Parents more safety conscious when travelling abroad

A survey conducted by child-friendly travel company totstotravel.co.uk found that 45.8% of parents felt they had to be more safety conscious on a holiday with young children than they would be at home. In addition, almost a quarter (24.9%) of the parents said that they had been on family holidays where no basic safety equipment or features were provided.

The 350 parents polled were asked to rank holiday safety features in order of importance. Enclosed swimming pools topped the list, followed by enclosed play spaces, stairgates, lifeguards, electric plug socket covers and baby monitors. Yet, of the holidays that parents had been on with young children, only 45.7% had enclosed swimming pools, 28.7% had stairgates and only 16.1% had electric plug socket covers.

Child safety will be put in the spotlight by the Child Accident and Prevention Trust (CAPT) during Child Safety Week running from 23 to 29 June 2008. While the emphasis of the CAPT campaign is on safety in and around the home, Tots to Travel wants to encourage parents to also be aware of the safety hazards they might face on holiday with young children.

“Most holiday properties are not designed with young children in mind. Parents go to great lengths to make their homes child-proof but the same precautions aren’t usually in place on a holiday,” explains Wendy Shand, founder of Tots to Travel. “This makes it incredibly hard for parents - who are usually in dire need of a real break - to actually relax. We’ve invested in CAPT training to ensure that all of our properties are vetted and kitted out with child safety in mind, but not all holidays companies have done the same.”

With the looming summer holidays, Tots to Travel offers these safety tips to parents travelling with young children:

• Call your holiday company and find out what safety features they have in place. Forewarned is forearmed.
• If the pool is unenclosed, request a room that doesn’t open directly onto it.
• Ask whether you can hire stairgates or a playpen.
• Take your own baby monitors and be sure to get an international travel adaptor.
• Take a roll of masking tape to stick over unused electric plug sockets.
• Ensure your children wear buoyancy aids at all times when in the pool area.
• Take a travel first aid kit with you.
• Opt for babysitting rather than baby listening services.

It was her own two year old son falling into an unenclosed swimming pool on holiday that prompted Shand to start up Tots to Travel. She provides holiday properties that let parents completely relax. All of the properties in the popular totstofrance.co.uk and totstoitaly.co.uk stables provide the basic child-related necessities, including safety elements, that parents take for granted at home. Stairgates, electric plugs socket covers, fully enclosed swimming pools, bed guards, baby monitors and non-slip bath mats are just some of the safety features the properties offer.