Tips for Toddler-Proofing Your Home

Any parent with a child older than 2 years old can tell you a horror story or two (dozen) about something that should have been out of baby's reach but wasn't for some reason. Be it a small coin that the child was found sucking on, or an uncovered light socket that sputtered, throwing a circuit breaker at the same time you heard a yowl and a cry of pain, toddlers have an absolutely amazing ability to find everything our grown-up eyes tend to miss.

Get a Kit

Believe it or not, toddler-proofing a home is a mini-industry unto itself to such a degree that various companies even sell little kits that include most of what you need to get the job done. Typically these kits will include cabinet door latches, childproof doorknob coverings, and electrical outlet plugs among other items. Taking an hour or two one day to install these items throughout your house is a good first step in toddler-proofing the home but it is not all that you must do.

Get Down on Your Knees

No, it's not time for praying...yet. That comes when your toddler becomes a teenager. For now, getting on your knees is a way of looking around your house in order to see things through the eyes of a toddler as much as possible. From this position, crawl around your home...everywhere. Pick up everything you can and put it into your mouth. Try to pull down things that you can reach, try to climb up on anything that looks even remotely inviting. Stick your hand in the toilet and open every drawer you can find. Once you are done with this exercise, you should have a better idea of what work still needs to be done to make sure your precious child does not pull down the little knickknack table with all your glass figurines on it.  Or better yet, reach into your underwear drawer and pull out your socks to try to flush down the toilet.

Pick up all of the small items that can be a choking hazard, and seal off those areas of the house that a 1 year-old has no business going into alone...like the bathroom. Consider investing in a child gate or two from your local Wal Mart or Babies R Us which can keep your toddler from entering entire sections of your home. In addition, if you have any window blinds in your home, check the cords to make sure they are up and out of reach of a toddler. They can present a choking hazard to a child, even if they are the split kind without a loop.

Were You Raised in a Barn?

Close the door! All doors, all the time. Not only is this a good habit to get into in order to help protect your toddler and keep them from going places they shouldn't be, having closed doors in your house is beneficial for other reasons as well; if you should ever have a fire, a closed door is a good mechanism for slowing the fire and minimizing damage to your home or danger to those who may be sleeping on the other side.

A toddler-proof home is a boon in the sense that it also tends to be very clean and well-organized. Once you get in the habit of making sure small things stay off your floors and cords and cables are tight and out of the way, you will probably stay that way, long after your toddlers have grown older and begun to present you with other...challenges.