What’s happening at the 1 - 2 years age and stage?

You now have a curious toddler who is moving independently and learning fast! They’re busy putting things in their mouth, climbing, opening doors and reaching up to touch everything they possibly can. They love to copy and rush around on unsteady feet, falling easily.

Often injuries will happen because you aren’t aware of what your toddler can do.

Exploring is all part of your tamariki’s development so the main thing is to make sure their environment is as safe as possible.

These pages at www.skip.org.nz give good information on the development stage of a one year old.

What you need to know about your toddler or pre-schooler:

Falls are very common because they are unsteady on their feet and always exploring their surroundings.
They’ll grab onto anything to steady themselves, including oven doors, wall heaters etc, which increases their risk of both burns and having large objects fall on top of them.
They are constantly putting everything in their mouth even if it doesn’t taste good and this puts them at greater risk of suffocation, choking and poisoning.
They love to play in water, but left alone they can drown in only 5cm.

Keeping one step ahead

It’s now time to do another safety check, have a look around and see what your toddler could climb, and what they could climb up onto. Are there dangerous things they could get their hands on? If so, find a high cupboard and lock them away.

Top tips

Put gates over stairs and doorways, and a fireguard around fires and heaters.
Unplug appliances and keep dangling electrical cords out of reach.
Only keep toys in reach that match your child’s stage of development. Store the rest.
Store household chemicals, poisons and medicines up high in a childproof cupboard. They are too tempting.
Place pots on the back elements of the stove and turn handles inwards.
Make sure lighters and matches are out of reach in a high locked cupboard.
Accidents around water can happen in a split second, so keep your eyes on your tamariki in, on and around water. And always empty buckets and paddling pools after use.