It can be daunting to think about baby proofing your entire home. As a mother of two, SANUS’s Lauren Theobald likes to go through her house one room at a time to make the task more manageable. In this video, she will walk you through how to child proof your living room in just 30 minutes or less.
Start with the TV
A TV poses a very serious risk of potentially tipping over and injuring your children if not properly secured to the wall. To avoid an accident, the safest thing you can do is mount your TV to the wall. It gets it up and away from little hands that like to grab and pull it down. Just be sure that the TV mount you have is designed for safety.
Store Items with Batteries Out of Reach
While the danger of batteries might not initially be very obvious, they do pose choking hazards and worse. If they are ingested, a child’s saliva can actually create a electrical current that can burn the esophagus in as little as two hours. Also, if your remote is smaller, it may have a button battery which is easier to swallow than your typical AA batteries. Button batteries hold a charge even after they have powered your remote, making these shiny, appealing objects for children potentially lethal. Be sure to keep them up and out of harm's way.
Identify Climb-Friendly Furniture
Kids love to climb on EVERYTHING. Use an anti-tip strap to secure the top of the furniture directly to the studs in the wall. The furniture with the highest potential of risk is a tall dresser, but many of today's storage units that tend to be built with lighter construction are much more prone to tip than older, heavier pieces. Securing all furniture is the best way to avoid having furniture fall on top of your children.
Tuck Away Your Components
Think about any of the components you have to support both your audio and TV. If they are large, you will want an enclosed media cabinet to make sure they are out of reach of little kid fingers. This is also a great way to hide all of your power and av cables, which are like little magnets to baby hands. Just plug all of your components and TV into one power strip, with surge protection, and place behind your cabinet. Just note, if you do place all of your components in a completely enclosed piece of furniture or cabinet, you'll need to purchase an IR repeater so the signal from your remote can reach your components. These are simple to use and less than $35.
If you have smaller components like Apple TV or Roku, you can easily tuck those streaming devices right behind your mounted TV.
Don’t forget the most obvious child proof item – make sure that you cover all of the electrical outlets in your living room.
And that’s how easy it is to babyproof your living room in just 30 minutes or less!
Topics: Home Safety, Video
