Children grow and develop quickly during the first 6 years of life. How children move, learn, and think is always changing. With each new stage of development comes a new challenge. Parents and grandparents need to know how children grow and develop to anticipate those times when injuries are more likely to occur. For a comprehensive look at how children develop, click here to go to the Invest In Kids website.

Each child is unique.

Everyone is born with his or her own unique temperament. Temperament is defined as a person's usual way of responding to things going on around him. There are nine temperament traits: persistence, activity level, adaptability, intensity, first reaction, perceptiveness, sensitivity, regularity, and disposition. Looking at where your grandchild is on a continuum of each of these traits will help you better understand his behaviour. We have developed a booklet “Living With Your Spirited Child” to help parents and grandparents understand a child’s temperament. Click here to download the booklet.

Supervision is the key to preventing injuries in young children.

There is more than one way to supervise young children – you can use hold, follow, or watch.

Hold: The parent or grandparent needs to be touching or holding the child.

Follow: The parent or grandparent needs to stay close to the child – to be physically within arm’s reach of the child at all times.

Watch: The parent or grandparent needs to be paying attention to what the child is doing. Watch means more than seeing. The parent or grandparent needs to teach the child safety rules, remind the child of the rules and watch the child to make sure the child is following the rules.

Click here to download our booklet on Hold, Follow, Watch. The booklet will help you decide when it is best to use hold, follow, or watch to protect young children from falls and other injuries.

It is important that home and play areas be as safe as possible.

While most grandparents do not have their grandchildren living with them, it is still important for their homes to be as safe as possible for when the grandchildren visit. Click here to go to our Home safety checklist. 

Other Helpful Links

Toy Safety                                                                            

Product Safety                                                                       

Juvenile Product Recalls   

Safe Kids Canada website for information on product safety, playground safety, child passenger safety, travel safety and several other safety related topics.