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If you take multiple medications, it can be a huge ordeal to keep track of everything; Whether you need to take them in the morning or evening, what your dosage is or if you need to take them with a meal. Medication management can get even more challenging if you have children in your household. It’s important to not only safely store your medicine but also know how to talk to your kids about medication safety.
Medication Storage1
While most parents know to store medicine in a high cabinet or an unreachable location, it’s important not to forget that there are products you might not immediately consider to be medicine, such as vitamins, eye drops, or foot cream, but they still need to be stored in a secure location.
It’s also important to be alert to visitors’ medicine. If you have a friend or family member staying with you, be sure to check and make sure all their personal belongings are stored in a safe location.
Get Rid of Medicine Safely
When cleaning out your medicine cabinet, make sure you dispose of them properly. Avoid throwing them away in the trash or even flushing them down the toilet. The best method of getting rid of unused medicine is finding a local drug take back program. You can find a location HERE.
Talking to Your Kids
It’s important to educate children about proper medication use. Here are a few tips from safekids.org regarding what to discuss with your children:
Teach your child that medicine should always be given by an adult. It’s important for kids to know that they should not take medicine on their own. Parents and caregivers can help make sure they are taking it correctly.
Don’t refer to medicine as candy. While saying medicine is candy may make it easier to get your child to take medicine, it may encourage them to try it on their own.
Model responsible medication behavior. What kids see us doing is a much stronger message than what we tell them to do. Make sure to store medicine out of reach of children, read drug facts and prescription labels before taking medicine and follow the recommended dose.
If you have any additional questions regarding your medications,
reach out to the Tria Health Help Desk: 1.888.799.8742