Babyproofing is a hot topic on Babble at the moment, with some parents saying they ain't gonna 'proof no more, no more, they ain't gonna 'proof no more. To me, there's baby proofing and there's baby proofing. Which means what exactly?
As with all things, there's common sense and then there's insanity. This poll is overwhelmingly in favor of "hiding the bleach and covering the outlets," to which I will add "putting the steak knives in a drawer" and "not building a fire in the middle of the living room."
With that in mind, there are some things that qualify as babyproofing but are also just good things to do in your house. It's worth considering that you are not only protecting your wonderful children from themselves and all of your dangerous stuff. You are also protecting your wonderful stuff from your dangerous children. I'm not talking about cookbooks, which Thing 2 actually requests to have read to him, after he's done pawing at the pages. Or the salad spinner, another favorite Thing 2 toy, which, according to him, is used for making toast. I'm talking about my stereo. Laptops. iPods. The Wii. Sweet mother of Abraham Lincoln, don't break the Wii.
Basically, babyproofing was a lot easier before we all had more electronic devices than Radio Shack. All that expensive stuff you own is great fun--until your daughter decides that she absolutely must yank the speaker cable until something happens. You know, like the speaker falling to the floor and breaking.
To tidy up the abundance of wires in our happy home, I use Cable House Cord Organizers from a nifty little online retailer called Cyberguys (get the catalog, the kids will love it.) Until you can redo the house so that all the wires are inside the walls (is that a pig flying overhead?), these brightly colored rubber doohickeys will help you tame even the wildest home theater/home network/evil scientist lair. At $5.95 for four, they're a steal, so get a bunch. Hey, they’re a lot cheaper than new speakers.
See also: LifeHacker's Top 10 Ways to Get Cables Under Control
image: Vibrant.com
