May 13th

When it comes to keeping your children safe you might want to start by checking around your house.How about seventeen thousand reasons. That's how many children ended up in the emergency room last year because of falling furniture. Your TV, especially the flat screen type.According to the latest survey by the Center for Injury Research and Policy, most of these injuries occurred to children less than seven years old and most of them came about because of televisions tipping over. One reason it happens to children in this age group is because they tend to climb on furniture, not realizing it could tip over and hurt or in some cases even kill them.As for the televisions being number one, TV related injuries have actually gone up since the 1990's. Part of the reason is because now not only are televisions bigger, forty plus inches, but flat screen types are also top heavy That makes it much easier for a toddler to pull them down.But parents, there are ways you can help. These researchers suggest you place your television closer to the ground and near the backs of their stands. On top of that, strapping both TV's and other furniture to the wall with safety straps or L-brackets can help keep them secure. You'll also want to cut down on your child's desire to climb so don't place toys or remotes, or other things they might want to get ahold of, high on top of your television or other furniture.