My son reminds me of one of those topsy turvy toys. He will get up on his feet like he is doing a push up and inch his way forward. It is not a full blown crawl quite yet, but it is pretty close. Steven is six months old and he is moving forwards and backwards. When these directions don’t get him to where wants to go quickly, he simply lies down and flips himself over from belly to back until he has rolled within reach of whichever toys has caught his interest.
As much fun as it is to watch my son do this, I have started to realize that he is very close to being mobile. Since my peanut is starting to move around more and more I have started to think more and more about child proofing my house.
With mobility comes curiosity.
I know that when my first born son started to crawl he was into everything. Cabinets were opened and drawers were pulled out; stuff was strewn every which way! I started having nightmares about children tumbling down the stairs once my baby boy started to crawl. As organized and anal retentive as I am about a lot of stuff, I did not go crazy child proofing my house before the first baby came home from the hospital. I wanted to wait to child proof my home until my little guy was actually moving around and getting into stuff. Needless to say, we started child proofing the house as soon as William started crawling.
We have all of the electrical outlets covered, a majority of the cabinets child proofed, the stove knobs and door child proofed, the window cords are wound up high and tight, and we bought a couple safely gates as well for the staircase. I think these are must have child proof items for any family with toddlers. I rest easy knowing that if my children are not supposed to be playing with something, that something is child proofed and inaccessible.There are some things that I never child proofed and I am now questioning if I should be reconsidering these decisions. I never child proofed toilets seats or door handles in my home. I did not child proof a majority of the drawers in the kitchen either. I keep going back and forth about whether I should re-child proof my house now that I have a new little guy getting into things.
I often wonder if I am over doing it. I mean if it was good enough the first time around, it should be fine this time, right? Is there such a thing as too much child proofing? Am I going overboard? Am I a bad parent because I do not have every single thing in my house child proofed? Am I not child proofed enough? Aaahhhh!
Okay, deep breathe. I think I may be going a little crazy over the whole child proofing thing.
I think child proofing is a matter of safety and personal preference. Not everything in my home is child proofed because I like to teach my children how to use certain things and when it is appropriate to access them. Sometimes this is a HUGE headache, sometimes I beam with pride when my son “gets it”.
I am starting to rethink the whole door knob thing though, especially now that William can lock and unlock doors and open them. SCARY!
I would love for you to weigh in with your opinions and experiences with child proofing.
