In the modern retail world, anything that can be childproofed, has been. Some of it brought about by cautious parents and others by companies looking to prey upon first time parents who think every nook, cranny, doorway and pointy surface in their home needs protecting. Even though our house had some childproofing growing up, we still found a way to cause a stir and create chaos, it's just what kids do. Hear our tale and share your thoughts on the issue, after the jump.
The first measure of childproofing a home is good parenting. Sure you have laundry to do, bills to pay and jobs to attend, but that doesn't mean that baby proofing your home from top to bottom in every way possible is a replacement for keeping a watchful eye on your little ones.
Even if you purchases catches, latches, guards and bumpers for all the surfaces you can think of in your home, your kids will still find a way to create mischief. When I was younger, my mother left me outside with a gardening hose watering flowers. She ran inside to catch a phone call and when she came back out, I had decided to water the house... because as we all know, houses get quite thirsty. Now, I didn't simply spray the water on the house, oh no! Instead, I shoved the hose up the dryer vent (we'll take this time to note that the dryer was in fact running) and continued to water it. After a call to my father, turning off the power to the house and an hour or two of using a shop vac to remove all the water I flooded the basement with, all was well.
This isn't to say that children shouldn't be trusted in the backyard alone, it's simply to illustrate the fact that kids are curious and think differently than adults. I learned that I had made a poor choice by parents who relatively kept their cool and taught me that it was wrong. Even when you baby proof all the things you can think of, they'll still find another limit to test. It might be a hot stove or pinching your finger in a door, but either way you learn.
Are you a tough love type person who grew up with minimal baby proofing, or would you rather be safe than sorry and are willing to go to any extreme to protect your child? Share your thoughts on the issue below!
(Image: Flickr member moppet65535 licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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My hubby and I both grew up w/minimal baby proofing and likewise use minimal baby proofing with our 16 mth old son and 3 yo daughter. Of course it probably helps that we live in a 2 bedroom townhouse so there's not very many places they can go or things they can get into outside of my hawkish eyesight.
I have an 8 month old who's rolling, but not crawling yet, so for now we just have a couple of pillows blocking her access to our electronics and lamp cords. When we move to a new place in a few weeks, I plan to use doors (i.e. keeping the doors closed to the rooms that are off-limits) and 2 baby gates--one to block off the kitchen, one for the big staircase. It's a split-level and the two steps up to the main living area I plan to keep open so she can practice. I'll probably attach our bookcases to the walls and maybe some outlet covers...pretty minimalist I guess.
We are in the "minimal" baby proofing camp. We have a mischievous three-year old and our 1 year-old twins have been walking for several months - needless to say, we don't have the time or energy or eyes to watch them at all times. Still, the extent of our baby-proofing is 1) outlet covers, 2) locking cabinets with chemicals and/or stuff that we don't want to constantly clean up (boxes of breakfast cereal and desk drawers with pens, not pots and pans), 3) gates at the top and bottom of the stairs (more for corralling than safety - we also teach them to climb up and down stairs as soon as they start crawling), and 4) a couple of our bookcases secured to the wall. We don't leave them alone in the bathtub and don't let them play in the street without strict supervision. We teach our kids the word "no" very early and despite every one of them being "spirited," to put it mildly, they learn what that word means and respect it most of the time when it's said firmly, consistently, and reasonably seldom. More important, we feel that as long as it's not life-threatening, getting into a few scrapes is part of growing up!
We have reorganized out living space to be more baby proof, such as getting a taller cabinet with lockable doors for our TV and AV equipment, gates on the stairs and kitchen and a playpen for the heater & christmas tree, (we are lucky that in the southern hemisphere we don't need both simultaneously).
I have tried many commercial products available with limited success. For some months now my 15 month old son has removed all of the outlet covers in power points with his tiny fingers but then showed minimal interest in an uncovered point so we gave them up. My husband and I have also both broken draw latches by opening the draw forgetting they were there.
with my time over I wouldn't bother with either, teaching him to listen when we say no and to climb stairs safely has been more effective in my experience. Trips to grandma's where there is no baby proofing is lesson enough in why it is unwise to rely on baby proofing alone.
my 11 month daughter and I live in a smallish apartment. I did rearrange things to be more baby friendly, but haven't baby proofed yet. there is just so little space so she is rarely that far away from me. I might toddler proof in a little while if it becomes a problem, but for now keeping an eye on her and steering her in the other direction is working.
The best babyproofing I know of is to live in a small space. We recently moved from a cozy 2-BR condo to a 3-level townhouse with double the square footage of our old place. We were in the condo since before my kids (ages 3 and 1) were born, so it has been so weird not to know exactly what they are doing at all times. Usually we are close by each other, but no longer can I hear them from any room in the house. I had to buy my first baby monitor and am still not used to carrying it around if I want to be in the basement after they go to bed.
There is definitely something to be said for a small home when you have little kids. Much harder for them to get into mischief.
That said, although I never particularly considered our old place "babyproofed," I guess it was. We anchored tall cabinets and bookcases to the wall, kept electrical outlets covered, tried to avoid having blinds with cords, and kept potentially dangerous or messy things like knives or cleaning supplies or Sharpies out of the kids' reach. I also put the basic plastic door locks on the bathroom doors and kept those closed. And a lock on the sliding windows so that they couldn't be opened far enough to fall out of. (I'm weird about windows.)
Also I had some kind of mega-deluxe Safety First outlet/cord cover/lock thing in my kids' old room, because the only place to put my daughter's crib was within arm's reach of an outlet and my children have always been good at taking the cheap plastic outlet covers off. Never had a problem with that outlet and was very pleased with the product. I don't anticipate needing it in our new house.
Also, in lower cabinets I only kept things that the kids could get into--Tupperware, kiddie dishes, pots and pans. Towels in the bathroom vanities, kept all the toiletries and breakables up high. I think that helped a lot.
It is overkill in some cases. We do keep the chemicals and meds up high, and we use gates. Other than that I try to keep an eye on things, teach the word no (say what you mean, but don't say it mean), and in each room have an area that is kid centered. My daughter knows that the food storage cupboard is hers to have free reign over. I like to keep baskets around the house with a few little books and items (little stuffed animal, slinky, some blocks). She will follow me from room to room and as I keep myself busy she does the same. The benefit is when you visit a home without children everyone comments on how well behaved the child is. She has been taught no, and I bring something to keep her interest, rather than great grandma's porcelain.
Lots of the "safety" stuff is gimmicky. Do you need a plastic doohicky to tell you whether kid's bath water is the right temperature? Maybe, but isn't it just as easy to stick your hand in and test?
We have a gate at the top of the stairs and some outlet covers, but that's about it. Generally, I just try to be in the same room as my child and have an eye on what he's doing. No room, except maybe a padded cell, is ever going to be child-proofed enough to substitute for supervision.