How to Create an Environment Safe for Our Family and Community
Now that we have gone through most of the important steps to understand and avoid poisonous plants, it is time to tie together all that we have talked about. What is the ultimate plan to ensure a safe environment for our family and community?
While there is no foolproof plan, we can begin to implement what we have learned. It starts with identifying a majority of the plants that can be a problem for our family. With this step, it is important to realize that plants that are not toxic to us may still be toxic to our furry friends. For example, cyclamen are highly toxic to dogs.
Once we have done our due diligence and studied up about these poisonous plants we should then inform others in our family or circles of influence. This can be done with kids by printing out pictures or drawing pictures of the plant. You can even have the kids draw red X’s over the plants to stick the imagery in their mind that they are to be avoided.
If you are going to have toxic house plants, make sure that they are placed out of reach of children and pets. No matter how much we try to teach plant safety to our loved ones, mistakes can still be made. It is important to mitigate the chance of failure so that the chance is as slim as can be.
This may involve planting your favorite daffodils in an enclosed area that only you can get to, instead of having them in the front lawn where you like to show them off. If your lawn gets riddled with buttercups, it may be necessary to keep your lawn mowed more than you like. It is always better safe than sorry.
When it comes to dealing with toxic plants by hand, make sure to always use gloves to avoid getting sap on your skin. You should also make sure to wash your clothes afterward. This will ensure that even after tending to the plant, you will not accidentally touch the sap later.
As a community, each one of us has a part to play. In the national poison control statistics of 2020, it showed that roughly 31,000 kids under the age of 6 were poisoned by plants. Those are just the reported numbers, and animal cases are not included. Becoming aware of the problem and then acting on your knowledge are the first steps to bringing that number down, ensuring a safer space for kids and pets alike.