As parents, it’s natural to worry about the safety of our little ones. Doing everything we can to make our home environments safe and sound helps us feel a lot better, and is an important step we need to take. Children love to explore, move around and touch everything, and childproofing allows them to do that without the risk of hazards and health risks.
Luckily, there are tons of gadgets, devices, measures and items that can help you make your home safer. We know a lot of the basics, like getting drawer latches so that your kid doesn’t open cabinets, having a play pen so they have a safe area to be in, having a kit of First Aid and emergency items, and keeping sharp objects out of the way, but there are other things we need to pay attention to.
What are some of the simple changes and tweaks you can make to the environment your kids spend time in a lot safer? Here are a few ideas…
Mount Your TV
If there’s one thing we know about toddlers, it’s how quickly they can get their hands on something and pull it towards them. In their never-ending curiosity, they can grab something that can actually injure them and do a lot of damage. An unmounted TV is not safe because of this. Your little one can easily pull or push it, so the most important thing to do if you have a toddler moving around your home and exploring, is getting it out of reach.
Instead of having your television on a stand that’s closer to the ground, mount the TV and make sure it’s tightly secured to the wall. It allows you to have peace of mind when your kid moves around the home, and a mounted TV looks very modern and tidy.
Make the Car Ride Safer
Child safety isn’t just about the home, it also extends to the time that your kid spends in their car seats. While car seats are safe, when your child is asleep, their head tends to move around a lot causing their head to bob and move around uncontrollably.
By investing in head supports for car seats, you can secure your child’s head and prevent your child’s head from falling forwards or sideways while napping in the car. This is a simple contraption that does a really good job of giving your little one’s head stability in a moving car.
Rug and Furniture Grippers
Rugs can actually be a hazard for young children if they are not properly anchored and gripped to the floor. Your little one can very easily slip on a rug that’s not secured. If you want to avoid this, consider investing in rug grippers or adhesive pads. These grippers are put on the corners of your rugs so they don’t slip, or shift or move.
Outlet Covers
Electric outlets are another huge hazard in your home if they are not properly covered. Your kid can get curious about it and try to touch it. If you have outlets that have nothing plugged in them, make sure they are switched off at all times, and then get an outlet cover so that your kid doesn’t try to stick another item in them.
Edge and Corner Guards
The edges of tables, chairs and cabinets can also hurt your child if they are not covered. You can invest in edge guards that you place on corners so that there’s padding just in case your child runs into them. This is a very simple and inexpensive measure you can take to make sure your child doesn’t get hurt when they move around the home.
Internet Safety Measures
Thanks to homeschooling and digital learning tools, our children spend a lot of time in the digital world. As much as it’s great for them, they shouldn’t be exposed to everything on the internet. Leaving them with a device that doesn’t have restrictions isn’t a good idea, and there are measures you can take to make their internet use much safer.
Most smartphones have a parental control function that blocks third-party sites, blocks the location and makes sure they surf safe sites and content.
If your child watches Netflix on a tablet, make sure they are signed into the kids category. Also check the kind of content they watch from time to time, especially when your kids are pre-teens. There is a lot of content on platforms like YouTube that’s watched by children, but teaches them negative behavior. Make the internet something that teaches them the right things, and makes them better.
