Childproof Your Home to Keep Your Little One Safe

Parents and caregivers want to provide a safe place for their children to live and play but too often child proofing these areas gets put off. This has caused thousands of household accidents that could have easily have been prevented. The good news is that child proofing is not difficult and can easily be completed in one day.

It is important to protect your child from common household dangers before you bring your newborn home from the hospital. If you wait, things can become hectic and easily get put off until later. Below are some of tips on how to childproof your home.

On your first visit to the store you will likely be overwhelmed by all of the products on the market designed to child proof or baby proof your home. There are literally hundreds of different choices.

Some child proofing requires no devices, just common sense. Other areas definitely require the use of a child proofing device. Not all children are the same. If you feel a certain product would help protect your child from a situation they are more likely to get into, you may consider adding that to your arsenal as well.

Here are some basic steps for child proofing your home.

Move Cleaners, Medicine and Other Poisons

You need to move any poisonous substance out of the reach of your children. A common mistake is to keep cleaners under the kitchen sink or bath products on the ledge of the tub. While you might think that child resistant caps will protect your children, you should be aware that the requirements for a child resistant package may mean that at least 80-85% of children couldn't open them. That means your child might. All poisons and medicines should be stored in a high cupboard or locked area.

Block Stairways

Not surprisingly, falls are one of the biggest causes of injury to young children. Stairways are particularly dangerous and should always be properly gated. Never use pressure mounted gates at the tops of stairs since your child may be able to put enough pressure on them to give way.

Despite having a gate it is important for parents to keep a close eye on children around staircases. No safety device outweighs the importance of adult supervision.

Keep Children out of Dangerous Rooms

The bathroom, garage, and office can all be dangerous areas for you child. To keep them safe, use door-knob covers and door locks. Place a slide lock or hook-and-eye latch hign on the door, out of child's reach.

Keep Windows Safe

Lock windows or use guards to prevent them from opening too far. Screens will not keep your child from falling out of a window.

Make sure that blind cords are out of reach and the beds, cribs and other furniture are moved away from windows where a child could climb up and reach. You'd be surprised what they are capable of.

Outlets, Drawers and Cupboards

There is a huge assortment of products aimed at protecting your children's fingers from being caught in door hinges, slammed in drawers or by closing cupboard doors. Test out several products in a children's store that demonstrates how different products are used. The main purpose should be to prevent an accident but if you find the products difficult to use you may end up not using them at all.

Small Toys and Other Choking Hazards

Another major cause of hospital visits for small children is choking. Small toys, batteries, buttons, coins and other objects go straight into the mouths of babies and toddlers (and even some preschoolers). Prevention is the key. If you have older children they should be taught to keep small toys out of the reach of younger children. Keep a keen eye for objects on the floor where your baby is present.

Monitor New Dangers

You will need to be constantly aware of what your child can get access to. As you child grows and develops they may suddenly be capable of reaching or pulling down items you didn't think of.

Don't forget that most child proofing devices you can buy are temporary solutions to prevent the most disastrous accidents. Your children should also be taught how to behave and where to be especially careful. After all, your children will likely be in many homes that are not child proofed like yours and their safety will depend on understanding what's not safe.

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About The Author
Alli Ross is the hip granmamma at BabyNameBox.com, where you can find over 20,000 baby names and their meanings as well as parenting info and advice.
granmamma@babynamebox.com

How To Create A Fun & Functional Child Playroom

Play is what being a kid is all about. By creating a fun and functional child playroom we give our kids the best foundation there is. Sure there may be other rooms in the house where your children hang out to watch TV, play on the computer or play a board game with the rest of the family but none compares to the value of having an actual child playroom.

Having a room where imagination fuels the play is where it’s at. Child playrooms are all about giving your children the space and the equipment needed to inspire play. All children need is imagination and a child playroom to be creative in.

When it comes to creating a fun and functional child playroom it’s important to consider your child’s natural tendencies. What type of play does your child enjoy the most – is it arts and crafts, building forts, dramatic play, creating tall skyscrapers out of building blocks etc.?

Get input from the whole family regarding room design and set-up. Although it’s important to accommodate current interests and activities a wise parent also plans the space for future use. This is where it’s important to include adjustable shelving and incorporate lots of flat surfaces for future projects. A 5 year old will use a playroom very different from how a 10 year old would use it.

For more ideas on designing and decorating child playrooms visit http://www.decorating-kids-rooms.net/decorating-child-play-room-decor-ideas.html

For a versatile child playroom and one that grows with your children keep the permanent elements in the room like tables, chairs and wall units basic. That’s the functional part.

The fun part comes in how you bring the room together with decorative accessories like fashionable slipcovers, wall decals, posters, and funky storage bins.

No matter their age, kids are natural magnets for stuff. Open shelving with lots of bins is often best way to go as it provides storage flexibility for now and in the future. Your shelving unit for the next few years may house a collection of storage bins filled to the brim with stuffed animals and building blocks and may later be replaced by books, board games and DVDs. As children get older many of them also like to display their collections of things. This is where open shelving comes in really handy.

If on the other hand, you prefer out of sight, out of mind storage when the kids aren’t actively using their playroom you may wish to consider armoires or storage cupboards to keep everything behind closed doors. It’s all a matter preference and what type of playroom you wish to create for your children.

Either way if you opt for open or closed storage you will want to make sure that any shelving units, storage cupboards or armoires are secured to the wall with toggle bolts and brackets.

Following are some creative ways to add a little fun to a functional child playroom space.

* In the craft area paint the chairs in different colors.

* Create a cushion floor using large multi-colored rubber puzzle pieces.

* Use a bulletin board for displaying artwork and posting special activity reminders.

* Turn baby wipe containers into great storage boxes for small craft supplies.

* For a great storage unit paint an old table and cover the sides with fabric to hide roll out storage containers of craft supplies.

* Revitalize old metal shelves with a little spray paint.

* Purchase unfinished shelves and paint them to match the room.

* To protect little fingers and bruises from hard edges consider padding your child’s toy box with quilt batting and fabric that matches the rooms décor.

* Create handy little cubbies by installing a few wooden shelving boxes here and there.

* Since kids love to play in enclosures consider purchasing a lightweight nylon tent, or making one yourself in a fabric that co-ordinates with the room. Another great idea would be to add some nylon crawl though tubes and cardboard house than can by decorated by your kids using paints or markets. Catalogues and magazines are a great source for ideas that you can adapt and craft yourself.

About The Author
Sherrie Le Masurier is an organizing consultant who helps parents organize and decorate their children's rooms. She is a member of Professional Organizers in Canada (POC) and co-owner of http://www.decorating-kids-rooms.net - Copyright

Finding Fun Ways to Travel With Children

Tips for Traveling with Children

A lot of people believe that travel is an essential part of any child's education, and quite rightly so. But how often have you heard the parents complain about how cumbersome their kids have been to them when they have taken them out. It is not that parents don't want to travel with their children but on the contrary parents love to be in the company of their children. It is just that children do give them trouble and try their patience while traveling. But here we can try to solve some of your problem with these tips to make traveling with kids an enjoyable and fun experience.

A good way is to involve the kids in planning the vacation. Ask them for inputs allow them to pick out places that they would like to visit. Give them complete details about the place that they are going to visit and what all will they see. This way you will find that your children are more cooperative even in visiting places like the museum.

Another cool trick to get kids more helpful around you in the house is to give them money to do the chores. You can tell them they can save this money to spend on the trip. You will be amazed at how energetically your kids do the chores. This also makes them look forward to the trip with more interest.

Another way that you can prepare your children for your upcoming vacation is to buy them one or two books so that they can read up on the location where you're traveling to. The more that they know about the area where you'll be visiting the more they can plan what they want to do on the vacation.

In case you are going to a foreign place with a foreign language you can start to teach your children the language. It is not only educational but also gets them very excited and interested. Start with simple greetings such as "thank you" and "good morning" etc.

Also allow your children to do their own packing for the trip. Maybe even buy them new backpacks for the occasion in which they can pack what they want. Let them decide what they want to take on the trip and what not. See that they also packs things to keep them entertained on the trip and on route such as books, music, paper and pens, and travel games.

You can also get the kids more involved by asking them to document their trip with photos and other memorabilia. Younger children can do so by means of either a photo album. While the older ones who can write can make use of a travel journal with photos.

You can even take it a step further by buying your kids a cheap but functional camera. This will give them the freedom to click photos of whatever they like on the trip. Make sure you don't end up dominating their choice give them freedom of choice and let them select their own memories.

When you're booking your vacation make sure that you book your rooms in hotels that accommodate families with children. If you can arrange to stay in places where there is a pool it will be an added bonus. A pool is a great way for you and your children to unwind at the end of long day of traveling and sightseeing.

Traveling with children doesn't need to be an unpleasant experience. It can be quite easy to travel with kids as long as you take a little time to make some extra preparations. If you think about the details in advance you are sure to have the trip of a lifetime.

About The Author
Chloe Bilboa is the chief writer for, and editor of Yes To Travel!, there's a wealth of knowledge on the website, plus their free newsletter is well worth signing up for too. Want to read more Travel articles?, just go to: http://www.yttravel.com/articles
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