Tiny Hearts Education: Top five rules to keep kids safe from no whole nuts to no eating in the car

An Australian mum and paramedic has revealed her top five rules she enforces at home to keep her children safe from potentially life-threatening accidents. 

Tiny Hearts Education founder Nikki Jurcutz’s strict rules she has in place to ensure her kid’s safety include no whole nuts, no eating in the car and no button batteries in the house.

The Queensland mum-of-two shared her top rules she said she learnt from being an advanced life support paramedic in a video posted to Tiny Heart’s popular TikTok page.

Her first rule is her children are not allowed to eat whole nuts until they are at least five years of age due to choking hazards. 

In a Tiny Hearts blog post, Nikki said children can choke on just half a nut so recommends grinding them down or using a thin slice of nut paste like peanut butter instead. 

Nikki’s second rule is keeping children in a rearward-facing car seat for as long as possible as it’s ‘the safest way in an accident’. 

Currently in Australia, the legal requirement is for babies under six months must be in a rear-facing car seat, and children above that age are permitted to be in a front facing car seat with the appropriate restraints and harnesses. 

However, Nikki recommends keeping kids in rear-facing car seats for well beyond six months as it lowers the risk of serious injury and even death should an accident occur. 

‘Number three, no eating in the car. Choking is silent and it is extremely dangerous if you are driving and notice your little one is choking,’ Nikki said in the clip. 

In a previous video, the cautious mum said this is a ‘non-negotiable’ rule and that she will only give her little ones a snack in the car if someone else is driving and she can supervise them by sitting in the back. 

Nikki’s number four rule is to ‘always have contact supervision for my little ones when they are around any form of water’. 

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children between one and three years of age in the world according the to United Nations. 

Nikki said it’s important to keep a sharp eye on children at all times around water as drowning can happen ‘in only small amount of water, in just 20 seconds and is silent’.  

The mum’s final rule is banning button batteries from her home which are coin-sized batteries used to power many children’s toys especially those that light up or make sound effects

Finally, the former paramedic said she has a ban on button batteries in her home. 

Button batteries are used to power many children’s toys especially those that light up or make sound effects including plush toys, toy cars, digital pets, early learning watches, light-up yo-yos, games, novelty items and singing Santas. 

The coin-sized batteries pose a serious choking risk to young children and can easily lodge in their throat restricting breath ways or cause severe burns due to the chemical reaction triggered by salvia. 

Button batteries can also be found in a range of household items such as remote controls, calculators, watches, torches, flameless candles, digital kitchen or bathroom scales and thermometers. 

Nikki’s clip amassed more than 975,100 views and dozens of parents in the comments shared their own rules for reducing the risk of injury around their homes. 

‘All good points. Add in slice grapes length ways,’ one mum said. 

‘Just remember button batteries are hiding. Those fun sing along books, garage controllers, electric toothbrushes all have them. Be vigilant,’ another cautioned. 

‘All of this for me + Constant supervision around kids and dogs, no dogs in the kids faces (from mum who was an animal control ranger),’ a third responded. 

‘Six, don’t have any blind cords hanging. Seven, don’t have buckets of water in the laundry for soaking. Eight, always have a safe spot where you can see your kids when reversing your car,’ a fourth recommended.