A Baby-Proof Home: How far should I go?

Posted by Mrs Zeee on 04/17/2009

So, I have a very ambitious weekend planned: I have to start clearing out space in my little salt box of a home to make it baby proof.  My husband and I are new parents to little Miss Smiley and all of these years we have been living in a very adult-friendly home. Let me help paint the picture: neatly organized wine rack, exposed outlets, power cords strewn about in our home office, strategically placed paper piles sincerely meant to be “read” or “filed” (neither of which ever actually happens)…and tons of picture frames, candles and chotchke that are all too accessible for curious little hands. 

So, I have a multi-phase approach to this massive project. 

Phase 1: Purge

I plan to start by going through the house with 3 LARGE bags:

1- for goodwill donations — clothing, shoes, coats, books, CDs, housewares that I are not being used and have not been used in quite some time. Clearly, we can live without this stuff.

2 – for recyclable papers– we have tons of useless stacks of papers and magazines around the house. In a perfect world, our household policy would be: if you can’t get the info online, then you don’t need it. BUT, that is just not realistic, so I’m just going to try and keep it to a minimum.

3- for good ol’ garbage — stuff that I wouldn’t even give to charity because it is in such bad shape. junk, junk and more junk…

Phase 2: Clean

This one pretty much explains itself except that I do plan on cleaning out the soot from the base of the fireplace which is going to be such a messy job. Not looking forward to it!!

Phase 3: Secure

Going to run through the house to test and secure all of the surviving objects. For example, I have picture frames that are currently within grabbing distance for little Miss Smiley. Instead, I am going to try and arrange them nicely on one of the living room walls. 

Also, going to have to switch all of the low-shelf items in the house to make sure they include “ok to grab” stuff like towels, dish cloths, pots, tupperware instead of oh say, cleaning products and sharp kitchen tools.

Other items to store away or in a higher place: Fireplace tools, space heater, paper shredder, flower vases, and anything with parts smaller than a silver dollar that are potential choking hazards. So much to think of! 

Phase 4: Next weekend and beyond

Seeing as how I only have time for this project on Saturday, I am going to be realistic and assume that this effort will span a couple of weekends and is likely to be an ever-evolving struggle. But, in the spirit of spring cleaning and new beginnings, I am excited to start!

So, am I going to far? Not far enough? At what point should I be teaching my daughter “no” to touching certain things as opposed to removing the temptation altogether? My mom always tells me that if I just teach her not to touch, then the lesson is learned and I don’t have to worry as much. I think in many respects she is right, but hey, I’m paranoid.

Please share any tricks, tips or suggestions you may have…

New mommies can use all the advice they can get :)

 

Update: It is after midnight and this lady is tired with a capital T.  I am happy to say that we successfully completed the purge and clean phases of this massive project, but as many of you predicted — myself included —  we are not yet close to the end.

And so, I am just another weekend warrior humbled by the enormity of the task  and residing to continue it another day.  To bed…