Once the children begin to walk, there are no places in the house that can be free from their enthusiasm in ‘exploring the world’. As parents we should encourage their exploration, yet we also need to do as much as we can to prevent any harm that may come up along their exploration.
Understand their point of view
The most important thing to do is to understand your child’s point of view in interpreting the spaces in your house. Get down to your child’s eye level, and try to figure out what may attract them to see, touch, push, pull, play with etc. What things that they might bump into, get trapped, walk into or fall from. Those features that are aesthetically good may offer potential harms for your children. Pay attention to all these things:
-Furniture with sharp edges and corners
-Hanging objects that invite pulling: cables, curtains, tablecloth
-Drawers and cabinets that they may pull open, and everything else inside
-Small objects that can be put into mouth, ears or nose
-Poisonous substances and sharp things
-Electric sockets, electronic equipments with buttons, levers, slots and dangerous moving parts
Take precautions
Then you need to decide how you would prevent your children’s access to these dangerous parts of the house. Of course we can never get rid of all the things. It will leave our house with nothing! But of course we can:
-Make use of various safety equipments: socket covers, corner cushions, door stopper, drawer/cupboard latches, safety gates, fireplace guards.
-Move potential harms into places inaccessible for your children. Put them in locked cabinets, drawers, storage room or on the higher levels where they can’t reach. Some of those beautiful objects or displays may need to be kept hidden until later stage.
Beware of your child’s stage of development
What they can’t access today may be easily reached once they begin to walk, climb and open doors. So you might need different strategies at different times to keep your children safe while playing around the house.