Parenting / 23 April, 2021 / My Baba

4 Essentials To Create A Toddler-Proof Home

Do you really have to toddler-proof your home? In short, yes. Toddlers are an adventurous bunch whose curiosity can get them in all sorts of trouble — and frighten us parents.

While coddling your newborn, few would think they’d have such a fascination for the world around them, but when they muster up the strength to crawl and walk around, suddenly your home can feel like one big hazard.

In this article, we explore the following four ways to toddler-proof your home:

1. Secure your furniture
2. Create a safe play area
3. Lock away cleaning products
4. Be cautious around electricity

Read on as we help to make your home a fun, yet safe place for your toddler to learn about the world around them.

Secure your furniture

A key lesson for toddler-proofing is that you can still source stylish furniture from the usual places you enjoy like IKEA or FurnitureBox, but you need to make it safe.

By this we mean your house (and the things inside) don’t require a complete overhaul, instead, you can toddler-proof your home in a less intrusive way so it still resembles the place you bought for your children to learn and grow in.

Here are some examples of how to toddler-proof your home furniture:

• Remove hard corners: foam blocks are a simple way to cover corners.
• Secure furniture to walls: anchor large furniture to the walls so it won’t tip over.
• Stop slamming doors: door stoppers (like this one) mean no trapped fingers.

From climbing bookcases to finding their feet on table edges, your toddler’s sense of adventure knows no bounds, which you should encourage, so long as you keep a watchful eye and have certain security measures in place to avoid a bump on the head.

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Create a safe play area

Toddlers learn the most during play, which means you should dedicate an area of your home to soft play so they can let their energy out in a safe environment.

Designer play mats like the ones on Munchkin & Bear provide a safe space for your kids to play (from birth and beyond) while also blending seamlessly into your home decor.

Unlike hard wooden floors or thinly veiled rugs, these memory foam mats make for a more forgiving play area where your toddler can take a tumble without getting a bruise.

Lock away cleaning products

As your little one becomes more independent and comfortable on their feet, you likely need to keep a special eye on the cupboard under the kitchen sink or any other places you store potentially dangerous household products.

When toddlers are mobile they love to open doors and explore their surroundings, which means items like bleach and other cleaning supplies are suddenly within reach.

While it’s good to encourage your toddler to learn about their environment, safety cap or not, having hazardous products on display is a bad idea.

To facilitate your toddler’s adventurous side but also avoid an accident waiting to happen, store any dangerous items and cleaning products in one or two cupboards, leaving the others ripe to explore with your supervision.

Make sure to fasten these cupboards shut using a secure home lock or strap to keep a curious toddler out when they inevitably slip your eye.

Be cautious around electricity

Electricity is a natural worry for parents with an adventurous toddler, but proofing against it is a harder task than you might first think.

Many experts don’t recommend plastic socket covers because they can end up being more trouble than they’re worth, given they draw attention to the socket and easily break inside.

The good thing is most UK sockets have internal shutters which require an earth pin to activate, meaning when they’re off, they’re off — and there is little you or your toddler can do to get electrocuted (unless something is inserted that is the same size as an earth pin).

Extension leads, on the other hand, are usually always active and if your toddler spills food, water, or anything (really) you’ll be dependent on your fuse box having a reliable trip system.

The best thing you can do is keep electrical sockets of any kind out the way as best you can, and also avoid giving your toddler tools that can potentially replace an earth pin when around a socket.

Caring for a toddler is an adventure where they’re leading the expedition, but it’s your duty to facilitate a safe space for them to embark on such a ride.

From securing furniture to being cautious around electricity, use these essential tips to guide your approach to creating a toddler-proof home.

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