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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Is Your Kid a Bully?

Just who is a bully?? A bully is YOUR KID. A bully is someone who tries to control others through intimidation or violence. They pick on kids that are alone and that do not have a strong network of friends. They steal from other kids or destroy their property. Is this your kid?

Bullies do not know how to get attention in positive ways. To get attention they do what they have to. Many bullies think that bullying is just a fun game. They feel justified in picking on others because it makes them feel they are winning.

A bully does not always feel great about him or herself. They tend to have very low self-esteem no matter how much they swagger around or push others around. They pick on kids who are not hr fringe and rarely use their bullying powers for good.

The bully is often lonely and needs to find true friends. Weirdly, many are quite charismatic and can be excellent leaders despite their violent ways.

One distressing thing to realize is that bully is a learned trait. If you are dealing with a kid that is related to you that is bullying others you need to sit down and be honest with yourself and realize that the kid learned it from someone k- most likely you! Bullies who don't change their ways in when they are young to prevent adulthood filled with violence and aggression. These antisocial behaviors often result in employment problems, difficulty maintaining healthy relationships and even criminal behavior. That's why it is your duty as a parent to make sure that a kid that is bullying experiences strong negative consequences for doing it.

A bully is anti-social and the behavior can be hard to change. Parents also should make school officials aware of any bullying that is occurring, whether the victim is their child or someone else's child. School officials need to know, and so do the bully's parents. The bullyingneeds to be called out and named, but without shaming the bully who after all is motivated by fear and low-esteem.

If necessary you need to take an aggressive kid to a psychologist for behavior modification training. The good news is that the cycle of bullying can be ended if you train the child to think differently about himself (or herself) and others early on. It also helps to check your own behavior to see how you are somehow teaching your child to pick on others.

Parenting Tips
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