4 Your Kids: Safety Tips For Kids Who'll Spend The Summer At Home

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The summer vacation countdown is on.

While the focus will be on fun in the sun, safety should be top of mind, too!

For the next few weeks, we're focusing on summer safety "4 Your Kids."

If they're not at summer camp, your kids will likely be spending a lot more time at home over the next few months. Home should be considered a safe place for children, but you can never be too careful when it comes to curious kids.

Dr. Patricia Rowe-King of the Salah Foundation Children's Hospital at Broward Health has some tips you need to know.

"We should as much as possible have an alarm on all doors that go outside so when the doors open that will alert parents that the child will be accessing the outside," Dr. Rowe-King said. "We also see a lot of burns at this time of year. We recommend setting the water heater to 120-130 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent scalding water from coming out of your pipes."

She went on to say, "In the kitchen, when you're cooking, if you have a small child running around, make sure you have the pot handles turned in so the child can't reach up and grab it."

"Medications, even if it has a child cap, children are ingenious, they can open the child cap," she added. "So put it up high and lock it."

You should also be extra careful with what you have in your cabinets. Particularly, cleaning supplies underneath the sink. Some of these things could be toxic if ingested. And if you have little ones, keep the cabinets closed with safety latches.

It's also critically important to keep firearms where curious kids can't find them.

"Guns should always be placed in a place kept under lock and key where a child cannot reach it and the bullets should be kept away from the gun," Dr. Rowe-King explained.

In case you're wondering if you should leave your child home alone over the summer months, The National Safe Kids Campaign recommends that children not be left alone at home before the age of 12.