It is no surprise that the bathroom and the kitchen are the most accident-prone parts of the home.
Slippery floors and hyperactive kids or immobile seniors are a recipe for trouble.
It is very easy to believe that the same solution would apply to keep seniors and kids safe, but this is far from true.
Below are the different ways you can make your bathroom safer for seniors and kids.
Table of Contents
Here are safety tips for kids and the elderly:
| For the elderly | For kids |
| 1. Install a wetroom | 1. Use child locks |
| 2. Add a non-slip bath mat | 2. Add stepping stools |
| 3. Install grab bars and handheld showerheads | 3. Use a child-friendly thermometer |
| 4. Install raised toilets |
4 Safety Tips for Seniors
Install a Wetroom
A wet room, like it reads, is a room that is designed to get wet.
Unlike traditional bathrooms with a shower enclosure, here, the shower is in the open, and the bathroom floor is tilted towards the drain, so there is no standing water in your bath space.
This is ideal for bigger bathrooms, but check out these wet room ideas for a small bathroom if you are working with limited space.
Add a Non-Slip Bath Mat
Having a wetroom installed is good but sometimes not enough.
One other essential you need in a bathroom used by seniors is a non-slip bath mat.
The mat must have a rubberized grip with suction holes to be trusted to stay fixed in position when used.
Install Grab Bars and Handheld Shower Heads
One of the best ideas for making the bathroom safe for seniors is the installation of grab bars and handheld showerheads.
Most seniors have a hard time getting in and out of the shower or tub.
It becomes vital that grab bars (or rails) are fitted to ease entry and exit.
Also, installing handheld showerheads gives the senior more mobility than fixed shower heads.
It is significantly better when used in tandem with a shower chair.
Install Raised Toilets
Most seniors consider it an inconvenience to sit and even worse to get up from their seats.
This makes it almost impossible for them to use the toilet facilities unaided and impact their quality of life.
On the other hand, raised toilets make it significantly easier to use them as seniors do not need to bend as much to handle their business.
3 Safety Tips for Kids
Use Child Locks
Child locks are a must as you can use them in different ways.
There are several tips for childproofing your bathroom, and the use of child locks is arguably the most important of the bunch.
For example, you can add locks to medicine cabinets to prevent them from accessing the cabinet unsupervised and also lock the toilets to eliminate the risk of drowning.
Add Stepping Stools
Children are agile and very like to climb everything in sight.
The sink and tubs are rarely optimal height for kids is more reason to go spiderman in the bathroom.
You can discourage this potentially dangerous behaviour by including stepping stools in their bathroom.
This way, they can brush their teeth and use the bathroom effectively without the risk of hurting themselves in the process.
Use a Child-Friendly Thermometer
You want to completely eradicate the risk of scalding by using a child-friendly thermometer to measure the temperature of the water.
Use the thermometers with unique taps to reduce the water flow when it gets too hot.
Safety Is a Mentality
Remember, safety is a mentality.
There is more to safety than these ideas and gizmos listed above.
It would help if you went out of your way to create an accident-free zone to enable the ideas listed in this post to work their magic.
