Gina and Todd are a young couple with a 2 year old son named Kent. Kent was is very active and loved to play in the yard. He ventures out every chance he gets. He liked to climb on things and just have fun. The couple has a pretty sizable back yard with plenty of activities to interest Kent. There were climbing bars, play horses, and many other activities in the yard.



There was one area of the yard that was off limits to Kent. This area was known to attract hornets. They were not quiet clear why it attracted hornets, but they were always in that area. Gina and Todd never really worried about it that much since they never let Kent into the yard unsupervised. Still they wondered what was causing the hornets to come to that particular spot.

One day they were cooking out on the patio. Gina, Todd and Kent were having a good time enjoying each others company. The area was fenced in, so they did not worry too much about Kent making an escape. The telephone started to ring. Gina was expecting an important call so she ran in the house to answer it. Todd was left to finish the cooking and keep an eye on Kent.

Todd was busy trying to keep an eye on Kent and cook. The grill flamed up and Todd rushed to control the Flame. He momentariliy took his eye off Kent. Kent wondered in to the area of the yard where the hornets lived. It was just for a couple of minutes but long enough. There was a swarm of hornets nesting there. Todd heard a loud cry and then silence. He immediately started looking for Kent.

He looks out into the yard and saw Kent lying on the ground kicking. Todd rushed over to Kent and immediately he knew what happened. The hornets had stung Kent and by the looks of things he was allergic. They gathered him up and rushed him to the local emergency room. Kent was stung over 40 times. He was treated and eventually recovered physically, although the psychological trauma still remains.

There are places in and around every home that we do not want our kids to venture in alone. Workshops, garages, driveways just to name a few. There is usually some hazard in these places that makes them dangerous for the child. Adults have a repsponsibilty to ensure the safety of their children so they must find ways to alert them when a child exceeds their boundaries.

Children are injured and killed everyday in this country because of hazard in and around the home. Adults must utilize all the child protective measures at their disposal this can range from child protective caps to electronic monitoring. Certainly one thing we can do is eliminate the hazards that can be removed. For the ones that are not so easily removed we can setup boundaries for the child.

While it is our wish to know every danger our child faces, it is not practical. You must periodically conduct a survey to identify dangers and setup ways to correct those dangers. Make out a list of daners and how to keepr you child away from then. When it is no longer a danger remove it from the list.