Childproofing Products And Installation
Should I childproof the house myself?
Do-it-yourself babyproofing is a great way to save money. The only problem with do-it yourself babyproofing is you don't know which products are effective or which products are going to break. If you childproof the house yourself, you might even install the products incorrectly. When you're mounting a baby safety gate or a window guard, it's extremely important to do it correctly. One secret that child safety professionals have is that we don't use the hardware that comes with the safety devices. We use our own heavy duty hardware, because we find that the product that comes with the child safety devices is substandard or maybe isn't as strong as the product or hardware that we would use.
What is a "professional childproofer"?
Professional babyproofers make it their business to find out which product is the best. There are thousands of child safety devices on the market, and child safety professionals distinguish which are the best, which are the must-haves, which are important, and which are superfluous. Professional childproofers help parents and grandparents babyproof their home with what is needed and what is most effective. One thing professional childproofers find is important to mothers is that it should look nice. To have a babyproofed home doesn't mean to have some ugly contraption, making your entry uninviting. You want everything to look nice, as well as be safe.
How do I find a reputable childproofer?
Finding a reputable child safety professional, or "childproofer" to come to your home to give you the advice that you need and also to do the professional installation is very easy. If you log on to www.iafcs.org, you'll find the International Association For Child Safety and those are approved, trained child safety professionals, all across the nation, that can come direct to your home and help you out with this task of babyproofing.
Where can I buy childproof home safety devices?
Childproof home safety devices can be purchased at various hardware stores, or baby-oriented stores, or you can purchase them from child safety professionals.
How do I identify quality home safety devices?
Identifying a quality child safety device may be difficult for the layperson. What child safety professionals do is try it all. Professional babyproofers buy it all, try it all, and the one thing that I have unique to myself, as well as being a child safety professional, is that I'm a mommy. I don't just buy it and see that if it's functional. I use it. And if it can keep my kids out or if it can keep them out but drive me insane because it's so difficult to open and close, then I'm not going to recommend it as a quality home safety device. As a consumer, if you're going to a retail store, how do you define which child safety device will work best in your home? Trial and error is the easiest way to do it. If there's a JPMA logo on it, you know that it's approved by Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, so will be a quality home safety device. But if it has an International Association for Child Safety logo on it, it's probably going to be a great child safety device for home use.
What childproofing products can I install myself?
There are many child safety devices that do it yourselves can save some money by installing themselves. You can install a non-slip pad in the bathtub for yourself, a spout cover in the bathtub, maybe even non-slip mats underneath the carpets or rugs throughout the house, removing certain pieces of furniture throughout the house, installing padding on those sharp corners or edges by yourself, and pretty much just changing your behaviour, and being educated as to what the hazards are in the home. A great way to babyproof and childproof your home is just by being educated.
What childproofing products call for a professional installer?
If you're on a budget and you like to do some of the work yourself when you're babyproofing your home, and then have a child safety professional do the more complicated, more important items, I would have a child safety professional install the baby gates, first and foremost. There are some homes that have railing on one side and wall on the other. How do you get that gate to attach to the wall and to the rail without messing up the rail? There are wonderful custom mount kits that child safety professionals will create right there on the spot in your home. You just want to make sure that gate stays put when you've got the baby pushing on that gate. You have to make sure that the gates you install are mounted into the wall. Many parents make the mistake of saying, "Well, I'm going to go ahead and do it myself," and they put a pressure gate at the stair top. Pressure gates move. They're only installed by pressure, and babies can get really strong, especially if you have twins, because that's double duty on that gate. Also having a child safety professional install window guards - same principle. Those falls can be fatal for your children, so you need to make sure that those are installed correctly. If you have any latches, some people can put them in easily, but some parents can spend hours trying to take care of this. Child safety professionals have six different types of locks and latches that can work for your home, and some of which are magnetic locks. They work very, very well if they're installed correctly.
How do I childproof my home on a budget?
Another way to babyproof your home on a shoestring budget is creating a play area in your home so that if you're in the kitchen preparing meals, because as mommies we know we prepare meals all day long, and then you want to cordon off a certain play area with a gate here and a gate here so that your child is right there under your nose with your supervision so that you don't have to babyproof the entire home if you're on a tight budget. It's just a play area and that makes it simple for you as a mom, gives you the piece of mind, and it's also easy on a budget.
Is childproofing going to make my house look ugly?
Childproofing your home does not have to be an eyesore. I know I take great pride in making sure that my home is aesthetic and beautiful. As a child safety professional and childproofing business owner I took great pride in choosing specific products that, first and foremost, are functional and safe for your child, but also can look nice in your home, are different colours, different styles, and, in fact, there is plexiglass that we use that you can't even tell that it's there.
At what age do children no longer need childproofing products?
I get the question of, "at what age can I uninstall all of these devices; at what age am I free of all these baby gates, locks, and latches?" And quite frankly, that's a hard question to answer. I think that by the time a child is grown and a mother is considering these questions, she needs to really make that decision for herself. I have a five year old and a three year old and I still have locked cabinets. I have chemicals which I just don't want them to ever have access to. So I will always have magnetic locks on my cabints with chemical. Some people have bars in their homes with different types of alcohol in it. I mean, my goodness, you could argue that cabinet to be locked well into the teen years to keep your kids out of it. So, my sister, for example, she removed the padding off of her hearth because it just looked ugly--it had been there through four children I might add--and she removed it. That very next day, her four year old daughter fell and hit her forehead on the hearth. So I would leave it installed as long as possible. Regarding baby safety gates, if your children are able to walk and they're able to walk confidently, and--picture this moment, if your child is walking up the stairs and they hear daddy walk in the front door or a dog bark and they don't pivot and turn and then lose their balance and fall, then that would be the time, after that time would be the time to uninstall that baby gate. Your child needs to be sure-footed and needs to be able to make decisions like not pivoting right in the middle of the stairs to be able to uninstall those baby gates.
