New parents understand that when a new baby enters their home, it becomes a completely different place. It is no longer the parents’ home. Most every part of the house much accommodate the new member of the family.
Here are some ways to make your home a more child friendly environment.
First of all, you must child-proof virtually anything and everything in the house that can potentially come into contact with your child. The following are a few common ones.
Coffee Table
You know that beloved, artistic coffee table in the middle of your living room? Yes, the one with the sharp edges and easily removable glass top. Those types of coffee tables are accidents waiting to happen, over and over and over again. You’ll have to get rid of it or put it in storage.
A great and stylish alternative are those soft benches or ottomans. The surfaces are flat and stable enough to hold drinks and other stuff. But they are soft and tend to have round edges. Those are the perfect replacements to accommodate your child.
Remember, even if you buy insurance from a place like buyhomeinsurance.net, they will most likely not cover a hurt or injured child.
Kitchen and Bathroom Cabinets
The most common places that people put their toxic cleaners are beneath the kitchen and bathroom sinks. That is a bad idea.
Even if you have child locks on your cabinets, it is still a risk that they’ll get into them. Even if their are completely secure, there is still human error. In other words, you can open it and forget to lock it up. Plus, when they get older and can break those locks, they are still in danger of misusing those cleaners.
The best place to put cleaners is completely out of reach of children. You can put them up on the cabinets above your sink or refrigerator. The top shelf of linen closets are also good alternatives.
Wall Paint
Most parents don’t think about this, until the first time their kid draws on the walls with crayon or markers. Be preemptive and use paint that can be cleaned easily.
There are some types of paint that are impossible to clean and stain very easily. Get paint that can be easily cleaned with sponge, soap and water. Believe me, you’ll be dealing with this a lot more times than you realize.
[box_dark]Designated Play Area[/box_dark]
This is not about child-proofing per se, but it is still a very important component to your home. You want a space that your child knows is his or hers to play in, or at least where he toys and stuff go. This is important to make your child feel like it’s their home as well.
This play area could be in the child’s room, but that may not be the best idea if the bedrooms are far away from where all of the normal activity happens in the house.
Generally, a bonus room or a sectioned off space in the living room tend to be the best fit for this. That is because mom can easily check in on the kids from the kitchen or when she is watching TV in the living room.
I’ve seen parents section off a corner of the living room for this type of space. They will paint the walls in that corner a special child-friendly color. It’s usually pink or a soft blue.
Then there will be little cabinets for toys and other stuff. There is usually also a bookcase for the kid’s books. You can finish it off with a nice soft bean bag chair or kid’s rocking chair.
So there you go. These are several recommendations for making your home more child friendly.
