See this guy here? He is my baby. Sure, he’s closing in on three years old (waah!!), but he’s my littlest, and he’ll always be my baby. And in some ways, due to his speech delay, he does seem younger than his years. I still call him “baby” all the time, and I also tell him he’s a “big boy”often, too – confusing much? He’s definitely at that place where he’s some of both.
A few weeks ago I had the chance to talk with child safety expert Kimberlee Mitchell, and we were discussing the fact that I’d re-arranged my laundry-storage habits because Jonah can get the kitchen gate open now. I was thinking, “Well, he’s getting older, he can get it open now, I need to make the kitchen safer and take my laundry supplies to the basement as soon as I bring them into the house.”
It didn’t occur to me until after my conversation with Kimberlee had concluded that I should’ve been thinking, “Yeah, I know he’s almost three, but the kitchen leads to the basement stairs where the laundry room is and I don’t want him down there, plus you know, the oven is hot, so I should get a new kitchen gate.”
I was thinking, “He’s almost three! We’re almost out of the baby gate stage!”
I was wrong, and thankfully I realized that before we had a safety snafu. I got a new kitchen gate.
Now Jonah is safe from our basement, our laundry supplies, and anything I don’t want him getting into in the kitchen.
Jonah may be getting older, but he still needs to be safe and protected from things that he’s not ready for yet. September is Baby Safety Month, and there’s no better time to think about safety for your babies, whether they are still teeny or are getting big. It’s also a great time to think about laundry safety once again. Laundry safety is important, y’all!!! Laundry products are definitely things our kiddos are not big enough to handle, and they should be stored out of kids’ reach and sight. As I’ve mentioned, Emily and I are proudly working with the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) to spread the word about laundry safety— it’s an issue that’s really important to us.
September may be Baby Safety Month, but honestly, we need to make every day child safety day in our homes. But in the frenzy most parents of young children call life, things can easily slip through the cracks. Things like a worn-out safety gate, for instance. That’s why it’s important to stop and make some safety policies and guidelines for your home. One way you can do that is by taking the ACI KEY Pledge for laundry safety. It’s as easy as heading to the KEY Pledge website and learning about simple steps to ensure a safe laundry room and routine:
Keep single-load liquid laundry packets out of the reach of children
Educate your family and friends about the safe use and storage of these new laundry products
You serve a key role in laundry safety.
Head on over to take the KEY Pledge and then make today the day you choose to make any necessary safety adjustments in your home. I promise this is something you will never regret doing.
Just like I don’t regret our new gate!
What plans do you have in place to keep your babies safe at home?
