You’ve just moved into your new South Florida home … with your toddler. What could go wrong with that? A lot. What looks like your white luster custom cabinetry to you looks to your child like the perfect opportunity to sample the condiments. And that never ends well. Luckily, there are ways to prevent disaster from happening. If done thoroughly and effectively, childproofing your home can be one of the best ways to prevent your children from doing more harm than they intended to.
Childproofing Your Home in South Florida
When you move to a new neighborhood safety is an issue, especially if you have children. When you move to a new house, it’s no different. At Moving Squad, we want you to feel safe in and outside your house. We hope our guide to childproofing your home in South Florida helps!
Safely Hide Matches and Candles
Not only a metaphor, playing with fire is for real when it comes to children. A child can light a match and cause a fire, no matter how small their hands are. Keep candles away too, especially scented ones. If she chews on one, choking on wax has been known to lead to fatalities.
Put Photo Frames Away
Think twice before you start unpacking those photo frames! When you have a toddler, proper placement is a must! Choose wisely when you decorate by keeping glass photo frames out of reach or by mounting them on the wall. Alternatively, choose plastic photo covers as opposed to glass ones.
Protect Glass Tables
For those about to walk, glass tables edges can be particularly treacherous. According to unintentional injury prevention expert, David Schwebel, Ph.D., “Your toddler can badly cut her forehead and eye area.” For best safety practice, call the manufacturer to find out what type of glass your table is made of. If its non-tempered glass, which shatters easily, consider moving it to a room where your child can’t access or putting it in storage (source).
Clean up Small Toys
If it’s round, cylindrical, or oval and less than one inch in diameter, it can pose a serious choking hazard to your child. Until the child is about five, these objects are a big no-no. (says Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide’s Children Hospital). And hold off on the latex balloons until the child is 8. According to Dr. Smith, “As many as half of choking deaths caused by toys are due to balloons” (source).
Use Fireplace Gates
Sitting around the fire can be very relaxing, provided your toddler can’t get dangerously close to it. If your South Florida home has a fireplace, install a heat resistant fireplace gate for use while the flames are burning.
If the fireplace is artificial, beware of fire rocks that can pose choking hazards to children.
Install Cabinet Locks
They may be raised panel, thermofoil, flat slab, or recessed panel, but they don’t come with child protection. To ensure your little one doesn’t get into the meds, cookies, cleaning products, shampoo, what have you, install cabinet locks on all cabinet doors.
The most popular options for securing cabinets are interior latches that screw into your cabinets, or external locks. For the ‘layers of protection” method of childproofing your home, consider installing both.
Childproof the Kitchen
Open kitchens may be all the rage, but when you have a toddler, its best to keep the kitchen as closed off as possible. Here are the many risks of the kitchen and the ways you can heat out of the kitchen in your new South Florida home.
- Microwave: Once you have a toddler, using the microwave becomes slightly less convenient. For best safety practices, mount the microwave on high up on the wall, where your child can’t get to it. If it must stay on the counter, monitor it carefully to make sure there is no food left it in, or hot liquids dripping from it while the child is within reach.
- Refrigerator: From broken eggs to broken bottles to accidentally defrosting the freezer, refrigerator calamities are known results of toddlers who know how to open refrigerator doors. To keep damage to a minimum, install latches as soon as your child has mastered the art.
- Dishwashers: The biggest risk in dishwashers is ingesting the detergent. To keep the pods from little hands, run the dishwasher as soon as you add them to the washer. Store knives with the blades down and remove the dishes from the machine as quickly as possible. If your dishwasher does not come with a lock setting, consider installing an appliance lock.
- Stoves: Stoves and children have never made for a great combination (see Hansel and Gretel for reference). If your oven has settings, check to see if you have one that locks the door. Otherwise, consider installing a latch or blocking the kitchen entrance with a baby gate.
Staying Safe with Moving Squad
You take extra care in childproofing your home because you can’t afford to take risks. At Moving Squad, we do everything we can to make sure you don’t have to.
Licensed and Insured South Florida Movers
When it comes to moving in South Florida, obtaining a license means more than filling out an application. It means complying with strict standards set by the Department of Transportation (DOT), and Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA). Our license tells you our drivers are safe, our vehicles are safe, and that we have an excellent track record with our customers.
And in no way would we feel comfortable working with you if we weren’t accountable for our actions. Our insurance policies guarantee that you’ll be compensated for loss, damage, or injury.
Free Rate Quote
Another way we keep the risk factor to a minimum is by providing our costumers with free transparent rate quotes. We want our customers to know exactly where their expenses are coming from before signing a contract. You tell us your budget, we come up with a free no-obligation rate quote. We’re upfront with our costs, and we never hide service fees from our customers.
End to End Service
Of all the measures we take to make sure you feel secure, the one that matters most to us is standing by you from the beginning to the end of your move. At Moving Squad, you get an experienced team handling every aspect of your move, answering your questions, and giving you that extra bit of reassurance every step of the way.
From planning to packing to transport to storage, and even to childproofing your home, Moving Squad makes your peace of mind a priority. Call us today for a free rate quote and leave the risky business to the amateurs.
