What necessary but inconvenient things do you do to make your home safe for your children? Share with Fairy Non Bio - £300 voucher to be won

[JustineBMumsnet]

Unassuming things in the home can be a danger to small children, whether it’s food you’d eat yourself without concern, a small step from one room to another or a box of laundry detergent in the cupboard. Fairy Non Bio would like to hear about the necessary but inconvenient things you do to keep your home safe for your children.

Here’s what Fairy Non Bio has to say: “Keeping your home safe from your little explorers can be time consuming, but because of all the chemicals in laundry detergent we want to ensure only mums & dads can access them. With our new Pods Child-Lock pack this can give you extra peace of mind, close with a ‘Click' and store up high behind a closed cupboard.”

Do you have stair gates in every doorway that you curse every time you simply want to carry a cup of tea AND a snack to the sofa? Perhaps you use foam padding on your table corners that your child pulls off thinking it’s a game or have cupboard locks that take ages to undo?

All who post the necessary inconvenient things they do to keep their home safe for their children below will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight Terms and Conditions apply

The catch on the fridge, so tricky to open with one hand!

This is a very long list of what used to be inconvenient things but they are now second nature. The front door is kept locked and the keys hung up out of their reach, the garden gates are kept locked so they can play outdoors. We have child proof latches on certain cupboards to keep the cleaning items out of reach and kitchen utensils like knifes and sharp items in the locked cupboards. Stair gates top and bottom of the stairs are kept closed. The keys for the windows are not left in the windows but hung to the side out of their reach and the cords to the blinds are hooked around wall mounted hooks. I also don't keep cleaning products in the bathroom, they are all kept in the cleaning cupboard.

Move things out of my own reach then I know they can't reach them either .

Stair gates

We had stair gates everywhere when ours were little, but our twins quickly learned that one of them could climb on ther other one to get over the top! We also had socket covers and cupboard locks everywhere.

Stair gates, cupboard locks and plug covers. All essential and not inconvenient once you get used to the fact that they are there.

Stairs gates and chopping all grapes/blueberries or anything round so it's safe for them to eat

Some things are a pain, but anything to ensure a little one's safety in the home is paramount. My pet hate though is stair gates. They just make life awkward, but they are very necessary for child safety.

Baby gates ended up going in this house. My daughter would climb over them and hurt herself dropping to the other side. I did get rid of my coffee table which I loved so she couldn't hut her head when unsteady on her feet. We spent a fortune getting new blinds because the type we had had long cords. Mainly we made sure everything that was a possible danger was put out of reach. Xx

Urugh ours is stairgates. We cannot wait to be rid of them! Drives us bonkers keep opening, closing and walking around the flipping things. Until our son can walk up and down unaided and/or starts climbing them, then they need to stay.

Stair gates were an absolute necessary, not only using for the stairs but also between different rooms in the house both the kitchen and lounge. A pain undoing all the time but at least I could cook and keep an eye on the youngsters too. They did not always like it but at least I knew they were safe.

I had to get rid of our wine rack as unscrewing a bottle of wine was apparently easy for our LO!

locks on the cupboard that have the cleaning and washing machine in, can be a pain especially with arms full of washing

safety gates on the top of the stairs (we live in a flat so that stops them getting out the front door) its a faff when your at the top of the stirs witha load of washing or shopping bags and have to try an open the gate to get in

The Safety Gate is the one for me, I know it is needed but it does get rather tedious using it every time I go in or out of the kitchen as I use the kitchen a lot

We did the minimum we could and never hand any issues. We did not use cupboard locks or move anything out of reach but we did use gates at the top of the stairs for a couple of years until they got the hang of walking up and down them. Babies and children can choke on anything, even food that they have eaten on several occasions you just have to keep your eye on them.

Child gates

I opted for a stair gate, foam corner pads and a fire-guard/cage (more to protect my children against falls on the hearth stone). I also had plug socket covers. The most annoying of these was probably the socket covers as they were always really tricky to remove whenever I needed to use a particular socket - I broke a few fingernails trying to ease them off!

Loads:
Pipe lagging all round the raised plinth in front of our fireplace.
DH made a pond cover sturdy enough to bear my weight, nevermind the kids.
Gates on DC bedroom, stairs and kitchen.
Oh and everything got moved up high until they were around 5.
The first was a bit munchy, a climber and an emptier exhausting. She'd put everything in her mouth. All chemicals were kept in the kitchen with the gate locked.

My husband sawed the corners off the coffee table and sanded them to make them rounded after our youngest fell and cut his head on it. We used it until about two years ago and the baby’s now 12. It was a good conversation starter.

I have tried to carry my plate of chinese food and drink at the same time while opening the stair gate to save me doing two trips to the kithen.....the inevitable happened

I once tried**

Kitchen*

All cleaning products on a shelf up High, medication in a locked cabanet. Also I have cut the blind chains on all my blinds in half with scissors (I can still open and close the blinds with it but it makes it a bit less of a strangulation hazard well I think so.

Ugh stair gates!