Are Child Proof Containers Really Child Proof??
Are Childproof containers really childproof??? Not really or you could say that they are (semi) child proofing but I say no! To me if 5-10 children can et the so called childproof container top off te its not childproof. Their not really childproof if the child can bang it on a hard surface for a while and manage to get the top off. A child can really get the cap off a pill bottle by throwing it or banging it on a hard surface cause I’ve seen it before i started this research and with one of my test subjects.
The containers aren’t child proof they’re just a little tougher for old people to get them open and child resistant. I chose to this project cause I wanted to know : 1. What were childproof containers invented to prevent? 2. How does childproof containers work? 3. Are childproof containers really childproof? 4. Can a young child learn to open a childproof container? I went into this project wanting to know the answers to these questions. So I did this by gathering four “childproof” containers and cleaning them thoroughly and sanitizing them .
I gathered a cough medicine botle, prescription pill bottle, a toilet bowl cleaner bottle, a over the counter pill bottle, a cleaning supplies spray bottle, disposable gloves, test subjects, stop watch, masking tape, a permenant marker, a lab notebook, and graphing paper. With all this I tested a good amount of toddlers around the age 5-6 to see if they could get the childproof tops off the containers. I gave each subject a minute to open each container and if they couldnt get it open I showed them how to open it without any verbal contact and giving them another minute and a second try to open it.
After testing all of the subjects I saw that many struggled trying to open the toilet bowl cleaner bottle and the aspirin container. Children that age, know that a way to get the top off a container is to twist. Many of my subjects didn’t get the top off the toilet bowl cleaner nor the aspirin pill bottle. These two containers need a little more than just a twist. The toilet bowl cleaner needs weight pushed on the top and then a twist.
On the aspirin the two triangles are needed to be lined up and the kids don’t know why the triangles are there so I didn’t expect any to get that top off but a few proved me wrong. So when I saw them open it I was stunned! Some just twisted the top until the triangles luckily lined up and the top was eligible of being open. But test subject 18 opened it with seriously with no problem! In my mind I’m like okay who taught you that or are you at home just randomly being allowed to play with pill bottles at home? I really wanted to ask the fella but I said nawl its none of my business.
On the other hand some of the kids just used the twisting the top to get the tops off. The pharmacy pill bottle and the cleaning supplies spray bottle is what the kids didn’t have a problem getting off. Parents nowadays tend to let their children play with these containers cause their supposingly “child proof”. Parents fail to realize that only some child proof containers are really childproof while the others are selling a lie. Due to these tops posing as a childproof top over 1 million children are accidently poisoned every year.
These containers are false and the company should run test to make sure for a fact that they are a childproof top. Parents think the safety cap is going to give 100 percent security. They don’t know how easily little kids can get into things like. Every 7 minutes a child is rushed to the emergency room because they are unintentionally poisoned. These containers play not only a role in the company but also in the parent/gaurdian or whomever is around at the time cause if the child isn’t being watched then there ain’t no telling what that child will get into.
According to Consumer Product Safety Commission only keep out about 80 percent of the children under the age 5. The government isn’t being hard enough when it comes to issues like this. If the government was harder on things like this then companies would change the way the tops on these containers are made. Once the companies change the way the tops are made by making them tougher to open then you’ll have a lesser percentage of kids accidentally getting poisoned.
Everything starts with the government but the company should want to change it if they see that their tops aren’t as childproof as they think they are. Companies must realize that these things are life threatening and isn’t a joke. A recent study showed that children as young as 2 can get into these containers. So what that tell you. Parents also need to realize that these tops are not child proof only child resistant. After doing this project I realize that all these containers posing of what they aren’t. Not child proof but child resistant.
