wood shutter

Child Safety Window Treatments

I’ll never forget hearing the mother of a 3-year-old tell our MOPS (Mothers of PreSchoolers) group how she got out of the shower just in time to rescue her daughter who had a window shade cord wrapped around her neck. As parents, we do everything we can to keep our little ones safe. Did you know window treatment cords can strangle young children and pets in as little as 1-2 minutes? After doing some research, reading tragic stories and deciding not to post the terrifying videos, I was shocked (and a little freaked out) to find out how often this actually happens. Please don’t Google the statistics because they will only make you have bad dreams. But what can we do to rest easy?

Here is a checklist to help keep your family safe:

  • Move all furniture, cribs, beds and climbable surfaces away from windows. Kids will climb anything!
  • Install only cordless window coverings in homes with young children.
  • Check your current window treatments for exposed or dangling cords. To order a FREE retrofit kit for older window treatments, contact the Window Covering Safety Council directly: 1-800-506-4636 or info@windowcoverings.org.
  • Make sure tasseled pull cords are as short as possible.
  • Continuous-loop pull cords on draperies and vertical blinds should be pulled tight and anchored to the floor or wall.
  • Be sure cord stops are properly installed and adjusted to limit inner-cord movement.
  • Keep all window cords well out of the reach of children.

When my son, Travis, was little he would suck on the wooden tassels of our blind cords. Thankfully that was one foreign object he did not swallow…but at the time, I had no idea how many cordless options there were or how affordable they can be!

Helpful links

https://www.cpsc.gov/Safety-Education/Safety-Education-Centers/Window-Covering

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls

#GoCordless

#WindowBlindSafety

#mitsaggieland