Even school-agers, who are more capable of anticipating consequences of unsafe actions, are not perfect at reasoning about safety. As young children develop their understanding of the world around them, they become more aware of what is safe and what is not. Development occurs in stages and it will be a while before infants, toddlers, or even preschoolers develop the thinking and reasoning ability to keep themselves safe. Child development is a factor in the risk of injury. In addition, young children do not have the practical experience adults have had in their interactions with the world around them to know what may cause injury. For these reasons, your strong supervision (addressed in Lesson Two) and your attention to the environment are critical in ensuring safety for the youngest in your care. In addition, children that have recently become mobile enjoy exploring every nook and cranny in their environment. Special Precautions with Young ChildrenĪlthough all children are explorers, infants, toddlers, and some children with disabilities are special in that they often use all their senses, including taste, to understand the world around them. However, in this lesson, we will focus on maintaining safety in the physical space. In the Learning Environments course, we will address in detail how to create and maintain an engaging environment that supports the development of a wide age-range of children. As a family child care provider, it can be even more challenging, as you potentially have to create and maintain environments that are simultaneously engaging and safe for infants through school-agers, as well as your family members. One of the most challenging but rewarding parts of creating a safe environment is recognizing how to support and foster a child’s healthy desire for independence and exploration, while also making sure that the materials and space available to them are safe. Some degree of control and influence over their environment provides children with the independence they need to develop not only their self-confidence, but also their regulatory abilities. In addition, children enjoy a sense of autonomy. They are constantly experimenting with items in their environment to better understand how their own bodies and objects in their world work.
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