Dangers of window blinds..?

Question

My neighbor in the same condo unit just had a VERY close call with her daughter and a window blind. She put the blind cords up out of reach like most of us think is the right thing to do, but was unaware that the inner cord is just as dangerous. Yesterday, she left her daughter, 17-month old Madison in her room playing while she went downstairs to make lunch. Something gave her an uh-oh feeling and she ran upstairs to find Madison hanging from the inner cord of the blinds, blue in the face. She was LUCKY as the girl was breathing afterwards but with some really bad burns from the ropes around her neck. Dakota was in the hospital last night and hopefully released today. Had her mother been a few seconds later, it would have been too late.

I know it is not pleasant to think of these things, but as parents we should always remain vigilant for our children's safety! I researched it a little this morning. Please take a look at these links:

http://www.windowblindskillchildren.org/index.htm

particularly read the "8 Ways a Child Can Die" section to see how you can make your house safer.

Dangerous window treatments other than blinds:

http://www.windowblindskillchildren.org/Other%20corded%20window%20treatments.htm

and here, a heartbreaking story about tie-backs for curtains:

http://www.windowblindskillchildren.org/EthanRoy.htm


Please feel free to forward this to all your friends and other parents you know! The statistics may not seem as high as some home accidents, but 1 child is too many to lose!

Answer 1

Thanks for posting this.... Sorry to hear about little Dakota. Praise the Lord for those Mommy instincts.
I'll be praying for her.

Answer 2

Our rental house has blinds. We keep ours pulled up 24/7 with the cord wound up. We also moved our son's bed away from the window when he tried crawling up on the window sill.

Answer 3

A great reminder to parents of young children.

Shades are a great alternative to blinds, there are no cords to get hung-up in.

God bless!