According to safety experts, we parents don’t always do the wisest thing when it comes to keeping our children safe at home or on the road. So take the time to reduce the risks as much as you can. Discipline is another subject we should pay attention to. The shift from yesteryear’s authoritarian styles of bringing up children to today’s liberalism has left many of us wondering which methods make the most sense.

Childproofing your home

Home is where we think our children are safest - the irony is, it’s where they’re most at risk. Statistics show that home is where children under 5 years old are most likely to be when they have an accident of some kind.

Think about childproofing your home before your child is crawling. Don’t wait until he’s mobile before you get around to it, or an accident may happen first.

Fires, burning, suffocation, choking, and drowning are the main causes of death in youngsters - and it’s children aged between 1 and 4 years old who are most at risk. Children in this age group are also likely to suffer injuries caused by accidents such as falling. The reason that toddlers are so vulnerable to accidents is that they are mobile and curious, but they don’t yet understand how to steer clear of dangerous situations.

Being safety-conscious

Making your home safe for a baby, and the toddler he’s about to become, means looking at your surroundings from a different perspective. Things that you haven’t considered to be hazards before ­ such as electrical outlets or medicine cabinets within easy reach could be life-threatening dangers now that your baby is about to become mobile. And if there are general safety issues that you may have neglected - such as installing smoke alarms and keeping a fire extinguisher in the kitchen - now is a good time to deal with them.

Assessing risks

You don’t want to compromise your child’s safety, but you don’t want to get paranoid about it either. Look around your home for dangerous areas and figure out how to deal with them.

To find out what’s going to be dangerous to your crawling baby, get down on your hands and knees yourself and explore your home. Then you will be able to see what’s visible, tantalizing, and grabbable.