I sometimes find it difficult to watch the news. It seems like I sit down to watch the news and it's such terrible news all the time that it's really hard to watch, but then I think "Well, I should know what's going on in the world". And of course that wins out, and I watch the news.
I've been thinking about writing something on child proofing our homes for awhile, and after watching the news recently, I feel it is so necessary. Now I'm not a safety expert by any means, but my husband and I have worked really hard at child proofing our home. And it's something that we think about on a daily basis.
As a matter of fact, we recently had some friends call us, out of the blue, to stop by with their new baby, which is wonderful - of course we want to see your baby. Well, we have been buying our daughter toys that are 3+. We still watch her of course, but I really believe that she is out of the putting everything in her mouth phase. So now we have all these tiny toys, and I realize that our house is pretty unsafe for a baby. So I frantically run around the house trying to get rid of all these tiny toys before a baby comes to our house.
Since then, I have been going through all the toys and putting them through the paper towel roll test. These tiny toys are going in a special bin, so when we have the youngest of friends over, these toys can easily go buh-bye temporarily.
When safety proofing your home, it's a good idea to get on your hands and knees and crawl around your house, so you're seeing what the children are seeing. And if you're starting a home daycare, you may want to seek the advice of a safety professional. You can read all you want online or in books about this topic, but everyone has unique traits to their home. It might be good to have someone else crawl around with you.
Safety is always a challenge because above all you want to keep children safe, but you also want them to be able to have some freedom and be able to explore their environment.
The kitchen is a big safety hazard for children. You need to put locks on:
the refrigerator
the oven door (and forgo the hanging dish towel on the oven door)
the dishwasher unless you remember to lock it all the time
the lower cabinets
The following appliance latch by Safety First, we use on our refrigerator, my daughter's dresser, the desk for our computer, any pull out drawer, the trash can, etc. This can also work on certain types of kitchen cabinets like under the sink. This may or may not work on your dishwasher. I think dishwashers have a lock (at least ours does). We keep it locked all the time because my daughter went through a phase where she loved the dishwasher and wanted it open all the time.
Watch your stove, as well. Some stoves have the knobs low enough that a child could reach them. I've seen where people can remove the knobs, but to me that seems dangerous, as well because you really don't know if you turned the stove off. If your stove has low knobs, you may want to buy some covers.
Although we don't have a stove guard, these might be something to look into:
The next item is bi-fold doors which are in abundance in our house. Our pantry and almost all of our closets have these doors, which are awful because children can easily pinch their fingers.
And of course, I love these knobs for the doors. We actually use the ones by Safety 1st. They are very similar to the ones in the picture below, and they are not only child proof, but adult proof.
Screen doors and windows. I used to babysit at someones home who lived on the 3rd floor and often times the windows would be open. The screens are not safe. As soon as I got there, I closed and locked the windows. These windows can be so dangerous and even if you're right there, accidents happen in a split second. It's hard to recommend something because of so many different types of windows. Some windows can be opened from the top, which is safer than opening at the bottom. And be sure to keep all furniture away from the windows.
For our screen door, my husband purchased this at Home Depot. I'm not recommending this for a window or doors that are on a higher level because I think you really need something that is hard. But this works for our screen door, which is on the ground floor. It is a black mesh type thing. It has these silver knobs on each side that attach to the door. I know that's a wonderful description, but here's a picture of it:
That crazy corner on the coffee table. We purchased these covers for our coffee table. When we originally put them on, they were ripped off (quite easily, I might add). We have since put them back on, and they are very necessary.
Outlet covers of course!
The television can so easily tip over and off whatever TV stand you have it on.
Stairs:
Gates are recommended at both the top and bottom of stairs.
The toilet:
And speaking of the bathroom, every time we go to our Pediatricians office, we get this question "Is your water heater thermostat set to 120 or lower"? And my answer is always "Huh". Apparently your water heater thermostat should be set to 120 or lower.
I'm beginning to think that I should have done this in segments because it's getting pretty overwhelming. I haven't even mentioned: the heaters, furniture falling over, plants, cords on windows and blinds, and we haven't even crawled outside yet.
So I'm going to stop here, and I'll have more on this topic soon. Feel free to offer your feedback!
- Michelle
