As you deal with keeping your home environment safer, the weather will improve and that allows you to venture outside with your baby or young child and a whole new set of hazards will appear.

Being outside is great for kids and you, the fresh air and feeling of being free to explore this wonderful new place can be very uplifting. Children need to be outside exercising and getting muddy, playing in sand and discovering lots of new textures. Being cocooned in our central heated houses is not always healthy and we need to ensure that when we do go out that we have made our outside environment as safe and child friendly as possible.

You will never completely relax when you are outside, but you can do a lot to minimise the anxiety and we hope that some of the pages in this section will give you a better understanding of the hazards and prepare you to minimise the risks.

I remember when Charlotte came along, she was climbing so much earlier than James, because we had the climbing frame in the garden she aimed for it as soon as she could.

When the weather is good (some hope in Britain I know!) it is great being in the garden, down the park or woods and just getting about is fun, but you do need to have your wits about you and teach your children how to play safely without limiting their desire to explore and have adventure.

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