7 COST FREE CHILD PROOFING MEASURES

1. FINGER PINCHING IN DOORS. Ouch! What to do. Take a bath towel, throw it over the top of the door so that the door won’t close fully and thus, not pinch fingers. Jam it in the hinge to restrict the door even further.



2. REFRIDGERATOR MAGNETS. They hit the floor when people brush past them and become instant choking hazards. Often there is a little round magnet glued to something larger. When they hit the floor the magnet detaches. Find it. The plastic letters that stick to the fridge are for ages 3 and up. They hit the floor and a small rectangular magnet dislodges. Watch out.



3. NICKNAKS like small ceramic and glass figurines, ashtrays, crystal, candy dishes, potpourri, glass frames, coins, purses, etc. must be taken off low shelves and tables. Move em up or get em out.



4. PLANTS. Forget whether they’re poisonous or not. Toddlers pull off the leaves and choke on them. They’ll play in the dirt. The ceramic pot will fall over and break. The plants on tables with wandering vines will also be pulled off and hopefully not land on anyone. Find a sunny new out of the way home for them. You’ll still get the oxygen.



5. HOT BEVERAGES. Never drink a hot beverage (coffee) while you are holding or near a child. How many times a day do you JUMP for your child? It seems that jumping, lurching or quick movements tend to make liquids fly out of mugs in a hurry. A child’s skin is 10 times more sensitive to everything than we are. Sip away. Way away!



6. MAKE SURE YOUR DOORS CLICK CLOSED. Everyone tells me, “Coach, I’m just going to close the door”. I check and find out that the doors don’t even close. Some frames are too tight to close the door. Some have sagged and the latch mechanism doesn’t articulate properly. Some people count on that little ball on the top of some doors to sit in its little housing to keep the door closed. HA! If you are one who is going to count on a closed door, please make sure they close.



7. GFI OUTLETS. You know the ones on kitchen islands or in bathrooms? They have the two tiny buttons on them so that the circuit will trip if it senses a short. You can shut the power to these outlets just by pressing the button to deactivate. We can not change this plate with a babyproofing one because those buttons need to be exposed. Downside, you’ve just shut the juice to an outlet you may want to use.