This post was sponsored by Window Covering Safety Council as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
As the weather changes and it gets cooler, the kids will be inside more than in the summer. The changing season is a perfect time to give your home a checkup and make sure you’ve done everything you need to childproof your home. You’ll have peace of mind if you’ve checked on these five things and be able to enjoy the colder months inside with your kids knowing you’ve prepped your home.
5 WAYS TO CHILDPROOF YOUR HOME
During the winter months, our family spends a lot of time in the living room together. Whether we’re watching a movie together, playing games together, or just doing our own thing, it becomes a very central part of our home.
When I think about doing things to childproof our home, basic things like safety gates come to mind. As our kids get older, we might not think about childproofing as much as we did when they were babies. But it’s still as important as they get a bit older.
CHECK YOUR WINDOW COVERINGS
October is National Window Covering Safety Month and it’s an important childproofing issue.
Corded window coverings are one of the top hidden hazards in our home. It’s so easy to overlook window cords. That’s why the Window Covering Safety Council and safety experts encourage us all to check out window coverings and only use blinds with inaccessible cords.
Window coverings with dangling cords or exposed cords are dangerous for our children. It doesn’t take much time to walk through your home and check your windows. When we moved into our home and the kids were very young, we replaced our blinds with cordless window coverings.
If you discover you need to replace your blinds, it’s easy to go cordless. There is a new US Safety Standard that requires all stock products to be cordless or have cords that are inaccessible. Look for products that are marked with the Best for Kids™ certification label. The label identifies products that have gone through third-party testing and makes it easy to find the window coverings that are best for homes with young children.
CHECK ALL FURNITURE FOR TIPPING RISKS
When we install new furniture, we make sure to secure the pieces to the walls with anchors. It’s a good idea to check all of your bookshelves, media stands, shelving, and other heavy furniture pieces.
Make sure they’re all secured to prevent tipping if a child climbs on them or pulls on them.
If you use any shelves or drawers for storage, keep heavier items on lower levels to also help prevent tipping.
ELECTRICAL CORDS AND OUTLETS
Electrical outlets need to be covered with outlet covers. This is an easy thing to check and I find that sometimes a few of our outlet covers have gone missing. Cover every outlet, not just the one in the play areas. If your kids are like mine, they’re curious and don’t just stay in the areas of the house I have set up for them.
Electrical cords can pose a danger to our kids as well. If you have younger kids, especially crawlers and toddlers, get down on their level and crawl around to see what you might be able to see. Cords can be pulled on and chewed on. If cords are connected to larger pieces of furniture like lamps, televisions, or computer monitors, they pose an additional danger if pulled.
MEDICINE CABINETS & CLEANING SUPPLIES
While I don’t keep any medication or cleaning supplies near our living space, I still like to check and make sure everything is secure. The changing season is a great time to clean out your medicine cabinet and whenever you store your cleaning supplies.
As the kids spend more time indoors, you want to make sure that both of those areas are secured. Keep them in cabinets that are high and out of reach or use cabinet door locks to keep curious little hands out!
SECURE HOLIDAY DECOR
With the cooler weather comes the holiday season. I’m a huge fan of decorating for fall and winter, including all of the holidays. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t always considered whether my decor options would be child-friendly until I had kids. It’s something you might not think about when planning how to childproof your home.
When you’re decorating make sure that you’re using items that are shatterproof or won’t hurt a child if they fall or dropped. Anchor anything that needs to be secured to make sure it’s okay to be around children.
We don’t use candles any more because I don’t want my kids to even be tempted by the flame. They do love our decor pieces that use battery-operated tea lights and light bulbs though!
Keep anything that needs to be out of reach in a high enough place to be out of reach. Make sure there is no way the children could climb to reach it. Holiday decor is very attractive to kids!
Doing a quick walk (or crawl) around the house is a quick and easy way to spot simple things you can fix up to childproof your home. National Window Covering Safety Month in October is a great reminder to check the safety of our homes for our kids.
To learn more about window covering safety specifically, visit the Window Covering Safety Council website for more tips.
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