728x90
my iParenting
From Our Sponsors
e-newsletters
Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters

new terms of use
new privacy policy
award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Home › Articles › Becoming a Grandparent › Good Grandparents

Good Grandparents

Changing with the Times

By Kelly Burgess

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

Childproofing the home:
Get down on your knees and take a crawl around your living room, looking at it from a baby's-eye view. Do you see open electrical outlets, cords that can be tugged on, bringing a heavy lamp down or small knickknacks that can be broken? If so, put them up. Also watch for pet food on the floor, and children who may get into your purse and find prescription medicines.

Perhaps the most important piece of advice is to never leave a small child unattended. If you have plans to watch your grandchild, it's probably best if you can plan for that time to be uninterrupted and free from phone calls or visitors.

Food Safety
One of the most difficult patterns to change is someone's kitchen habits. After all, if you've been putting ground beef to thaw on the counter for 20 years and you're still alive, it must be OK, right? Not when it comes to your grandchild. When you're dealing with a child with an immature immune system, what doesn't make you sick could make her deathly ill.

Cathi Lamp, nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension in Tulare County, says the biggest food safety issue she's seen lately is people who think it's acceptable to store food in the microwave or traditional oven because they have a tight seal.

"People think that because the ovens seal, germs can't get to the food," Lamp says. "The fact is, if a food needs to be refrigerated it will go bad if it isn't refrigerated."

Lamp offers the following advice for anyone who may not be aware of the changing rules of food safety: