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

With my first child we had the usual stair gate and moved cleaning materials out of reach. We covered the corners of a sharp fire place but that was it really. She was not into emptying cupboards so when we had other children it was often then we needed more safety in place. I think your own children get used to the things to watch out for and it can be visitors who do things differently that can find potential dangers.

Making sure doors are kept locked, cupboard doors are secure and using stair gates.

Attaching furniture to the walls is the must after a near accident with a chest of drawers I would definitely recommend this to everyone with children

Cupboard clips were the first thing that sprang to mind!! They used to drive me nuts, they did a great job of keeping LO out of the cupboards - but it took me about 2 weeks to get used to them being there & I'd go to the cupboards & open them in a hurry, only to jar my arm every time as I forgot about the clips!!
I put all the cleaning materials in the highest cupboard as I didn't trust my bold LO not to outwit the cupboard clips & it just wasn't worth the risk.

When mine were toddlers we changed all our pull down door handles for the turn around knobs which they couldn't open. They're teenagers now and have no problem, I'm the one who's often stuck in the bathroom or bedroom because I can't turn the knob!

I have recently had to move my tv into a far corner of our living room, totally inconvenient for actually watching tv, but it had to be done to stop my 18 month old climbing on to the unit where it was before!

Still cut grapes, make him bite maltesers in half.
Still have up stair gates to kitchen (now have 6 month old too so will be using soom anyway)
Have a key always in the same.place for windows and doors in case of emergency/fire, so they can be easily located in the dark.

Mine is 15 months. We have the annoying cupboard catches, tv is now wall mounted and stand is in the attic to stop her climbing on it, stair gate and always keep kitchen door closed (to the annoyance of the cats who scratch it) and keep washing powder up on the counter.

I hate the cupboard catches, I always forget they're there and try to open without unlocking them.

Cupboard locks :)

Stairgates and cupboard catches mainly. And never getting a moment's peace as I'm always supervising a 10 month old who is in to everything.

Stairgates, cupboard catches and latches on the windows so they don't open far enough for a DC to fall out.

The toilet lid locks!!!

Very inconvenient after a little glass of wine (or two on Christmas day) when Great Nanny couldn't work it out...and we had to find the mop!

Baby gates on living room door way and stairs. I bought this cushioned tape to go along the edges of fire place granite, plug socket caps (which can be a pain to get out). And many more little things to keep my kids safe

safety gates when theyr left open- always always bang my side on them. ouch

Our inconvenient but necessary is attaching furniture to the wall. Absolutely essential for keeping the kids safe but a pain when I want to rearrange the rooms and then have to actually plan it and get the tools out etc

I did everything I could when mine were little - but it wasn't a hassle, just a part of having small children. Stair gates, cupboard locks, plug socket covers. Oh and fastidious about making sure the floors were as clean as possible - so much hoovering, sweeping and antic-bac washing the floors down every night. It's become a habit and I still do it now - even though they don't need it...

Plug socket covers are really dangerous. In the UK sockets have built in internal shutters, and no way could a finger reach the electrical parts anyway.

I’ve done very little childproofing. No cupboard locks, no corner guards, no stair gates. I prefer to house proof the child! That way they’re safe in any home, not just mine. It’s not difficult to teach kids that they’re not allowed to touch sockets or open cupboards. Doors can be closed which makes gates unnecessary. My one concession to safety is to keep medication in a high cupboard and household chemicals in the utility room.

When they were younger I hated stair gates, especially with an older child able to use the stairs but not the stair gates so I would have to go up and down opening and closing them whenever they wanted to go up or down, all while carrying the baby who they were there to stop

We still have child locks on cupboards that they shouldn't be going in, and they are higher up, the DC can actually open the locks now but it's a reminder of which cupboards they should not be going in. It means they can't accidentally go in the wrong one because they have to stop and open a lock, which they know they are not to do.

Storing sharp knives on a magnetic block in the upper wall mounted cupboards in the kitchen. It stops little fingers opening drawers and grabbing at blades loose in the drawer but as I'm only 5"3 myself I have to stand on DS' stepping stool to see where a particular kife is if I'm after something specific like the cleaver or pizza cutter. as they're all lying flat next to each other.

My son found the batteries in the bottom of the gas fire and once he knew they were there he wanted them 24/7! The way the room is it won't hold a fire guard steadily so we had to remove the batteries and use gorrila tape to tape up the fire! It looks really ugly and means we can only use the radiator in the room which isn't as toasty but is worth it to keep our little boy safe! Only... 10 more yearsish and we should be able to trust him to get the fire back!

I have had to put really tricky locks in all my windows. My children are climbers

Stair gates, inconvenient but also useful for separating the dog from the little ones occasionally.
Cupboard locks in the kitchen and bathroom, and medicines up high.
Window locks

With my first 2 I child proofed everything. With my youngest the only thing I had was a stair gate to stop him getting into the kitchen. That was until I fell through it thinking it was open while carrying a load of washing almost breaking my foot and bending the gate in the process breaking the plastic cups on the side of it. Now I have nothing at all and am just teaching him what he can and cannot touch. Terrible 2s and he hasn't hurt himself nearly as much as the older 2 and my house is much easier for everyone else. I don't even have gates on the stairs this time because it just encouraged them to swing on them or try to climb over them.