My three year old can open ANYTHING. Any door in our house – the sliders, the lever doors, the knob doors, our storm door, the garage door– If it’s not bolted up out of his reach (or the reach of him standing on whatever box/chair/step stool he can find), then he’s opening it. Any cabinet – even the ones with the child safety latches. Any bottle – soda, medicine, maple syrup. Any container, box, bag, or drawer – It doesn’t matter how “child proof” something claims to be, my little Houdini can open anything.
As a mother, it’s nice that this affords him some independence, but it makes my number one job, KEEPING HIM SAFE, much more difficult.
As most of us have heard, there are scores of household products that are extremely dangerous for children. The latest ones that have me concerned are those AMAZINGLY convenient, and effective pods that we all love to use in our dishwashers and washing machines, and yard chemicals that come in flexible packaging, like the Miracle-Gro that keeps my plants from looking like they’re abused.
Confession:: I love the pods. They come in a variety of products I love . . . from the detergent pods that get my laundry so fresh and so clean, to the dishwashing detergent pods that leave my glasses sparkling and spot free! I also love Miracle-Gro and similar yard products. They keep our yard looking amazing.
Here’s the problem with those pods . . . They’re bright colored, and my kids LOVE bright colors. Also, they’re squishy . . . like gummy candies. Who doesn’t like gummy candies? And the lawn products? They’re often bright colored too. Additionally, these products are more and more often sold in flexible packaging (like plastic bags) which are easily opened by anyone – child-Houdini or not. Just last year, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention received more than 1.3 million calls involving poison exposure for children.
Enter, the Child-Guard child-resistant zipper.
This amazing flexible packaging closure meets industry packaging and federal Poison Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA) standards. How does it work? Great lengths were taken to create a package closure that designed to keep children safe, yet also easy for adults to operate. To open the package, you must first move the slider to left point of the zipper. Next you should push down on the slider’s tab and at the same time pull the slider to the right along the track. I promise, it’s easy for an adult to open!
As for my little Houdini? I handed him a flexible package of laundry detergent with the Child-Guard zipper on it, and asked him to open it for me. After about two minutes of struggling, he announced, “I need scissors! This opener doesn’t work!” So, as long as I can keep the scissors out of reach, I know that my little guy and his baby sister are going to be safe from any products that are responsibly packaged with the Child-Guard zipper!
As moms we can all do our part to help spread the word about the risks associated with accidental poison ingestion and exposure in young children and help to create awareness for innovations like Child-Guard that are designed to help keep our children safe. Child-Guard has been added to packages of our favorite local Boulder Clean products, Gain flings, and Tide pods, and I can’t wait for more brands to do the responsible thing and put this great zipper on more products we have around the house!
Click HERE to learn more about household safety. Also, follow Child-Guard on Facebook, and spread the word about how you keep your children safe from accidental poisoning with the hashtag #GuardIt
