Donald Hester
Washington State Licensed Home Inspector #647
WSDA#80050
InterNachi Member #NACHI10022401
509-670-9572
Contact Us
Washington State Licensed Home Inspector #647
WSDA#80050
InterNachi Member #NACHI10022401
509-670-9572
Contact Us
Blogs
Through a Child’s Eyes- Child Safety
Submitted by DonHester on Fri, 01/25/2013 - 16:05.Through a Child’s Eyes- Child Safety Leavenworth Home Inspections
I was a late bloomer into the land of parenting. It is not because I do not love children, I love them immensely. I guess I always wanted to be ready to be a good parent, if that is possible.
My wife would laugh at me because the neighborhood kids would come to our door and ask - “can Donny come out and play?” I was usually always up for a snowball fight, some football, pick-up basketball or a baseball game. I was even up for an occasional bout of “Kick the Can”.
But I always had a little voice that said “wait”, maybe because I was still too much like them. Maybe I was not ready for the commitment.
What I enjoy most about young children is their curiosity and their honesty (for the most part). The world is one big adventure and learning and finding boundaries is an everyday event. They will make mistakes and that is okay, you just do not want the ones that will hurt or kill them.
So one of the things I do when performing a home inspection is look at the home through a child’s eyes. What can a kid do in the home? What avoidable dangers can I make the homeowner understand or think about? Almost no one will correct all the items I will point out but if they are at least provided that information they can be aware. We can never remove all risks.
This came to mind during a recent home inspection and I was pointing out the balusters for a railing were too wide. My client said well was that code when the home was built? I reply probably but what if a child gets their head stuck in there does it matter what code was in force? The client replies “probably not, but they will never do that again”. We both had a little laugh but the point was made.
Building codes had a requirement of 6 inches for balusters, but they were having problems with young children getting their heads stuck in between the balusters. This forced them to change the building code.
Sometimes just because a home was built to a standard of the day does not make it safe for our loved ones. I feel it does not hurt to at least provide that information.
“If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.”
Red Adair
NCW Home Inspections, LLC is a Licensed Washington State Home Inspection service located in Wenatchee Washington serving Chelan County, Douglas County, Kittitas County, Okanogan County and Grant County Washington and the cities of Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Cashmere, Oroville, Cle Elum, East Wenatchee, Quincy and many more…
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www.ncwhomeinspections.com 509-670-9572
