Child safety tips — window blinds

I've got a room in my house that is somewhat chilly around the windows. To minimize the heat loss during the winter, I recently installed some Roman shades over each window frame for (hopefully) added insulation. In reading the directions, I noticed that blind manufacturers now suggest trimming the pull cords as short as possible so children can't easily reach the cords. They also suggest separating each one of the pull cords from all the others so the cords won't form loops that a child could get his or her head stuck in.

Since I've got small children, I followed the recommendations of the manufacturer and trimmed the cords. I looked around the house at other blinds and noticed that older blinds in the house don't have separate pull cords — instead, they are all knotted together at the bottom. This poses the danger the manufacturer of my new Roman shade warned about, so I trimmed the remaining blinds in the house and separated the cords.

I hope this little safety tip helps those of you with children and grandchildren.