6 Answers
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I think it depends on the kid, and it depends on the parent. With our first, we really didn't do much child proofing at all. Just the absolute minimum, and in fact, we didn't even install the plastic plug things or locks on the under-sink cleaner storage until he was much older (18+ months)
We realized that we're around him and paying at least a little attention to what he's doing pretty much all the time.
With respect to things like padding on sharp table corners, we had some close calls, but in fact, we never had any even mildly serious bumps due to things that we expected.
As you mentioned, then things that are going to happen are the totally unexpected, and these are the things that you'll never be able to childproof against. For example, we had an emergency room visit for stitches to our son's forehead -- all caused by a board book of all things.
But, I've talked with other parents whose children are totally different. Some kids will dart off in the smallest moment of being unsupervised, and try to find the most forbidden thing they can think of, and start messing around with it. If your kid is like this, then you've certainly got to do some more serious childproofing.
As our son gets older, he's spending more and more time unsupervised, and that makes me think that outlet protectors (in his room, mostly) are important, as are making sure that he doesn't have access to any cleaning products. (We've never very vigilant when it comes to keeping them locked)
So, my advice: Follow your gut. If your kid isn't getting into stuff, then you probably don't need to childproof (yet)!
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Whenever I take my kids to my parents' house, which is totally un-childproof, I'm reminded of what things are important. The main things for me are: Don't have expensive vases/china/dishes at kid height on open shelves. Don't leave a short trash can uncovered, with sharp things inside. Don't have precariously balanced bookshelves that aren't braced, piled high with too many heavy books. And don't have a coffee table that's not balanced, holding dishes and vases. In the garden, don't leave the sharp tools and snail bait and rat poison out in a pile near the door.
I get exhausted whenever I bring my kids there.
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We didn't childproof either (except the minimum like you already mentioned regarding chemicals, etc). We didn't want to raise our children in a bubble-protected environment and have them think that was the norm. Let them adjust and adapt early on in life that you can get hurt and you have to be careful.
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A Grandma thinks outloud..... wow-- "child proofing" a house was not even thought of 40 years ago. Except for minor alterations as mentioned in another posting, all I had was vigilance and training. Somehow, me and my kids survived without any major disasters. Or is my memory failing me? I think a " natural" environment is the best one ( within reason of course.) It teaches kids to be respectful of others belongings, and makes socializing at other people's homes much more enjoyable-- and safe.
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Another consideration is budget. If you want to keep the cost from snow-balling and buying things you later never use, child-proof the room or rooms your child is in most often. Buy one or two of a product and test it out. Then go through the whole house.
You could go crazy buying every child-proofing item out there and make it so the adults in the house can't get to anything, only to find that your child isn't interested in what's behind the closed door.
Yeah, I totally know what you mean! We had this exact same response when visiting the grandparents one time. It was so hard to deal with the kids!
- Steve Lacy, Nov 24, 2009