As I shared a couple years ago, it took a while for the hubs and I to get pregnant. The good news is that I had lots of extra time to read every parenting book out there to be as prepared as possible when it did happen. But there are so many little things that the books don’t (and can’t) prepare you for. Like when you turn around to put something away, and somehow in that nanosecond, your ninja – I mean, child – managed to get their shirt off and they’re now drawing on their belly with a marker. Things like that. Or the moments when they go from a crawling, somewhat mobile but totally manageable baby to a walking, running, whirlwind of a toddler you can barely keep up with. Yeah, that was the game-changer for us. We all the sudden looked at our house like “OK. What can she reach, get into, put in her mouth and stick her finger in?” (sometimes all at once as we’ve since learned)

So, I’m posting tips that I learned from an expert at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital because they were SUPER helpful for me, and I think you’ll agree. The biggest thing I learned from the expert as we went through the house is about child-proofing the laundry room. It’s the one I never even thought about when we initially child-proofed the house (I’m the only one who does laundry so I figured no one else would be in there). But it’s a really important room to safeguard — everything from keeping up cords on the blinds, putting the little child-proof plugs in electrical outlets, putting up cleaners (even ones like Windex… those bright colors look like juice!), and keeping your laundry pacs up out of a child’s reach and the container closed to keep your family safe.

Sounds so simple, but now that I made those few little tweaks I feel SO much better! Check back every few days, and I’ll have more helpful tips for you here on the blog! I also encourage you to check out this site to learn more about keeping your home and family safe! Oh, and watch the video below of an “Ask the Experts” segment I did on Star64 with the expert at Children’s about how to keep your laundry room safe!