June is National Safety Month and what better way to bring awareness than to share how we’ve outfitted our home to protect our most precious asset: our children.
I never thought I’d be the one to go all out on the baby proofing and other than some outlet plugs and hacking an Ikea cabinet to contain our litter box when we lived at the condo, we honestly didn’t do much. But toddler-proofing? We’ve gone all out!
Toddlers are way more mobile, more determined, and much much trickier! In an effort to keep our daughter in where we want her to stay in and out of where we want her to stay out of, we’ve discreetly toddler-proofed our house and thought I’d share what we used:
FRONT DOOR LOCK
This style front door lock is great for any lever type door hardware. Toddlers are typically tall enough that they can reach and operate most door handles and I find that any lever type door hardware is especially easy for them to open. While this type of handleset wouldn’t be my first choice when installing, it was here when we purchased the home so making sure we had a child-proofed lever lock on the front door was top priority – especially once she started climbing out of her crib at night and even more so now that she’s in a big girl bed!
SLIDING DOOR LOCK
The 2nd most important thing we installed was sliding door locks on the sliding doors that lead out to our backyard. Similar to the scenario above, our daughter is tall enough / capable enough to lock/un-lock the slider door lock that comes already installed on the door. We installed these at the top of each door so even if she can flip up the latch on the door handle, she can’t open the sliders and escape unless these locks are released. This not only keeps her inside when we want her to be but also provides an added level of security from a break-in stand point too. We have two different versions – this one was already on the kitchen slider and drills directly into the door frame and we went ahead and added these (pictured below) on the living room slider as a damage free option.
MAGNETIC CABINET LOCK
We use magnetic cabinet locks throughout the house and I love that they are easily installed and require no tools! Not only do they keep little ones out of cabinets you don’t want them in, but when that phase of life has passed, they can be easily removed without leaving any marks or holes behind! We have one on the cabinet under the sink were we keep most of our soaps and cleaners and another set on the credenza in our guest bedroom that holds all the messy art supplies like paint, stickers, and play-doh! They would also be great on bathroom vanity doors and drawers as well!
REMOVE BOTTOM HARDWARE
In a few cases, I’ve removed hardware from furniture to deter her from playing around in areas I don’t want her to be in. We did this in our condo built-ins for a while and the bottom two drawers on her nursery dresser were sans hardware for the longest time. The drawers held sheets, blankets, and extra diapering supplies and removing the hardware meant that she couldn’t access what was inside or scale the face of the dresser like a ladder to reach what was sitting on top!
TAMPER RESISTANT OUTLETS
We partnered with Legrand last year to add tamper resistant outlets throughout the majority of our home which negates the need for outlet plugs. We have these outlets and love them and even a few with integrated night lights that light our way while navigating the dark house at night.
VIDEO CAMERAS
We’ve been a big fan of Yi cameras since Emie was a baby – opting to use these instead of a traditional baby monitor. The camera has night vision, a two way microphone, motion detection, and a recording feature too. We have these throughout the house to keep tabs on things and they also serve as a security cam when we’re away too.
Everything we have and use for child safety in our home is linked below – click on any image to shop:
The only thing we’re missing in this round-up is a refrigerator lock – which we don’t currently use – but considering how much snacking has gone up since quarantine, maybe it’s time to install one, haha!