No matter how hard you try, when it comes to home remodeling, you can’t plan to make everything child-friendly, but you can give the maximum effort, in order to stay calm. As we all know, the children are curious, and they want to touch everything, to open the cabinets or even the stove, and that may drive the parents crazy. That’s why they all try to find a way to make the whole home appropriate for the kids, according to their age, until they are ready to use everything by themselves.
For example, the kitchen is the riskiest place, because of the stove, dishwasher, and all the edgy things, and the kids can easily get hurt there. Also, when it comes to the cabinets, they can consider them as a free space to let their talent show up, and draw over the surfaces. That’s one of the reasons why Kitchen Cabinet Depot recommends covering them with polyurethane, to provide double protection, and make the cabinets more durable. On the other hand, the smooth surface will protect them from all those pens, chalks, and other things your children may find interesting to draw over them.
Planning a kid-friendly home is not an easy task, because they grow up very fast, and you will need to adapt everything to them until they are adult enough to be aware of the dangers around them. Also, the kitchen is a room when we keep different types of knives, electrical devices, heating devices, and many other tools and devices the kids shouldn’t use by themselves. Here are a few tips on how to do that:
1. Smooth edges and surfaces
This is a great option not just for the children, but for the adults too. Today, we have many options to choose how our cabinets and working surfaces will look like, and smooth edges are one of the simplest ways to ensure that there will be fewer injuries if someone somehow gets hurt by them.
When it comes to working surfaces, it’s always a nice idea to keep it simple and smooth, because those options are also the most durable, and budget-friendly, and if the kids spill something, it will be easier to wipe it up. Premium-priced products are for those who only want to have a nice-looking kitchen, and who don’t use it regularly. But, all the parents know that sometimes they will put something hot, or greasy and that it’s not worth investing a lot of money for that when you can find reasonably-priced things that work the same.
2. Give them their own drawer
You can’t make your kids not open the drawers and cabinets, but you surely can dedicate one drawer just for them, and let them take their own plates and plastic cups. Also, you can keep their snacks there. You can explain that everyone in the family has their own drawer, and no one is touching the others without asking. Instead of making rules, try to make it all look like a game for them.
3. Keep the glasses and knives away
Glasses can be broken, and the leftovers are dangerous and harmful even for adults, not just for kids. Knives too should be kept out of reach. Toddlers are not aware of the danger, and they may get hurt if they find a knife or glass, when the parent is away. So, be very careful, and keep these things away from them.
4. Tell the kids the kitchen is not for them
The safest way to keep the kids away from the kitchen is to tell them that it’s not for them, and there is nothing interesting to do there. But, most of modern homes provide an open solution, and it’s not a separate room in most of cases, so keeping the children away is a real challenge for the parents. Use the positive parenting techniques to explain to them why they need to stay away from the fridge, cabinets, and stove, and tell them why only parents and adults are allowed there. They will anyway try to get in every time they have a chance, but at some point, they will learn the lesson.
5. Give the children their kitchen spot
If you have an open-concept apartment, keeping the children away is not always possible. But, you can try some tricks to make some things work better, for example, assigning them a spot, and playing with them while you prepare the meals. You can let them play with some things that can’t be broken, and that will make them really happy.
6. Be careful how you store the things
Don’t let the cables be reachable to the kids. Keep the utilities away from them, and protect the stove buttons, so they can’t turn the heat on. These small steps and actions will ensure that everything is fine, and you don’t need to panic every time the kid enters that “forbidden place”.
7. Let them help you with something
Assign them with some basic tasks, and let them feel important and helpful. That’s another interesting way to spend more time together, and teach them about all the possible dangers in the kitchen. They will learn how to be very careful, and that will be an important lesson for them, because one day they will be adults too, and they will need to use the supplies by themselves, and hopefully, teach their kids everything they learned from you.
Read Also: Why you should start using baby gates for stairs?
Raising kids today is a real challenge. They are very different than the millennials were when they were children. Today’s kids have access to the Internet, and they are naturally more curious, but also braver to try the things that the parents told are not for them. When it comes to adapting your home for their age, you just need to know that it’s not worth investing huge amounts of cash for that, because they will grow up in a few years, and will be able to use it by themselves. Until then, we hope you will stay patient and won’t lose your nerves.