A Grandparents' Guide to Parenting

Having Your Parents Around to Help

Whether they're taking care of your child on a regular basis or planning for your next visit, your parents want to keep their grandchildren safe and sound.

Here's How You Can Make It Easier for Them:

• Give them the important numbers

  Your parents and in-laws should have copies of critical phone numbers (your child's healthcare provider, the hospital casualty department, the National Poisons Information Service) to keep by every phone in the house. That way, when your child is visiting, they can contact help quickly in an emergency.

• Do a safety check

  When you visit their home, get down on your hands and knees and take a look. Seeing a room from a child's perspective will help all of you to identify possible hazards more efficiently.

• Help them to childproof their house

  Grandparents should never underestimate their grandchild's ability to climb, explore and move furniture to reach something high up. When your parents were raising you, the traditional strategy was to keep a close eye on a child. But these days, experts put a lot more emphasis on changing a child's environment to make it safe. This new approach has cut the childhood accident rate by half to three quarters in the last 20 years, so it's obviously working.

Get more safety tips and ideas that you can share with your child's grandparents.