A friend asked me the other day about baby “proofing”. (Yes, that is in quotes for a reason. Once they become mobile, and maybe even before that point, you will understand.) Here are a few thoughts:
1) Baby “proofing” for really dangerous stuff is a must. Chemicals, access to stairs, access to pools, something glass and breakable, you get the idea.
2) Baby “proofing” for areas where a huge or frequent messes could be made is a good idea. I mean, can you really fault a kiddo for knocking over a huge crate of dry cat food that looks suspiciously like cereal?
3) Baby “proofing” area just for convenience is a judgement call. First, realize that the baby proofing stuff is a total pain. The rush of annoyance at the world when you, using total muscle memory, go to grab a fork and realize you have to instead push the tab down first ranks up there with certain forms of torture on the enjoyment scale. Also, cabinets and places that don’t hold anything dangerous can be a great play area (our kiddos loved to play with pots, pans and Tupperware while we cooked dinner). Alternatively, they can be excellent places to train your kiddos. You can use an area or an object as off limits and train them to respond to “No” when they attempt to access it (a blog post on discipline to come…).
4) Baby “proofing” corners and edges are also iffy. We never did this. Maybe we would have if we had something with sharpish edges.
5) Electrical outlets are a nice place to say “No” calmly every time you notice them paying attention to them. This is because they will see them again at other people’s houses and can have that association when they see them.
All of our hospital related injurys happened much later in life and on objects and situations no one would have thought to baby/kid proof (funny stories on that to come). Just do your best. God makes them a LOT tougher than you think at first.