ToddlerGuide

Safety

Toddler-proofing after walking

Walking turns every room into a new map. Your job is to move the danger before you write a new rule.

An adult in a dark green sweater and a toddler in a rust shirt sit on a living-room rug sharing an open picture book.

An adult in a dark green sweater and a toddler in a rust shirt sit on a living-room rug sharing an open picture book.

CDC toddler parenting tips is blunt about water, stairs, cars, cleaners, and unused outlets. CDC on preventing drowning is why water gets its own post: drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4. This page is the rest of the house.

Gates at stairs, latches on cleaners, cords up, and furniture anchored are boring on purpose. A firm no cannot outrun a dresser. Put the lock on. Then save no for the street.

Windows and balconies surprise families who already gated the stairs. Screens are not barriers. If a window opens more than a few inches, it needs a guard that the child cannot move and an adult can still use in a fire.

Try this

  1. Get on the floor and see what you can reach in 30 seconds.
  2. Gate the stairs at the top and bottom if that matches your house.
  3. Lock medicines and cleaners. Not just the ones you think taste bad.
  4. Anchor dressers and TVs.
  5. Tell every caregiver where the gates latch. A propped gate is not a gate.

Grandparents' houses need a shorter version of the same list. Bring a portable latch if you have to. You are not being rude. You are bringing the child's new range of motion with you.

A child who climbs will climb the gate. That is a supervision problem and a hardware problem. If they can open it, change the hardware. If they climb it, stay closer and move the temptation on the other side.

In the house this month

Purse contents are a new food group: coins, gum, medicines, button batteries. Put the purse up. Button batteries are an emergency if swallowed. Know that before you need it.

Exercise equipment and pet food bowls join the list. So do houseplants that are not safe to chew. Walk the house after you grocery shop. New bags mean new reach.

A gate that is propped with a shoe is an open door. The adult who props it is the person who needs the reminder, not the child.

If you rent and cannot drill, use pressure gates where they are safe and ask the landlord about furniture anchors. A letter from a clinician can help. A falling dresser will not wait for the lease.

What you can skip

Skip a firm no as your only gate. Skip a propped gate. Skip a purse on the floor with a battery inside.

Skip assuming grandparents' houses are already ready. Bring the latch.

Keep the range in view

Stairs, water, cleaners, outlets, purses, dressers. Move the danger before you write a new rule. A propped gate is open. Grandparents need the short list too. Walking changed the house.

Keep the range in view

Walk the house again after you bring groceries home. New bags mean new reach. Coins, gum, and button batteries travel in purses. Put the purse up.

Keep the range in view

Windows and balconies surprise families who already gated the stairs. Screens are not barriers. Check what opens more than a few inches.

Check in if

If you cannot keep the child safe in your current space, say so to your pediatrician at the visit. Housing and mental load are safety issues too.

Related ages: 12-18 months, 18-24 months. Pillars: Behavior.

Sources

  1. CDC. Positive parenting tips: toddlers (1 to 2 years). cdc.gov
  2. CDC. Preventing drowning. cdc.gov/drowning
  3. CDC. Milestones by 1 year. cdc.gov/act-early/milestones/1-year.html
  4. CDC. Milestones by 15 months. cdc.gov/act-early/milestones/15-months.html