Knowing the basics of electrical safety allows you to protect your kids from dangerous electrical mishaps. One way to practice electrical safety is to childproof your house. However, if you have older kids, you can take a few minutes to sit them down and run down a list of electricity-related dos and don’ts. To help you get started, the pros at Roman Electric have prepared a list of important electrical safety tips for kids.

Tip #1: Water and Electricity Don’t Mix

As you already know, water and electrical appliances don’t mix. That is actually why we have ground-fault circuit interrupters installed in areas where exposure to water is high, such as your bathroom, kitchen, outdoor area or basement. If an appliance is exposed to a lot of water, the circuit interrupters, or GFCIs, will sense the difference in the current and immediately shut off the circuit. Now this is interesting and all, but you certainly can’t explain this to a kid! Try to make it a rule of thumb to keep water away from appliances. To make things fun, try playing this informative online game with your child.

Tip #2: Stay Away from Power Lines

Staying away from power lines means:

• Not touching broken or fallen powerlines
• Not climbing power poles
• Not climbing or playing on trees close to power lines
• Never flying kites near power lines

Those all seem like a lot of “Nos” and your child might react with a lot of questions. It’s important to tell them that exposure to power lines can put them at risk of electric shock or electrocution. If you are having trouble telling them about this in simple terms, watch this 2-minute animated video with them on electrical safety.

Tip #3: No Fingers Inside Outlets

Putting anything inside outlets, whether its your fingers or a pencil can be dangerous. This is a very easy way to receive electric shock, which can even be fatal. Make sure you include this in your electrical safety talk with your kids because it’s pretty tempting for little ones to stick their fingers into outlets and sockets.

Tip #4: Don’t Yank Chords

Yanking chords out of outlets can at best, damage the chord, the wire or the outlet. At worst, it can cause an electric fire or electrocution. Kids might be tempted to yank on wires, so make sure they know that this is a big no-no.

Child-Proofing Tips

Even if your kids are a little older, there is no harm in taking steps to child-proof your home.

• Get plastic plug-in outlet covers for open outlets and sockets
• Don’t leave charger chords around—wrap them up safely and place them somewhere out of reach
• Store bathroom and kitchen appliances out of reach
• Test your GFCIs every month!

Have any more questions about how you can teach your kids electrical safety tips? Get in touch with the pros at Roman Electric. You can call us at 414-369-3798 or schedule a service with us on our website!