As the parent of a young child, you have probably made every effort to maintain safety in your home. Medications are safely out of reach, stored high above in medicine cabinets. Electrical sockets are covered with clear plastic outlet protectors and stairs are blocked with safety gates. But what happens when you visit the home of a friend or relative who may not be as meticulous as you are in keeping everything childproofed?

With a little ingenuity by planning ahead of your visit, and with some tactful resourcefulness on your part, you can take the necessary steps to ensure your little one's safety.

Watching your infant/toddler explore the world is a wonderful experience. Most infants and toddlers explore the world around them in a way that comes naturally to them – through their mouths and hands.

Jonathan I. Groner, the trauma medical director at Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and associate professor of surgery at the Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health, explains that this exploration is a part of the normal neurosensory development of children. "With this particular age group, it is part of ordinary curiosity to put almost any object into their mouths," he says.

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