Child-Proofing Your Home — 3 Tips to Help Ensure You’ve Covered the Whole House

One in 10 parents of kids under three admit their house ‘isn’t baby proof,’ according to research of 1,000 mums and dads. While only 17% said they'd check their home regularly for potential hazards when their kids were up to three years old, just over a quarter admit their child has swallowed something potentially harmful. While covering electrical outlets and keeping choking hazards out of reach can seem pretty straightforward, it’s important to realise that child-proofing a home should go well beyond such measures. From the value in using a checklist to the details that are easily forgotten — including the backyard, here are just a few tips to help.

Getting started

When planning to child-proof your home, one post from The Bump recommends getting started “at least three months before your due date,” while it’s noted that you’ll need to do a second baby-proofing sweep once your child starts to crawl (around six to 10 months). With that in mind, there are plenty of details to address when your baby does start to crawl and toddle around. VeryWell Family highlights a variety of details within the home that will need to be child-proofed, from the use of adjustable gates to block access to stairs to the installation of window guards to door knob covers for bathrooms.

During the process of child-proofing your home (or for areas of the house that are simply unsafe), locking rooms with a child-proof lock will ensure that your child is safe from any hazards inside. This can be perfect for areas of the home like your home office, where expensive technology and important paperwork resides, or for rooms that aren’t child-proofed due to seldom being used — like a guest bedroom/bathroom. Without the stress of keys being misplaced or lost, a digital code can make digital locks for doors much simpler for parents while giving you peace of mind. That said, digital locks can also be a great way to help prevent unsupervised access to other dangers, such as the backyard.

From the kitchen to the backyard

The kitchen is well-known for being home to a variety of hazards, from a hot stovetop to sharp utensils to the contents of the kitchen cabinets and beyond. While areas of the home like the kitchen will likely be at the top of your to-do list, however, it can be easy to overlook other areas of the home like the backyard, which also contains a variety of hazards to be aware of. If you have a garden, for instance, ensuring that no toxic plants are present is essential, while installing a fence is a valuable consideration to those who are close to the road. For those with swimming pools, one Lowes.com article highlights a variety of tips for child-proofing — including the use of a pool alarm, fencing the perimeter of the pool area, covering the pool when not in use, protecting all entryways to the pool area, and removing toys and trip hazards, to name just a few. Enrolling children in swimming lessons early on is another great way to instill safety early on, too, while having rescue gear on hand in case of an incident will give you further peace of mind.

The value in organisation

When looking to get started in child-proofing your home, one Parents.com article recommends tackling the big things first. From checking your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to replacing a broken window to mounting furniture to the wall, undertaking the bigger projects first will ensure that you have plenty of time to remedy such issues before your child enters the toddler stage. From re-locating your cleaning products to a higher, out-of-reach area to shopping for a toilet lock and other safety mechanisms, keeping a dedicated and well-detailed checklist is just one way to keep everything organised.

There’s no question that successfully child-proofing a whole house is a mammoth of an endeavour, and one that involves countless important details. Whether you’re planning for the future or you’re looking to put precautions into place as soon as possible, using a checklist can be a great way to ensure you don’t forget anything. When using a checklist to help keep track of child-proofing a home, keeping it organised is key — for instance, organising the list in a room-by-room style can help immensely in making sure that everything is taken care of.

For families with a toddler, child-proofing a home is essential in keeping him or her out of harm's way. While taking on the task of child-proofing the whole house is a major undertaking, ensuring to address the details and commonly overlooked areas (like the backyard) can help, while a checklist can help ensure you don’t forget anything along the way.