National Child Safety Protection Month: Things That Work For Me

Since November is National Child Safety Protection Month I thought I would share some things I do around my home to ensure my children are safe.  I am the work at home mother of three children; two boys who are 3 and 5, one girl who is 9 years old, the boys are the most curious of my three children and so most of my safety tips are for young curious children like my double trouble team.

Safety Tip # 1 — Scissors Look Cool, but are Not Cool

One day my youngest apparently woke up with the love of scissors, maybe it’s from all that craft time his sister and I spend together or maybe it’s just the fact that he is a boy and scissors look like a pretty cool tool to have.  Either way, my three year old quite honestly is not going to be using adult scissors whether supervised or not, it’s simply my rule. At age two my son learned that he can use kitchen chairs and his step stool to his advantage when getting something he really wants from a high area. Luckily for my son, I a mom who pays attention, however, mistakes do happen even when you feel you watch your children super close which is why I have made a serious rule to have all scissors hidden up high in a place that my three year old can’t even see them to be tempted to find a way up to them.

Safety Tip # 2 — Sleeping Parents May not Mean Sleeping Toddlers

I co-slept with my daughter most of the first three years of her life and even after that she was still sleeping in my bedroom most of the time in her own toddler bed and I kept my bedroom door locked but for the most part my daughter never had the curiosity my sons have about her world.  Once I had boys I knew that their curiosity of their world could get them into trouble should they wake mid night and wish to creep out of bed to investigate their world while their parents were sleeping.  This is when I decided that my sons would sleep with a baby gate on their door no matter what. Then it happened, the boys learned how to open the baby gate and/or climb over it to get out of their bedroom, yes we even attempted TWO baby gates with hinges on top of each other to keep the little curious creatures inside their room but it was only a matter of time before they learned to climb that. My sons now sleep with their bedroom door shut and the door knob turned backwards so that I can lock their door at night. The boys also have a baby monitor in their bedroom so I can always hear them while sleeping.

At first I thought the idea of locking my sons in their bedroom was a really bad idea, but I have discussed this with both their counselor and pediatrician to find that this indeed may be the best thing for them and isn’t being used in a way of fear, the boys have had their door locked at bedtime with a baby monitor for a couple years now with great success. The boys know when they wake up to yell into the baby monitor and then down I come to get them out of their bedroom. It works wonderful for us, even for this mama who was reluctant to use such a safety method to ensure they don’t have free reign of house overnight.

So there are two of my safety tips for today … what do you do to ensure your children are kept safe inside of your home?