The Motley Fool: The Family Fool, 03/04/98: Home Safety

Home, Safe Home
Home Safety
March 4, 1998

As I sit here in the kitchen of my parents' home in bucolic Northern Florida, everything is cozy and warm and safe. There are brownies on the counter, CNBC on cable, and a phone jack for my laptop's modem. It's supposed to get up to 80 degrees today (which means I can work on the deck), and I'm as happy as a clam.

On the other hand, not 100 miles south of here, 39 people lost their lives recently because of torrential downpours and tornadoes that tore a destructive swath through Central Florida. Had the storm's center hit just a little farther up the coast, it could have been my family that was spending the night at the refugee center set up by the American Red Cross.

We all have a tendency to think that if we're home, we're safe. The truth is that few places are as fraught with potential danger as the one place that most people think of as their haven. From acts of God like the storm last week to slipping in the bathtub to cutting your hand on the mower to warding off evil burglars, your little bastion of warmth and comfort could do you in one way or another.

Luckily, there are some pretty common sense things you can do to make sure that your castle is the safe haven you want it to be. And we've even got some ideas on how you can make sure that it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg. (Hey! We gotta save something for that mower to munch on.)

In our Fool Quiz, see if you already know which are the dangerous articles of clothing, what are the rules for the fences around swimming pools, and the #1 cause of burns around the home.
In The Big Five Baddies we have a checklist of home safety tips for you to go through with your honey, your kids and your dog!
This week's 10 Foolish Security Tips are all about remaining unscathed both in body and bank account.
Next we have 10 Child Safety Tips, which suggests ways of preventing accidents around the house, and offers guidelines for communicating about safety with your young children.
And finally, in this week's Stock-In-Trade, what better way to get your kids interested in investing than by introducing them to a company that started out tracking down bank robbers in the Old West and now finds industrial spies in the great capitals of Europe? Oh yeah, they have a division that does home security, too. Meet Pinkerton's.

Now, make some hot chocolate (don't forget to turn off the burner!), snuggle up on the couch (is that comforter flame-retardant?) and take out a number two pencil (but watch out for the point!). And let's see how Foolishly safe we can make your home, sweet, home.

-- Trudy Bowen (TMF Hoyden)