Scraped knees and bruises - Injuries to children occur while mums are busy

by Shabana Adam | 8 September 2012

Hectic lifestyles mean seven in ten mums are forced to regularly leave their children to play unsupervised while they carry out household chores, according to a new study of 2,000 mums.

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The hard-hitting report also revealed another seven out of ten mums admit it is impossible to keep an eye on their child and still keep the house clean and tidy.

The figures emerged in a study compiled by Lindam to launch its Safety Day on September 6th 2012, which aims to raise awareness of the number of childhood accidents in the home.

Claire Rayner, spokeswoman for Lindam said: “Many accidents experienced by young children in the home come about because mum is understandably not able to keep a constant watch.

“There is increasing pressure on modern mums to be available at any moment for their children, while also being responsible for running the household and ensuring domestic life goes to plan for the whole family.

“She can’t be in several places at once and the results show that, it only take a minute for an accident to happen. It’s therefore about using safety products to make the home as accident-proof as possible and allow mums at least some peace of mind," she said.

The study found that a third of children have fallen off the sofa or tripped over in the garden, while an unlucky fifth has slipped on a floor, shut their fingers in a door or hit their head on a sharp corner.

One in six has fallen down the stairs and the same number has been hurt from a fight with siblings.

The most common time for an accident to occur was found to be when Mums were busy cooking the evening meal, while being on the phone or having to deal with older siblings were also main distractions most likely to lead to an accident when Mum’s back was turned.

Most accidents involving young children took place in the living room, followed by the garden and bedroom.

Indeed, eight out of ten admit they often leave their child to play unsupervised around the home so they can get on with jobs around the house, but an attached one in five say they’d never dream of leaving their youngest out of sight.

Unfortunately, relying on extra help is hard –a third of mums say they can’t leave their youngest with older siblings, while the same number wouldn’t ask an available grandparent to help out.

One in three will additionally experience conflict with their partner when it comes to keeping an eye out on the kids – a quarter say it causes friction in the relationship.

In fact, a third of Mums say their partner is much guiltier of not keeping a proper eye on the kids than they are, while one in ten say their partner has no idea how hard they have to work during the day whilst managing the kids and juggling domestic life.

Claire continued: "It’s key from these findings that a minute can really make all the difference and despite parents keeping an eye on their children, there just isn’t enough hours in the day to keep watch 24 hours.

“It’s so easy and quick to put in place some very simple safety equipment such as stair gates, corner cushions and cupboard locks to ensure that parents can rest a little easier knowing that their children are protected.

“We have launched our first Safety Day as we are committed to reducing childhood accidents in the home and we feel it’s these small but important steps that can go a long way to reducing the amount of childhood accidents in the home," she added.

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