Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Should parents really be outsourcing safety here?

Right, so in the space of less than a day, a coroner has called for regulations to make corded blinds safe for toddlers, and the family of a little girl who died in one of these blinds has backed that call - and then the Government has said no, there will be no regulation.

The whole thing has happened in less than a day.

This, by the way - if you don't know what I'm talking about - is a parent's worst nightmare, isn’t it? It’s the idea that something in the house, something seemingly innocuous, kills your child.

Corded blinds are the ones with the loopy cord - the one with the little beads on it. Sometimes what happens is the kids get themselves stuck in it, and they can’t get themselves out.

The thought of that happening freaks me out. So much so that I’ve already gone around adding cleats to the windows to make the blinds safe, and after hearing the coroner’s report today, I’ve double-checked every blind just to be sure again.

I cannot imagine how awful this tragedy is for this family, and I do realise they have the best intentions, they genuinely want to stop this from happening to another family as it has to theirs.

But I think the Government has actually come down on the right side of this, because, as we discuss so often on this show, it is just too easy to write a new rule without realising what unintended consequences it may have for years - potentially decades - before some other Government finally repeals it.

Like the well-meaning rules around apple trees in early childhood centres that caused all kinds of headaches.

Actually, I would argue that safety is something parents shouldn’t be outsourcing to rules.

Blinds are not the only things in your house that can hurt your toddler. Heavy furniture that’s at risk of falling over should be bracketed back so it doesn’t fall on the kids. Pools should be fenced off for obvious reasons. Knife drawers should be locked for obvious reasons. Hard edges should have soft covers put on them.

You can go online and find a list of the things you should do - there are plenty of these lists out there - and then you can go through every single one and make your house safer, which you should do. You can buy cleats to fix the blind cords to the wall, and you should.

So the fix is out there. The knowledge is out there in the information age.

Do you still need a rule?

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