A garden is a wonderful place for a child. We all likely remember spending countless hours in nature as kids, even just in our backyard. We might have been looking at butterflies, kicking a ball around, pretending we’re a pirate sailing on the climbing equipment or slide our parents or guardians had the good grace to buy for us. It’s amazing how little you need when you’re young, and how we can easily lose touch with that as we get older.

Of course, one of the strange inevitabilities of being a kid is that sooner or later, all our intrepid exploring leads to an injury. We might fall or trip or suffer an accident, some of them we’d still shudder thinking about as adults. As a parent with our own children to think of, you can never really wrap your little one in cotton wool, as much as you’d like. That doesn’t mean injuries are acceptable of course.

As such, before letting your little tyke run riot in the garden and filling that rite of passage, it’s important to consider how to fix up this space and prevent the most threatning hazards. Let’s discuss what those are:

Garden Tools & Debris

The main characteristics we all know about kids is they’re curious about absolutely everything, and that includes all the sharp implements hanging around the shed or scattered across the lawn after a weekend of trimming hedges and mowing grass. This could include but isn’t limited to secateurs, rakes, shears, or lawnmowers with their blades still accessible. Unfortunately, they all pose a genuine risk if left within reach. 

That’s why you need to invest in a storage space that’s locked or at minimum out of a child’s line of sight, as well as keeping chemicals like fertilizers and pesticides completely separate too, ideally in a high cupboard or locked cabinet. That’s because little hands have a habit of grabbing whatever looks interesting. A quick sweep of the garden after doing any maintenance work is a habit that should become second nature.

Unsecure Surroundings

Fences and gates are the essential nature of any safe garden space, but they need to be in good nick to do their job properly. You may know that you want these to stop dogs from escaping, but you don’t want any getting in either, nor people for that matter. Unfortunately, wobbly fence panels, gates that don’t latch correctly, or gaps big enough for a determined toddler to squeeze through all need addressing before they become an escape route or worse.

So, check for any loose screws, rotting wood, or areas where the fence might have started to lean after a bad storm. The perimeter should be solid, with no obvious weak points where a child could wander off into neighboring properties or onto a road. Garden furniture is another consideration, tables and chairs can become climbing frames in the mind of an adventurous four year old, so securing or repositioning anything that could be used to scale a fence is a good idea. You might feel like a prison warden but that’s okay.

Any Water Hazards

Water is magnetic to kids, but it’s also one of the biggest dangers in any garden setting. This means that any ponds, fountains, paddling pools left filled overnight can all present drowning risks that can happen frighteningly fast. If there’s a pond, covering it with a strong mesh or grill until children are older makes sense, or alternatively filling it in temporarily and bringing it back later. Swimming pools absolutely require proper pool fencing that meets safety standards too, and it’s a worthy investment.

With this advice, you’ll be certain to manage the three most threatening gardening hazards for children.