This past summer, my husband and I had to make the hard decision between ourselves that we would not leave our children alone in the care of their grandparents. I won’t go into details, but it became obvious to us that our children’s safety might be compromised, were they in the sole care of their grandparents.
This wasn’t an easy decision to make, of course. Feeling would be hurt, and the matter had to be handled delicately. But, we feel that it was the best decision for our family and for the safety of our children.
Depending on your situation, something like this might not be an issue for you. Many grandparents can provide a very safe environment for their grandchildren. Grandparents can often be more cautious and have more experience caring for children, giving less of a risk for accidental injury.
Grandparents can also put children at risk when they are practicing outdated safety standards, such as not using a car seat, placing infants on their stomachs to sleep, lower hot water settings, etc. Many grandparents feel that since they successfully raised their children without death or serious injury, then their methods are safe. Of course, we know that this is not necessarily the case. You may want to educate the grandparents on modern safety standards and ask them to please honor your wishes when their grandchildren are in their care.
So who in the family provides the safest care? Well, let’s just take a look at one study done at the Department of Population Family and Reproductive Health at John Bloomberg School of Public health. It found that the safest environment, that is where toddlers suffered the least accidental injury occurred in homes where children were cared for by a stay-at-home mom older than 40 or by grandparents.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.
Related Articles:
Reducing Your Child’s Blood Lead Risk