Child proof tops

For years now my Mother who has some arthritis in her hands has been struggling with these stupid tops that are on nearly all containers these days.
Some require pushing down, some require squeezing, and there are probably a few other combinations of both out there, all designed to make it impossible for kids to open things.
Trouble is, it makes it difficult for others to also open these containers.

Is there an answer?

All I know is that for years I've been unscrewing these tops for her and then they are only lightly screwed back on so she can open them again.

How SAFE is that with a bottle of bleach etc.

I've come to the point of actually cutting off the offending lugs in the type you need to squeeze, but obviously thats not something I like doing with every bottle.

Any ideas how to overcome this problem??

 

I call them builder proof tops.

You could decant the contents into another bottle & lable it.

When it comes to medicines, we've had the chemists make up blister packs for my Mum, but thats mainly because she takes so many diffferent ones.

 

have you ever tried opening a fray bentos pie with an old fashioned tin opener? (the pies that are in the flat tins)

I see some of them now have those tabs that you pull (but not all)

another one that causes a problem (if you don't know how to open properly), are those rectangular tins of spam/corned beef that has a key type attachment to open .... if you are not carefull, you end up cutting your fingers

 

I don't have arthritis in my hands but I still have difficulty in opening these tops!!!! they are infuriating :gaagh: because stupid mothers/fathers don't have the sense to put dangerous things out of the reach of their kids Grrrr!!!

Val

 

Good point, Pete. Starting from the milk bottles which I find next to impossible to open myself...there are a multitude of others which I use the nutcracker for, but even for that you need quite a strenght.

If one is sure that the elderly involved is in a 100% fit state of mind therefore does not mix up labels etc, I think that the decanting and labelling washing liquids to easy spray bottles or empty softener bottles could be a good idea.
As far as food is concerned , jars with easily screwable lid, not clip on, are much easier to open.

 

You have answered your own question.

If it saves one kids life its worth it.

I hear, and understand what you say, but like I said................

 

Hazardous substance should be kept well away from children sight to start with.
I find it more dangerous to open one of those special lid which I splash regularly when I open,(they all behave differently!) than an ordinary one.

 

I'm not sure decanting into other bottles is a good idea, for starters, can you find another bottle that does not have a similar top??
The other reason might be its dangerous to do so.

If its dangerous to kids, then why would I want to spend my time decanting the bleach into a lemonade bottle and then putting a label on it which kids cant read.
Thats apart from the fact that there are possibly 6 or 7 household items that are in this kind of bottle.
I could spend a day after shopping just doing this.

My thoughts are that the responsibility for the safety of such items lies with the parents.
So how about going back to using sensible tops, (lets face it most kids can open these things anyway), and the manufacturers supplying safety tops, with the bottles, for those that require them.

Watergarden, you might be old yourself one day,........ if you're lucky.:WINK1:

 

A very valid question here Pete and I would like to clarify why I liked Ziggy's post about decanting ... I was meaning for the elderly as you were referring to your Mother and I thought Zig was responding to that. I appreciate this is perhaps not the way forward when children are involved.

I hate the bl**dy things as I have weak wrists and always have done so it's not an old age problem with me. I can't open standard jars sometimes even after I have tapped their lids on a concrete wall to'break the seal'.

Who knows where the answer is ... perhaps there isn't one!

 

How did we all manage to get to adulthood without them..................

Val

 

Having worked in the building industry for 40 odd years the one thing the Health and Safety bunch always throw at you, dont decant anything into another bottle.
I had a mate who drank white spirit once, it was in a lemonade bottle, had 'white spirit' written across the label, but who looks that carefully?

Anyway, in this day and age we should not have to do such things the onus is on those that are resposible to do what they consider is the right thing.

The rest of the population should not have to suffer for the minority.

 

Responsible???? Hmmm, a lot of people will not know what that word means!!!

Val

 

Val, resposibility means having to unscrew the tops from most cleaning fluids, then putting them back, not screwed on properly and hoping that the person concerned, with poor hand movements, does not spill them or drop them down themselves.

 

Typical modern manufactureing interfering with the gene pool

Jack Mch

 

I was working on the church in Crewkerne & we were having our 10am break sat in the churchyard.

I couldn't understand why little old ladies were giving us the evil eye till I looked around and found Katrina was drinking water from an old Vodka bottle:DOH: