September is Baby Safety Month

Really, we should be focused on our kids safety all the time, but September has been designated as the specific month to host "Baby Safety." There are SO many ways to make sure your home is ready for the baby before they arrive, but if you're like me (and I suspect a lot of others), if wasn't until after the baby got home that you realized what a death-trap your warm and cozy home really was.

We figured that sure, we need to put outlet covers on all the electrical plugs and baby gates up around the stairs - basic stuff like that. But, we also decided that we had time for all that since after all, the baby isn't making its way around the house until they're so many months old and sitting, scooting, and crawling, right? Well, we got the basics taken care of before they became a problem, but there were other things we realized we needed to tend to before they became really hazardous.

For example, about a year before our baby arrived, we had just bought new furniture. Not anticipating the arrival of our soon-to-be new little decorator, we never considered how baby or child-friendly the pieces we bought were. Luckily the couch isn't the issue, since it was the big ticket item. The coffee table on the other hand, well, that was a different story. No one asked us if we had kids or were planning to have them when they graciously showed us around the furniture store. We "oohed" and "ahhed" over countless pieces that I'm SO glad we didn't end up getting - one of which was a beautiful set that had inlaid stone squares that could pop out pretty easily. We did end up with something with dangerously sharp corners that, while, no problem for us, were just calling for a little forehead to crash into while learning to crawl and walk. We waited until our son was sitting and on the verge of crawling before banishing the beautiful piece to the basement, where it will probably remain for countless years until we decide we are done with having kids and those kids are responsible enough to 1-not hurt themselves on it, 2-not damage it while playing, and 3-have respect for one of our remaining pieces of nice furniture. (In other words, after they move out!)

Another thing we've found out is that baby-proofing isn't a one-time deal. It's continual - meaning that as your baby grows, so does your need to reassess how appropriate the baby-proofing you've done still is. So, while the baby fence we have up around our entertainment center worked while our son was younger, and even as he began walking, now that he's decided that climbing is fun, the fence isn't working so great. So either we're going to have to seriously work on the "don't touch buttons on things that aren't yours" rule, or we're going to have to find a higher and more sturdy fence! Also, he's now decided that sitting on the couch isn't enough, when mommy is in the kitchen, he wants to stand on it so he can look over the back to see me in the other room - which puts him just eye-level and within arms reach of just about anything on the bar that joins the kitchen and the living room. We used to keep our remote controls up there, and my husband was notorious for opening and setting our mail there also. Well, we've had to learn very quickly that the bar isn't a place for anything we don't want his little fingers getting into.

So, maybe it isn't such a bad idea to have a whole month devoted to thinking about baby safety. There sure is a lot of stuff in our house that we need to readdress now that our son is seriously on the move and working out things in his head. We've already been locking doors - he can open all the lever handles we have in the house and more than once has opened the front door because he knows it leads outside! (We've also had to let any visitors know that while WE respect their privacy and won't walk in on them in the bathroom, they'd better lock the door behind them because our son doesn't have that same sense of modesty and thinks the bathroom is a fun place to be - especially if there's someone in there!)

Throughout the month of September, I'll try to make a point to share little safety tips with you - and please let me know if you have any of your own to share! We can all use the help - heaven knows us parents need to stick together!

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