Safety Tips

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Having three kids at the same stage in development changes the way a parent thinks. Since they work together they seem to be able to get into trouble much quicker than a single child at their stage would. Because of this, Gretchen and I have developed the ability to walk into a room and scan it within seconds for safety hazards. Most times we can even come up with a simple rearrangement to prevent problems. This ability even covers our own home, we were very proactive in "baby-proofing" our home. And I think we've done a pretty good job. So I wanted to write a little about some of the products that we've been most impressed with, the ones that have helped keep our kids safe and secure when we might not be watching them, because, let's be honest, we can't watch them 24/7.

The kids' bedroom is on the second floor of our house, and the windows on the second floor are really low. The kids can easily look out the window, and have been able to since they could stand. In the warmer weather the only thing between the kids and a 15 foot drop was the screen, which can easily be pushed out. This scares me, or used to, before we bought Guardian Angel Window Guards from One Step Ahead. These are basically bars for the inside of your window. They mount to the inside of the window frame, and can easily be removed in case of emergency. If your children have access to second floor windows, I highly suggest these guards. They install easy and are very strong.

For another area of our house, where the drop would not be so severe, we've installed the Mesh Window Guard, again from One Step Ahead. This guard is not quite as sturdy as the Guardian Angel, as it is made of plastic and not metal, but can still withstand any amount of pressure a two-year-old child (or three) could put on it. This guard is also very easy to install and can also be removed quickly and easily in case of emergency.

For baby gates, we found the Safety 1st Perfect Fit Gate worked well in our standard size (less than 42" wide) doorways. The gate can be used as a pressure mount or a hardware mount. It can even be removed and replaced without tools when hardware mounted. The locking mechanism is secure, as long as it isn't broken, which is the one problem we had with them. If you have the gate extended just a little too far and try to lock it into place, you can break the locking mechanism, and then the gate doesn't work so well. Other than that, we were really happy with the gate. In fact, we had three of them throughout the house. We still use one of them to keep the dog in the kitchen when we leave him alone in the house.

So, there you have it, three great products to help keep your kids safe. Feel free to share any comments on these products, or any other products that you have liked or disliked, in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with nor have I been compensated by the companies featured in this post to provide my opinion on their products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely mine. I am merely relating my experience with these products. There is no scientific data to back up my claims.