5 Home Safety Checks
When I became a mother, I was incredibly overwhelmed, with love, with gratitude, with joy, and with responsibility. When you become a parent, grandparent, or caregiver, you take on the responsibility for a child. This includes the safety of the environment they live and play in.
This post is sponsored by P&G. Ideas and opinions are my own.
Making sure that your home is the safest it can be is a huge part of that responsibility. It can be really easy to overlook issues that could be a threat to your child. I am happy to announce that this year I am a member of P&G’s Fabric Care Advisory Board. Throughout the next year, tune in as I guide you and your home through a more productive and safe laundry experience.
Watch this movie with me and see if you can spot the risks this baby could get to in 5 seconds:
How did you do? When I look at this room, the obvious safety hazards that we are always warned about, like outlets and the fireplace, jump right out at me. But there are others that are easily overlooked. Here are my 5 Safety Checks you can do in an afternoon to make sure your house is more safe for your little ones.
1. Floor Check: Get on the floor and crawl around. This new vantage point allows you to catch things you might have missed when baby proofing.
2. Educate siblings about choking hazards: As an adult, it can be easy to remember babies and toddlers can choke on small object. Older kids, however, might not remember so easily. Show your older child a toilet paper roll, if an object fits through the roll, it is too small for young children. Take your child around the house and let them help you baby proof.
3. Make a place for your Handbag/Diaper bag that is out of reach: Take a minute and clear a space in the hall closet, mud room, or entryway where you can keep your bags. There are several items in each of my bags that would be a hazard if my toddler had access to them, like money or medicine.
4. Secure furniture and T.V.s to the wall: This might take a few hours, but please, please take the time to do this. If I read another horrible story of a toppled dresser or T.V. falling on a child I will be heartbroken.
5. Secure your laundry supplies: P&G has partnered with Safe Kids Worldwide, The American Cleaning Institute and The American Academy of Pediatrics to help avoid as many preventable injuries as possible. Most people think of bathrooms and kitchens as hazardous places, but they often overlook the laundry room.
Currently being used in 20% of households, liquid laundry pacs have quickly become a part of many Americans’ daily routines because of their highly concentrated cleaning power. As a caregiver you have to keep these pacs up, closed, and safe.
And now, Tide Pods bags feature the brand new Child-Guard™ zipper that P&G has engineered to make it more difficult for children to open.
If you use laundry pacs at your house, today is the day to ensure you keep them up, closed, and safe.
Is your home safe for kids?
Great tips! I’m always looking for tips to help me keep this house in order. this is perfect.
My 3 year old is always on the go and gettign into mischief! We are always surprised at the things he finds his way into.
These are really great tips. I think sometimes we forget how kids can easily get into EVERYTHING!
Awesome tips! I always secure safety when it comes to my son, I can use these.
There are so many things kids can get into. Thanks for these tips!
Allgood checkpoints especially the one about the floor. This is an excellent share.
I used to get on the floor to get a good view of what the baby sees. I always noticed something i did not see while scanning the room standing up.
I remember going through this with babies. It was so hard when my baby had older siblings leaving small toys around etc. So scary.
I just read an article about an ikea dresser falling on a child. It can be so scary! Need to go through & check things out in my house.
Good advice! Safety in our home is really important to learn, I’m so glad that I found this and it will my life easier as much you do.
I’ve seen so many accidents that it’s good to be cautious. Safety proofing is definitely the way to go.
I am a very overprotective mother and I am constantly checking checking my house. I love your tips and going to implement them and hopefully have a peaceful night sleep.
Crawling around on the ground is a good tip. So often we don’t see the dangers from way up here.
Crawling around on the floor looking for hazards is a great idea. We never know what we might miss that little ones {human and pets} might find.
this is really good advice. The hard work that goes into baby-proofing is definitely worth it.
These are fantastic tips to keep the home safe for little ones, my youngest is 7 and I still worry about him getting into stuff just because he is such a curious, adventurous little boy!
Great tips for keeping the kids secure, especially the tip about securing the furniture and television to the walls.
It’s so important to make sure your house is safe for kids. These are all great things to check!
These are great tips. When I had my son, we secured all the furniture to the walls and put child proof locks on all the cabinets.
This is such a great resource for any new parent. When you first become a mom or dad, you don’t realize just how dangerous a home is for little ones.
Great tips! It’s really amazing how many dangers are in a home when you really stop to think about it.
Such great ideas. there are so many potential dangers I don’t think we really think about on the average day, but this is a great reminder.
Love your list. Seems like there are always little choking hazards around, so it’s important to remove them.
Great ideas, I saw the pod warnings on tv tonight! Thanks for linking up to Merry Monday! Sharing on G+! Have a great week!
Kim
My mom told me that she never baby proofed Nything, just told us not to touch things. Ummm that would send my kids running! These are great reminders for ways to keep our kids safe.
This is a great list. It’s scary how your home can actually have so many dangers. I would say tiny objects are the worst. I always have to make sure to get any small objects off the floor.
Now that my kids are teenagers my house is not baby safe. When the kids were little i was very cautious of sharp corners and hazards. Getting down on the child’s level is a great way to spot dangers.
I remember how overwhelming it seemed to baby proof our house when we had my oldest!! Great safety checks to make in the house!
These are all great tips. We have a rack right when you walk in the front door to hang purses and diaper bags on to keep them out of reach of little hands.
At the age of two my kids became mountain goats. They learned how to turn their toys over and use them to climb onto the counter and then climb into the cabinets. When storing dangerous chemicals make sure they are in the highest shelves!
There are so many dangers in the home when it comes to kids. I don’t have kids, so I’ve never thought about any of these. The TV thing and small objects are particularly scary ones.