Security Measures

As the kids have become more mobile, more intelligent, and more mischievous, certain things had to happen to provide a safe home environment. Well, at least, as safe as possible! We hope!

The gate is now down, an unfortunate loss to our defenses, but we press on! We have some of the regular safety items around the house. I have mentioned the doorknob covers before. We also have drawer latches and cabinet locks. Like most homes with children old enough to get into things but too young to know better, these items keep the kids from getting at the cleaning products (Hey, Zachary, look at this cool green juice I found!) stored under the sink, the wooden kabob skewers (My eye! My eye!) in the bottom kitchen drawer, the trash can (Hey Reagan, remember the macaroni we dropped in the floor last night at dinner? Well, I found it!) closed safely up inside the laundry room, and all the food (Oooo! Maple syrup!) locked up inside the pantry.

However, in addition to these common household safety items, we have been forced to add a couple of extras. This may look like an innocent nickel atop a doorframe, but it's actually an unlock-the-nursery-door-from-the-outside-when-the-kids-have-locked-it-from-the-inside key. Luckily our doors do not need anything more specialized than a nickel to be opened from the outside, since I have had to do this more than once. For those of you with less mobile children, find out now what it takes to open your doors from the outside. Don't be like a friend of mine who had to call her dad in a panic to come help her get her son out of the room he had locked himself into because her doorknobs were not this easy!

We have also employed this fancy gadget, the stop-your-toddlers-from-pushing-the-chair-up-next-to-the-counter-so-they-can-reach-whatever-is-up-there-like-the-steak-knives-maybe strap (aka Daddy's unused belt). Luckily my kids had not yet reached for the steak knives and had contented themselves with just picking up the mail or a sippy cup left out on the countertop. But these items were just inches away from the steak knives! Keep this in mind moms! Another friend of mine walked into her kitchen to find that her daughter had pushed a chair up next to the oven and used it to climb onto the stovetop where she was sitting quite happily pushing the timer buttons just inches from the knobs that would have turned on a burner and fried her little bottom!

These are just some of the more interesting changes we've had to make to keep our home safe. I doubt they'll be the last! Just when you think you've figured out all the things they can get into, they surprise you with some new skill or their reach suddenly extends 5 more inches!

Pray for us when they learn they actually learn that teamwork is not just for the Wonder Pets and doesn't necessarily have to save an animal in trouble!