Is your home safe for kids

Depending on the age of your kids, keeping them safe at home can range from being a full time job to an emotional roller coast. In one sense it could be said that its easier the younger they are. Although the dangers can be greater, they are more predictable and in a sense more manageable, more black and white.
Cupboards get locked, things get put on top shelves, stair gates get put up, kids don't get to argue about what time they have to be back home, or don't get to play with knives etc. As kids get older the issues become more blurred, things aren't quite as black and white.They take more responsibility for their own safety, and inevitably, your role as a parent becomes scarier because of the inevitable doubts about whether or not you've made the right decision. The biggest area of safety as kids gets older is inevitably technology. Its an area where kids often literally know more than their parents, but more than that it is their world, not their parents world.
The intimacy and immediacy of Facebook and the like make it a generational divide like non other. It raises the bar about how far a parent can remain involved yet remote from their kids life. That is the key and most difficult question in the sense of how to keep them safe. The dangers of an internet life are very real, sometimes made worse by the sense of hysteria that goes with them, and the hyping of dangers for different agenda's. That said, there are real dangers as kids get older, and perhaps the biggest hurdle is also the biggest benefit. As kids get older, you have to trust hem more and yourself less, proportionately.
This means talking and really building a relationship that gets more equal as time goes on . There are always going to be boundary issues between parents and kids, and that is probably a good thing. The way to keep them safe is to learn to be a friend as well as a parent.
Remembering that what you think of as a safety issue may not be the same issue as a kid may think of a as a safety issue can also be a real bonus. Often we assume in life that people think the same as we do, when in fact everyone thinks about everything differently. Kids want to be and feel safe, especially at home, they might just have a different idea of what constitutes safety. Talking things through can often change that and make everyone see things in a different context.