Childproofing tends to get done piecemeal, an outlet cover here, a cabinet latch there, as parents notice things. Working through it room by room, once, catches far more than reacting to individual close calls, and one specific change matters more than everything else on this list combined.
Furniture and TV anchoring comes first
A dresser, bookshelf or television tipping over onto a child is the single most serious and most preventable risk in most homes, and it is consistently the item left until last because it does not look dangerous sitting still against a wall.
- Locate the wall studs behind the furniture or television using a stud finder.
- Attach an anti-tip strap or bracket to the back of the furniture piece, following the hardware's own instructions for placement.
- Fix the other end of the strap into the studs, not just the drywall, using the screws supplied with a rated anti-tip kit.
- For a wall-mounted television, confirm the mount itself is fixed into studs, for the same reason it matters on any TV mount.
- Test by pulling firmly on the top of the furniture. It should not shift or tip forward at all.
Stairs
A gate at both the top and bottom of any staircase is standard practice, but the top gate specifically needs to be a hardware-mounted gate screwed into the wall or banister, not a pressure-mounted gate that simply wedges between two surfaces. A pressure gate can be pushed loose at the top of a flight of stairs in a way that is far more dangerous than the same failure at the bottom, since a fall from the top of a full staircase is a serious injury risk in a way a fall at the bottom rarely is. Check the gate periodically, since the pressure or hardware on either type can work loose over months of regular use.
Kitchen and bathroom
The standard list here covers most of the real risk in both rooms.
- Fit cabinet and drawer latches on anything storing cleaning products, medications or sharp items.
- Use a stove knob cover, or make a habit of cooking on back burners only while young children are in the kitchen.
- Cover any accessible outlet within reach of a crawling or walking child.
- Add a toilet lid lock and a non-slip mat in the tub in the bathroom.
- Set the water heater no higher than about 49 degrees Celsius to prevent scald injuries at the tap.
Cords, blinds and window coverings
Looped cords on blinds and curtains are a genuine strangulation risk that is easy to overlook because the blinds themselves seem completely harmless hanging in a window. Cordless blinds, or cord shorteners and wind-up cleats fitted well out of a child's reach, remove that risk entirely rather than just managing it. Window restrictors that limit how far a window can open from the inside are worth adding on any upper floor window a child could reach, especially in a bedroom or playroom where a window might be left open on a warm day without anyone thinking about it twice.
For anchoring, gates and restrictors fitted properly throughout the house, our childproofing and home safety service in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge works through it room by room in a single visit.