Baby-proofing Your Home

If you have ever baby proofed your home, you know that it takes a lot of time, money and effort to do it the right way. You do not want your children to get hurt while at the same time you want to continue keeping your home functional and user friendly. Yet anyone who has ever seen the speed and agility with which children are able to pry open caps of so called child proof bottles must ask him- or herself if the efforts were wasted. After all, what good is it to have the bleach under lock and key only to have junior open the latch with the aplomb of a Mission Impossible hero?

To this end it might be well worth the effort to have an experienced parent come over to your house after you are done baby proofing it. Give your friend free reign and see if this new pair of eyes will see things that you missed. An experienced parent will known exactly where to look, what to look for, and she or he will also be able to give you some much needed advice where your little one most likely will head for first. If you really want to make certain that your home is absolutely safe, invite your friends to come over and bring their toddlers. Then let the little tykes loose in your home - with parental supervision, of course - and promise the first one who can bypass your child proof efforts a treat. You might be amazed what little hands with a sugary motivation can do!

Last but not least, even if you are able to secure your home in such a manner that you feel completely certain it is safe for your child, do not leave anything to chance and do not let your little gadgets and doodads take the place of adequate parental supervision. Keep in mind that these plug covers, door stoppers, and corner cushions are helpers to prevent serious injury, but they are not taking the place of someone watching over the child and preventing her or him to get close to the under sink storage area in the first place! No little piece of plastic - no matter how well it is bolted in - will ever be able to replace a pair of vigilant eyes, and a set of fingers ready to push an open door shut, or keep little hands out of harm's way.

Baby proofing your home takes a lot of common sense and a little bit of money. When you get ready to prepare your home for the arrival of its youngest inhabitant, you may go ahead and buy plug covers and other items. Keep in mind that an infant will not need such a secure home, but that a six month old toddler most certainly does! Yet very often by the time the infant becomes that toddler, parental vigilance has grown lax, door latches have been broken off, and substances that were banned from the low shelves have somehow made their way back to the convenient under sink storage cabinet. For this reason it is best to baby proof when you actually need it, and not six months in advance.

After you have secured your toxic substances in lockable cabinets, and banished items that could easily topple and fall on top of the small child, it is time to look for the less likely hazards around the house. To this end it is a good idea to lie down on the carpet and take a look around. Chances are this will give you the eyelevel perspective of the child. You will quickly notice things that escaped you from five feet up. Perhaps you can see that your furniture has some staples sticking out that need to be removed. Maybe you realize that the furnace cover is not as tight as you thought and an inquisitive little toddler can get a hand in there and close to the pilot light. Whatever hazards you see, you will need to repair. Do this with every room in your home.

Next, go back to lying on the carpet, but this time look up. Are there things that invitingly dangle at a certain height? Perhaps a lamp cord that has an interesting looking on/off switch attached to it? Maybe the cords of your blinds swing in the breeze? These are items that need to be secured, since they present a strangulation danger for the child. When you repeat this exercise in the bathroom, you will probably notice that your child will be able to just look over the toilet rim and the flushing water may be fascinating. Install a lid guard that will prevent the child from falling into the toilet and drowning. Remove any kind of flush aid that is used to scent or color the water. Look for sharp edges of the cabinet top that might be hanging over the actual sink cabinet. A child may bump its head and get hurt.

If you have ever baby proofed your home, you know that it takes a lot of time, money and effort to do it the right way. You do not want your children to get hurt while at the same time you want to continue keeping your home functional and user friendly. Yet anyone who has ever seen the speed and agility with which children are able to pry open caps of so called child proof bottles must ask him- or herself if the efforts were wasted. After all, what good is it to have the bleach under lock and key only to have junior open the latch with the aplomb of a Mission Impossible hero?

To this end it might be well worth the effort to have an experienced parent come over to your house after you are done baby proofing it. Give your friend free reign and see if this new pair of eyes will see things that you missed. An experienced parent will known exactly where to look, what to look for, and she or he will also be able to give you some much needed advice where your little one most likely will head for first. If you really want to make certain that your home is absolutely safe, invite your friends to come over and bring their toddlers. Then let the little tykes loose in your home - with parental supervision, of course - and promise the first one who can bypass your child proof efforts a treat. You might be amazed what little hands with a sugary motivation can do!

Last but not least, even if you are able to secure your home in such a manner that you feel completely certain it is safe for your child, do not leave anything to chance and do not let your little gadgets and doodads take the place of adequate parental supervision. Keep in mind that these plug covers, door stoppers, and corner cushions are helpers to prevent serious injury, but they are not taking the place of someone watching over the child and preventing her or him to get close to the under sink storage area in the first place! No little piece of plastic - no matter how well it is bolted in - will ever be able to replace a pair of vigilant eyes, and a set of fingers ready to push an open door shut, or keep little hands out of harm's way.