Childproofing a House: Make Your Home a Safe Place for Your Child

Childproofing a House: Make Your Home a Safe Place for Your Child

Early childhood days are like heaven for moms, the work starts when the toddlers start to dwell around the house. Sometimes they fall down, sometimes they tend to pick something from the ground and end up putting everything in their mouth or try to pull some a piece of furniture out, the nightmare begins there.

It is not possible for any person or a mother to keep her eyes 24*7 on a child. Anytime an emergency can arise when a child is around. We keep on listening to stories where a child has met an accident in their home. As a caregiver or parents of children, we must take some safety measures to make our home childproof and make it a safe place for our kids. Childproofing your home can minimize any sudden accident which can otherwise be very ugly. Let's discuss some real life childproofing ideas for our house.

1. Bed- if your kid is too small to climb a bed then it's better to make an arrangement on the floor. A thick mattress on the floor with proper bedspread will be fine for your toddler. This can avoid situations like falling from the bed or banding head on the sharp edges of the bed. A mattress, on the other hand, is of ground level and moreover soft.

2. Floor- try to put soft carpet special on child's room. This can really save your child from regular injuries. When babies try to crawl they tend to fall over their head, a soft carpet ring can save their head from getting hurt. But this surface needs to be cleaned properly every day as carpets can attract dust. Vacuum cleaning is the best option for carpets. 

3. Safety gates:  you must have seen safety gates are installed in many of the houses where there are children. Safety gates use as a barrier for your child where you don't want them to enter. It could be installed especially near the stairs to avoid an accident. 

4. Carpeting the stairs: another area of our house which is most vulnerable to kids, be it young or old, is the staircase. It's a good idea to cover the stairs with carpet. In this way even if they fall there are fewer chances of getting a serious injury.

5. Taking care of your belongings: gone are the days when you carelessly threw your belongings everywhere in the house. Be it coins, socks, electric appliance etc. With a child at home, you have to be very cautious about every small detail. Young children have to habit of putting everything in their mouth. Therefore it's advisable not to keep anything that you think they can grab n swallow within their reach. Which means till your child is 4-5 years old you have to keep your belongings inside a safe drawer which can be locked. Especially items like coins, safety pins, pen cap, small eraser, pen drive, plastic bags, parts of toys and many more which you can think of should be kept out of their reach. 

6. Furniture: while choosing furniture always think twice how safe it will be for your child. Avoid things which can fall over them or which kids can open easily. Download example while buying a wall cabinet make sure that it has a safety belt or a screw to keep it attached to the wall. Make sure in anyways it should not fall upon anyone even on applying pressure.

7.  Bathrooms: it's advisable to keep your bathroom floor dry everytime you use it.  The wet floor may cause an accident. Don't leave your child unattended while using the toilet. Take special precautions during a shower if using a bathtub. Try not to show them that the bathtub could be filled with water completely. If you do this practice from the very first day then they will never ask for it. Only fill 2 to 3 inches of water and let them play.

8. Pest free house: debugging your house is very important. Children get easily bitten or affected by flies, mosquitoes, ants, cockroaches, and even house lizards. Try to do a pest control service once every 6 months or as required. Insects can affect a child's overall health badly. They can easily transmit the disease to every member of the family. 

9. Take extra precaution for fire and electricity: safeguarding your child from a kitchen or a fireplace or even a burning candle is very important. We may think how can a child get hurt from a burning candle? But u must think that anytime they may try to hold the fire with their hand as they are the mini explorer.

It's advisable not to keep any plug points within their reach. Try to install covered plug points where ever possible. Be extra precautions while using electrical appliances like iron(never leave a hot iron unattended), hair straighteners, blow dryers, try not to use table fan or stand fans. 

10.Cleanliness and hygiene: this is must for every household with kids. Proper hygiene and Sanitisation of the rooms and especially toilets is very important on an everyday basis. Cleaning and mopping will help the house clean and dust free. Use of floor cleaner should be done but that should be limited to 3-4 days a week. You may mix some disinfectant in a bucket of water for mopping which will keep your house germ free.

Last but not the lease test everything by yourself. Remember it's better to be safe than sorry. A mother should be the ultimate checkpoint. Touch everything with your hands, push and pull to see how strong it is to take your child's weight. You must cross-check everything before exposing your child to it.