Have your DPs baby proofed their house?

[sunnyandshare]

My youngest is nearly a teen and we used to visit my DPs every weekend. They did no baby proofing other than perhaps removing a few select precious ornaments. The stairs were a bit of a pain as the dc always made a beeline for them, but me and DH just ran after them.

Dsis has a ds who is 2.5 years. She doesn't live close by, so only visits every month. She has been making passive aggressive comments about DPs not baby proofing their house, and how it feels they aren't making enough effort. She says as a minimum dps should have a gate across the kitchen and top and bottom of the stairs. If my dgc visited every month for a few hours I don't think it would occur to me to do this...or is this a thing?

My question is really, how much effort have your DPs gone to to baby proof their house, and how often do you see them in their house?

Yes my parents and in laws both did and I'm very grateful because our baby loves power outlets, licking things, and jamming her fingers on things.

Isn't 2.5 quite old for a stair gate anyway?

My parents bought a stairgate, we would move it from the bottom of the stairs to the top depending on time of day. They also had a high chair and travel cot so it was less equipment to bring for visits. Grandchildren are aged 10 down to 2 and there are 6 of them now so it's been in near constant use!

When ours were little, we would drop up a travel cot if GPs were looking after them for the day. This was only used if GP needed to leave them while making lunch or popping to the bathroom or if DC fell to sleep.
Only other thing I remember GP doing was move any medication out of reach.

When Ds was young we just did man to man marking when at DPils. Where do you stop - putting foam round the coffee table so they don't bump their head.

The one we missed was DFIL put a glass of whisky on the floor and Ds took a swig. I was distraught. He appears to be fine but he does like a nice single malt now he in his twenties.

Neither of my parents have done anything to baby proof their house. I wouldn’t expect them to, although I would appreciate it if they’d move precious things out of her reach. My in-laws have fixed their big fancy telly down (they have a really low tv cabinet that a one year old can reach) but that’s about it.

My nephews didn't have gates in their own home let alone at Granny's!

Thanks again. Dsis has a bungalow, and dn fell down the stairs in his other DGPs house recently, which is why dsis is now insisting on the gates. DPs have a travel cot for dn all set up in the spare room and dsis is pregnant so they are turning the other spare bedroom into a room for dn, so it's not as if they don't make effort. I'm going to tell dps that there is a travel option so they don't have to keep the gates on all of the time.

They had stair gates top and bottom attached with screws.
Kitchen cupboard/drawer guards.
Bought a big fire guard (open fire)
Moved the box of sharpie pens to a high shelf
Bought a locked shed to keep my dad's tools in.

We were there a lot, then lived there when DS was a mobile and inquisitive toddler.

Nope my mum didn't and nor did the in laws. It didn't occur to me to expect that, the DCs were never left alone.

2.5 is old for a stair gate, they should have been taught to go up and downstairs safely by then, on their bums if necessary. At 2.5 mine would have shimmied over a stairgate which is more dangerous than not having one!

Both sets of grandparents have removable gates that go up when we visit and move some breakables. We visit once every few months but stay over due to distance. House returns to normal when we leave.

No. My children were supervised at home and at relatives houses.

No, my mum didn't. In fact, it was thinking about the fact that we didn't need stair gates at her house that made me take mine down. It was fine.

No, I didn’t babyproof my own house and wouldn’t leave my children unsupervised in someone else’s even though they are older in case they do annoying things like opening drawers.

I am the eldest of about 10 cousins an we all went through grandparents houses, sometimes all at the same time, with no baby proofing done at all.

Precious objects
Open fire
Stone stepped hearth
Stairs up and down
Grandads ash trays
Grumpy ageing dog

Nothing. And we never broke anything or got hurt.

My youngest cousin is about 18 years younger than me and the house was stripped of loose objects, all doors had door bumpers and side cupboards were turned to face the wall whenever he visited.

No idea what changed. But I know my grandparents really resented having to do it!

My family changed nothing! Tbf, it worked OK. They've bought loads of treats for Christmas already and they're on full display. My poor toddler was on tenta hooks the whole time waiting for his treat.

Your sister sounds insane. For starters 2.5 is too old for a stair gate. They need to be taught how to manage the stairs safely or be closely supervised at all times because at that age they’re more than capable of scaling the gate and causing themselves more damage. But I find the whole concept of going to someone else’s house and just letting your toddler roam free very strange tbh. As is expecting someone to fully baby proof when you visit once a month. At home we close doors, put cleaning products in high cupboards and have anti tip anchors on freestanding furniture - that’s about it!

I really wouldn't install stair gates for a baby who doesn't live there. But I would be very careful about leaving little batteries around. Hearing aids have small batteries in them that are very dangerous if swallowed.

Your sister would be better placed to seize the opportunity to teach her dc how to safely climb and descend a set of stairs at her parents, seeing as they wont learn at home.

No, neither mine nor dh's parents baby proofed their houses when any of their grandchildren were small, and none of us expected them to either.
As a parent, you watch your children closely when you take them to other people's houses.
Yes, I've been in the odd house where I might have moved a particularly "in danger" looking ornament to a higher shelf for the duration, but I wouldn't expect anyone to fit stairgates etc for a visitor.

Apart from putting up stairgates we didn't even babyproof our own house! I think we were lucky in that our small children never really grabbed at things or went through cupboards etc (they were difficult in other ways though!). I certainly didn't expect my family to babyproof their own houses - I just kept a close eye on my children while we were there. I know you have to babyproof with some kids. We had a friend and her toddler around recently and it was utter bedlam. She just pulled everything off every surface she could reach and was constantly falling over and bashing her head!

My parents had a baby gate to the kitchen, probably because of the Aga. I don't remember anything else. There was lots of supervision.

I didn't do much baby proofing to my own house though. Baby gates and some socket covers, the covers didn't last long.

When we get little visitors I put a few things out of the way but I'd get a baby gate if they were here more.

Mine have done some minor baby/child proofing but only because they have her once a week. They don't have stairgates but have put locks on dangerous/cleaning cupboards for example. There's a baby gate on one of the spare rooms for when she sleeps over, and they moved anything precious out of reach in one room which is where they spend their time when they have her so the living room remains in tact! I wouldn't expect them to do anything for an ad-hoc visitor!!

No they didn't but neither did I!

No, parents didn't put anything in place but except for a stairgate, neither did we. There just wasn't any need and the stairgate came down pretty quickly once they'd learnt how to climb up and slide down!