A family home is a warm, welcoming, and beautiful place, but it’s also a scary one for parents. When your kids are very young, you find yourself in a tough predicament; on the one hand, you don’t want to mollycoddle them because they should be free to explore and learn about things for themselves, but, on the other hand, you don’t ever want them to be at risk of hurting themselves. You shouldn’t be coating them in bubble wrap around the house, but you also shouldn’t be letting them go near dangerous objects in the house such as sharp instruments.

It can be hard to find the perfect balance. You want your child to be ready for anything the world has to throw at them, but you’d rather the world didn’t throw any dangers their way at all. Their learning experience starts at home, and it’s your job as a parent to guide them through these early years so that they can find their own footing and understand how to keep themselves safe. Here are some tips for safety around the home when children are involved.

Create a kid zone.

The best way to allow your kids to be as chaotic, creative and wild as possible is to practice controlled chaos; that means you need to create a dedicated kid zone in your home. The best place for this is the living room, as you can keep an eye on your kids whilst you’re relaxing too. Creating a designated storage area means you can keep track of all their toys, and it also means that your child or children won’t be playing in dangerous areas such as the kitchen where they could hurt themselves on a multitude of things.

Mend broken things.

This is a big one, and we’re all guilty of failing to do it. When things break around the house, you need to fix them. It’s as simple as that. Life can become hectic, especially when you have to juggle a working life and parenthood, but you can’t just leave that leaky faucet dripping endlessly. If a shelf is looking loose or a door handle is wobbly then fix these things before they develop into real problems or they might end up causing problems for your blissfully unaware little one when they come across these broken things.

You’ll have to screw your DIY head on, of course. Seal the gap in that leaky kitchen sink with a caulking gun, and learn about grouting to fix those horrible old tiles in the bathroom. On an additional note, remove mold wherever you see it around the house, as those particles in the air can be harmful to anyone in the family to inhale. When we talk about “mending broken things”, the definition can be stretched to include fixing issues around the house, in general.

Trust your child as they get older.

As mentioned earlier, there’s a fine balance to be found between protecting your child and over-protecting them. As they get older, the best way to keep your child safe around the house is to give them more responsibilities so that they can learn to keep themselves safe. When they’re legally old enough, you might want to leave them home alone as a test. You might be surprised by this suggestion, but it actually makes sense.

This is a chance to teach your child all about looking after a house, avoiding potential dangers, which numbers should be called during an emergency, and which people they can or can’t invite over. You’ll likely still want to call them on a regular basis whilst you’re away, even if you’ll only be gone for a day or two, but this is the best way to teach your child about home safety because you can’t watch them forever. When they’re old enough to be left alone, they should know how to look after themselves anyway.

Get a pet.

Getting a pet is always a great idea. As long as none of your children have allergies to certain animals then this could be a great addition to your family. Not only will you as the parents love a dog or a cat as much as your children, but this could actually help to keep your kids healthier and safer. That might sound insane, but it’s true. Dogs, in particular, can boost your immune system which means you’ll have less to worry about in terms of your children falling sick at home.