The Parenting Journal

Key Takeaways Any spindle gap a 4-inch ball passes through is a head-entrapment hazard. A stair gate blocks access but does nothing about gaps along the railing. Acrylic guards are reversible, mesh netting covers wide openings, retrofit spindles are permanent....

Every 15 seconds, someone in the U.S. calls a poison center about an exposure, about 2.1 million calls in 2024 alone (America’s Poison Centers). A meaningful share of those calls involve a child who found something under a sink.I know...

Open staircases look stunning in a home. Clean lines, visible treads, that sense of space flowing between floors. Then you have a toddler, and every one of those beautiful gaps becomes something you lie awake thinking about.The problem with open...

The refrigerator is the most-opened appliance in your home. A curious two-year-old knows this. Mine certainly did.My younger daughter once cleared the bottom shelf of our fridge in under three minutes while I answered the front door. By the time...

Basements are where the hazards your child will find fastest are the ones you forgot were there. The half-empty jug of driveway sealer. The old shelving unit that wobbles if you look at it wrong. The sump pit you covered...

The dining room doesn’t look dangerous. That’s the problem. There’s no open water, no stairs, no obvious drop. What there is: hard edges at exactly toddler-head height, a tablecloth a curious two-year-old can yank with both fists, glassware at arm’s...

The laundry room is one of the most hazardous rooms in your home, and it rarely makes the top of the babyproofing list. In my experience, parents spend hours on nursery safety and cabinet locks in the kitchen, then leave...

The home office is one of the most dangerous rooms in the house for a toddler, and most parents don’t realize it until something goes wrong. I learned this the hard way when my younger daughter, at around 18 months,...

Every summer, a brightly colored inflatable pool appears in backyards across the country, and with it comes a risk that most parents underestimate. These aren’t deep pools. They aren’t complicated. They look like toys. But drowning is the leading cause...