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So, I won't jinx it by saying something that we haven't confirmed yet, but there's hints that we may need to begin childproofing our house.
There's a couple obvious things I know about, like how a transitional wood strip that goes between our hardwood floors and a carpeted living room needs to be replaced since it is splintered in a place, and I am thinking my fashionable modernist dinner table may need to have some padding put on it to avoid little fingers getting caught in a couple of metal designs, but other than that, some good tips on getting ready for kids?
Either switch out your receptacles with tamper proof ones or get the plastic caps that go over the prong slots.
Get those locking levers for all your cabinets especially the ones with chemicals.
Get a stair blocking gate ( if you have stairs)
Raise your child(ren) correctly!
When our 1st was on the way we had soooooooooo many people, who had been to our house, tell us "you'll have to move that", "move this", "put that where it can't be reached", "pad this", "pad that", "put locks on the cabinets", and on, and on, and on. IF we had done ANY OF IT we would have felt we weren't "living" in our own house!
So, they (my children) learned very early they don't touch, go into certain rooms, keep their things in their room, and don't make messes!
Needless to say, but there were no broken bones, stitches, or other bodily injury. Nor were there any broken or damaged furniture, accessories, or walls!
Some things you won't know to do until your kids begin pulling up/crawling/walking because babies get fixated on different things.
You won't need to worry about this for at least a year from now, if you're correct. You of course should do what Knowledge Builder said and teach your kids what not to touch. But I do remember a particular day when my twins were 18 months old and I had to sit on the floor in front of the pantry door until my husband came home with a pantry door lock because that was the day they decided they HAD to get in there, and I could not find anything in the house to keep them out.
You will probably get better answers in the Parenting forum. Or just Google it for a more comprehensive list.
Sure, you teach your children; however, never, NEVER underestimate the curiosity or strength of a baby, toddler, and preschooler. They are exploring and learning and as parents, grandparents, and caretakers it is our responsibility to keep our little ones safe, healthy, and alive. People who think child proofing isn't required are taking big risks with their children's lives, IMO.
Others have mentioned stair gates, cabinet latches, etc. which I agree with.
One of the most important items for me is: Anchoring to the wall televisions and furniture such as dressers, bookshelves, entertainment centers, etc. There are several products on the market to accomplish this.
There are also websites on the subject, which shouldn't be taken lightly. There are tragic stories of small children who have been killed by furniture falling on them. Children like to climb and explore. Not all children climb, but many do. I don't mean to be a downer here, but reality sucks. Sure the children are supervised, but stuff happens anyway.
I totally agree with geebabe.
Better to be safe than sorry!
Outlet covers are easy to install, a couple cabinet locks from Totlok (just for chemicals). And a gate at stairs. As mentioned.
Yes, it's great to teach your kids, but they will explore! That's how they learn. They will test your limits and keep testing! That's why it's better to be safe than sorry. (I grew up without any safety products and I respect the "old school views" posted). Makes life a little easier with a peace of mind.
You do have quite some time to think about this and what you need to do so I wouldn't rush. Outlet covers, gates at at top and bottom of all stairs, and locks on any cabinets/closets with chemicals are no-brainers.
Other than that you can't possibly pad every corner and edge against a new crawler/walker/runner, so just be sensible and expect a couple bumps and bruises. We did a combo of getting rid of things (glass plated coffee table with metal edges), a bit of padding of certain corner objects, and trying to keep the main play/living level of our house free of things that would be off-limits or dangerous.
I agree with all the comments above. Your approach to childproofing should be to prevent things that could KILL or serious HARM your child. There is no way to completely baby proof your home. The major hazards in our home were the stairs (gated off since our son started crawling), chemicals in cabinets (moved to upper cabinets), and sharp objects in the kitchen (locked away). You need to be especially aware to keep things like dishwashing "pods" and detergent "pods" away from kids. They are brightly colored and attractive to children, but can kill them if they ingest it. We didn't have much issues with furniture, we keep him out of rooms with bookcases or tall items that could fall (again, using gates).
That said, since you allude to not having a child born yet, you don't really need to worry about childproofing until they start to move, which is about at 6 months. Newborns and young infants don't really move and can't get into trouble unless you put them in a dangerous situation.
The warning about the detergent pods is a good one...my friend's 5 year old was playing with a Tide pod when it burst, and he got chemical burns in his eye.
My daughter climbed her chest of drawers and brought it down on top of herself...fortunately she had opened the drawers and that kept it from falling on her with its full weight. After that we secured all the furniture to the walls with L brackets.
I would keep the chemicals somewhere different and not rely on a latch to keep baby out of the cabinets...I keep a plastic tub full of cleaning chemicals on a shelf in the garage instead of under the sink (even though my kids are old enough now to clean with it ) It's just a habit to keep it away.
Also, when you're childproofing the kitchen, if you have a lower cabinet to spare, leave one of them without a latch and put in a couple old pans or plastic bowls that your baby can discover and play with while you're trying to make dinner. My kids also loved to climb inside that cupboard and "disappear" for a few minutes.
If you have a cat, you'll need to make sure the litter box is out of reach. (also pregnant women should not change the litter box, someone else in the house needs to do it).
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) It's just a habit to keep it away.
