HOW TO TODDLER PROOF YOUR HOME
Written by Feba Maryann
Having toddlers at home is a supposed epitome of entropy. It is just when you feel everything is perfectly in place that your child may attract the wildest possibility of an upsurge to chaos.
Childproofing or more specifically ‘toddler proofing’ is quite a recent initiative to judge all opportunities for most of the unprecedented things that can happen. The pros of toddler proofing your house include the advantage of helping them see the house in a more different way that looks less attractive to all unsafe corners. For example, providing a blunt edge for all the sharp corners of your furniture is a sophisticated way of dealing with the anxiety of your child’s safety.
Likewise, here’s a stepwise guide that can be followed according to each designated room in every typical house to grab a guard by maximizing childproof care:
Dining Area
Toddlers are curious beings whose imagination goes beyond your idea of unintended chaos and hunger can be the stimulus to make them even go the extra mile. And that implies that you’d have to watch out for things like their tendencies to get a little clumsy, especially where they eat.
If you have a tablecloth spread across the dining table, make sure the ends do not touch a distance where it becomes easier for the toddler to pull. As far as possible, provide latches to all cabinets, especially the ones which happen to possess fragile things. Do not keep items at the edge of the table.
Bathroom
In the rankings for the most dangerous zones in your house, a bathroom poses to be one of the most threatening ones. So, refrain from using glass or any fragile material soap dishes
Lower the toilet seat and if possible latched too. Maximize the usage of bathroom mats that don’t slip away easily to prevent accidental falls. Keep things like razor blades, pins, scissors, trimmers, petroleum products, and perfumes, or other hazardous objects out of the reach of your toddlers.
Living Room
As a common room that gets used by everyone, a living area holds a wide variety of things for different purposes. But this assorted collection can also become a long list of hazards for your toddler. Use more cantilevered lamps and wall sconces. Organize your library areas as toddlers just love creating chaos over a pile of books Provide cover to all technological equipment like remotes, Wi-Fi modems, VCR controls, etc. Keep souvenirs and other items on the display rack out of reach for your toddlers.
Kitchen
Kitchens are the unsaid forbidden grounds for trespassing by toddlers. As toddlers have a lesser resistance than elders to hold hot beverages, try your maximum to avoid these situations.
Keep objects such as knives and lighters out of reach for your children. All sorts of cleaning agents and poisons must be secluded out of reach by storing in latched cabinets.
Toddlers can be restless at times and ergo, once they grow enough, they can even start climbing kitchen counters. Hence, push all chairs inwards to their maximum. Never leave any of your electronic appliances such as food processors, ovens, toasters, etc on power-on mode. Increase the usage of unbreakable materials like fibre plastics for crockery.
Wall Openings
All wall openings such as doors, windows, and ventilators can escalate threats into accidents to your child especially under extreme lack of supervision. Provide safety grills to all windows to prevent accidents. Keep the doors closed whenever it is not being used. Whenever you close or open a door, please make sure that your toddler isn’t in the scene in a situation where he or she is coming across, since their dwarf height makes it harder for us to look for. Any chords of the curtains, blinds, or other lamps must be shortened to prevent your toddler from pulling them.
Staircases
If you have steep staircases or ones which do not have a proper mid-standing then watch out for any mishaps by creating a small gate to block the entry of your child. In the case of sharp corners of the steps or balustrades, you can choose to either blunt the edge or even carpet them.