Christmas Tips

Tips to Help You Care for Aging Parents

As the holiday season approaches, parents who have small children should pay special attention to child friendly Christmas decoration ideas, whether it is a Christmas tree decoration, Christmas candle decorations or decor for the home in general.

If opting to go with an artificial tree,trees should be made of flame-retardant material. Keep a fire extinguisher handy, but out of children's reach.

If opting for the real thing, pull on the needles to make sure that they are hard to pull from the branches.

When using Christmas candle decoration, keep candles, lighting wires and decorations out of children's reach.

Also be sure to make sure that all Christmas candle decorations are not close to the tree or other potentially flammable decorations.

Avoid decorations that resemble candy or food. Sometimes it is difficult for an adult to tell if these or real or not, but it is especially difficult for young children.

Keep toddlers away from the kitchen when cooking and baking. Poisonous holiday plants include holly berries, mistletoe, Jerusalem cherry and amaryllis.

Keep them away from children and pets. Christmas tree decorations should not have small removable parts and should always be shatterproof and too large to possibly fit into a child's mouth.

It may be a good idea to purchase a small tabletop tree or install child gates around the larger trees in the early years in order to protect your child from pulling the tree over on himself.