Protect Your House and Your Health
Your house is your home, a place where you seek solace and comfort.  As parents, we try to make our home a place of refuge for our children, somewhere they can have fun and always feel loved and nurtured.
However, sometimes our homes can actually harm us, in some ways that may be more serious than others.
As many of you know we recently had Carbon Monoxide Poisoning in our home that made my son and I quite sick. We now have detectors in stalled and new batteries in the smoke alarms. I have been learning more about the hidden dangers in homes and have begun to make changes. Throwing out our favorite skillet was another change that I made because the Teflon was old. There is much we can do as parents to create a better environment for our families.
Take these 4 steps to keep your family’s healthy and safe within your home:
1.  Install carbon monoxide monitors.  Carbon monoxide is an odorless, invisible gas, and unfortunately, every year it claims some lives.  However, there’s a simple way to protect your family–install a carbon dioxide monitor.  An alarm will sound if carbon monoxide levels begin to rise, which will allow you and your family time to escape before any damage is done.
2.  Check your smoke alarm batteries twice a year.  Every time we change time, change your smoke alarm batteries.  Home fires can be devastating.  A smoke alarm can allow you time to put out the fire on your own if it’s small, or to get your family and pets out to safety before any life threatening injuries can occur.  Changing the smoke alarm batteries can take less than 10 minutes, but this action could potentially save your life.
3.  Install a water softener.  While no one has every died from hard water, using hard water can make your skin and hair itchy and uncomfortable.  It also may not be good to drink on a regular basis.  Plus, a water softener can protect your plumbing pipes from scaly build up that can cause you to replace the pipes earlier than you would need to otherwise.
4.  Invest in good pots and pans.  You likely have some non-stick coated pans that have surface wear and scratches.  Did you know once your pots and pans get this damaged, some of the flakes of the non-stick coating can go into your food?  With every meal you make, your family may be consuming these flakes.  Replace your pots and pans to keep the chemicals out of your family members’ food.
Making our homes welcoming and safe goes beyond the cosmetic.  Take these simple steps to help further ensure the safety of your family.  As parents, it is our job to reduce our family members’ risks while at home.

If you have any other good suggestions on making our homes safer please leave them in the comments section below! Thanks.