Pests like hornets, flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, wasps, and bees, are easily found outdoors during summer. Every parent will want to protect their kids from these stinging and biting pests which not only cause allergic reactions but also carry diseases.
But, many parents are concerned about using chemical-based pest repellents on their children. If you are one of such parents, know that others share similar concerns as you do.
So, read on to find out several non-harmful ways you can protect your kids from pests.
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Protecting Kids From Pets Without Using Chemicals
1. Protecting Kids From Pests By Keeping Home Clean
Cleaning your home ensures that your home is free from pests. Several pests can be found in homes that are not clean. When a home is filled with food clutters, or you slack in cleaning chores, you allow crumbs and spills to build up, and leaks to persist which would result in an infestation.
Experts at Terminix pest management suggest taking control of your home when you notice it has been infected by pests by using up-to-date and advanced techniques which include baiting systems and liquid barriers to mitigate and treat pests.
2. Regularly Check Pets For Insects
Some pests usually latch to the body of your pets. Sometimes, they might even latch onto your clothes. So, always check your pets regularly for pests.
It would be best to wear light-colored clothes since that would make them easy to spot. When pests enter your home through your clothes, they would have more time to enter your body and cause harm to you.
3. Use Repellents In Protecting Kids From Pests
Medical experts have concluded studies on two repellent ingredients that are very effective in protecting children from bugs: DEET and picaridin. DEET is more popular, but as early as 2012, many countries had also approved picaridin as a good ingredient for insect repellent for children.
Picaridin is made with compounds that cause less skin irritation than DEET. It is also not greasy or smelly. for children contain these two concentrations of 10% or 20%, and they are both safe for children over six months old. The insect repellent with a 10% concentration can keep mosquitoes and ticks at bay for about two to five hours.
While that 20% concentration can protect your kid from ticks and mosquitoes for about five to seven hours. Experts suggest that when you use DEET, you can use a product containing less than 10% concentration for children from six months to 12 years old. This will keep ticks and mosquitoes at bay for over five hours, and it should only be applied once for children 2 years old and under.
Irrespective of the product that you choose, you must apply it lightly on your exposed skin. When applying on your face, rub a portion on your hand, and apply it on the face, avoiding contact with the eyes or the mouth. Ensure that you wash the repellent off when home as you should not expose your kids to repellents for a long time.
4. Protecting Kids From Pests By Regularly Inspecting Your Home
You must regularly inspect your kid’s rooms for things they would not know they have like bed bugs and other pests. For the unaware adult, bed bugs might not be something that you may actively search for, but you should often inspect your kid’s rooms in search of these pests.
When you don’t find any signs of bed bugs in the clothes, toys, or beds, you can also check their stomach, back, and arms. Common signs of bed bugs include small bite marks that could have rash-like symptoms.
5. Add Pest-Resistant Plants To Your Home
When it comes to keeping bugs off your home, you can use bug-resistant plants such as marigolds, mint, garlic, and rosemary. Chrysanthemums have been proven to be very effective in repelling ticks, spider mites, ants, and roaches.
When you strategically grow these plants, you would be able to reap the benefit of having fewer bugs in your home. While doing this, ensure that you remove leaves, and standing water from areas around your home. These places usually attract insects and bugs over time.
Wrap-Up In Protecting Kids From Pests
Rats, cockroaches, ants, and other pests can cause damage to your home and could even expose your family to diseases. As a parent, you must know the pest control options that you can use in protecting your kids while also reducing your family‘s exposure to pesticides.
The first step to reducing your kid’s exposure to pests is to practice preventive measures. The above-mentioned tips would help you in getting rid of pests without much reliance on pesticides that might pose a problem to your kid’s health.
Our super author here at Famous Parenting and an absolute wealth of knowledge. She has studied many topics including creative writing, psychology and journalism but her real passion lies in raising her 3 children. Between working from home, homeschooling her youngest 2 children and navigating the world of teenagers she is a guru for parents.
