Having young children in your new home should be a happy and rewarding experience. As good stewards, care must be taken to protect both your children and home from accidents. By their very nature, kids are intensely curious. However, they lack the experience and awareness to identify danger when it exists. By making a few small modifications to your new home, you can keep your child out of harm’s way and your home in great shape.
Childproofing the Bathroom
Bathroom taps (faucets) are usually a source of great interest to young children, but a hot tap poses a serious risk of scalding. If possible, adjust your water heater for a reduced water temperature. The addition of lid locks will stop your little ones from exploring the murky depths of your toilet. Choosing a non-slip surface for the bathroom will minimize the risk of slips and falls.
Make Doors Safe
If you have glass doors in your home, you’ll likely want to keep them crystal clear at all times. Unfortunately, a common accident in homes involves children running into doors because they simply can’t see a pane of glass stands in their way. Adding a few attractive decals to your glass doors will not only provide the rooms in your house with an interesting aesthetic, it will alert your children to the potential hazard. It’s also a good idea to add inhibitors in order to stop doors from trapping little fingers.
Make Windows Safe
Kids love to explore, and seeing the outside world through the windows of your home will present a very enticing opportunity for exploration. However, installing window guards will restrict the opening of windows to only a few inches. If you have blinds, tie the cords so they don’t pose a tangling risk. Keep playpens cribs and play equipment well away from them.
Put Electricity Points and Fires Out of Reach
Children’s curious nature means they will be intrigued by electrical outlets from the moment they can crawl. Fit all unused outlets with safety plugs, this will stop your child from exploring them with their fingers. If you have a fireplace, you should keep your children away from it with a specialist fire guard.
Protecting Your Home From Damage
Of course, as well as protecting your children, it is importan
t to protect your home as well. Using handle covers on your doors will stop your child from getting into too much mischief in other rooms of your home. Fitting a fridge lock will prevent access to the various liquids and foodstuffs that can play havoc with your new wall-coverings and carpets. However, if the worse should happen, it pays to have some Scotch Guard Carpet Protector handy – just in case a quick clean-up is required.
The joy of raising children in a loving home is just reward for the hard work and worry involved. However, you can minimize the worry and hard work by adapting your house for the benefit of both your child and the fixtures and fittings of your home.
Wayne Underwood is a stay-at-home Dad. He blogs regularly on issues he comes across in his daily life in hope he may help other stressed out parents.
Please rate this post using the Stars and Thumbs below. Thank you.
