms do not do it more often.

The bottom line is though it seems like anyone can do it, childcare is actually serious business. The licensing requirement of opening a daycare center really do vary state to state and you need to go to individual state websites to see what they are. Usually it is a Department of Health or a Department of Health Services that outlines what you need to do to open a home-grown child care neighbor.

One real selling point of any daycare is the nutritional quality of the meals that you offer. The more organic or progressive the food is that you offer the more you will be able to charge parents. As a rule of thumb children's meals usually adds between $8 and $25 per week to the bill of any kids you are taking care of.

Another reason that more moms do not open day care centers in their homes is that most states and cities have real restrictions about where one can be located.

When you do decide to launch a home-based business like a day care you need realize that it is a little more expensive and a little more high maintenance then most businesses just simply because there is such a liability involved whenever you are dealing with children.

Keep in mind that it is a business where laws govern everything and that your doors can be closed within minutes due to one silly little violation. You have to watch out for things like a member of your staff disciplining a child in just the wrong way and you have to be very mindful of how you discipline your charges. The fines for violating any part of the fire safety code and that the insurance required to run it can also be quite expensive.

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