The Parenting Journal

Proofing Essentials
Baby Proofing for New Parents: Where to Start When You're Overwhelmed

Baby Proofing for New Parents: Where to Start When You're Overwhelmed

Key Takeaways Start with the kitchen, bathroom, and nursery before tackling any other room. Remove all soft items from the crib sleep space, it costs nothing and saves lives. Hardware-mounted gates at stair tops cannot be dislodged by a determined...

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Parent Life
Baby Proofing for Twins: Double the Trouble, Double the Safety

Baby Proofing for Twins: Double the Trouble, Double the Safety

Parenting twins means you are always doing the math. Two crawlers. Two climbers. Two children who will, at some point, figure out that one of them can occupy your attention while the other gets into something they absolutely should not....

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Product Guides
Baby Proofing Without Drilling: Adhesive Pressure-Mount and Removable Products

Baby Proofing Without Drilling: Adhesive Pressure-Mount and Removable Products

Renting an apartment or living in a leased home doesn’t mean you get to skip babyproofing. It means you have to be smarter about it.For a lot of parents, the fear of losing a security deposit is real enough that...

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Buyer’s Guides
Best No-Drill Baby Proofing Products 2026: Renter-Approved Picks

Best No-Drill Baby Proofing Products 2026: Renter-Approved Picks

Renting with a baby is a specific kind of stress. You’re trying to keep a small person safe while also protecting a security deposit that represents, in some cases, two months of rent. The good news: you don’t have to...

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Parent Life
Baby Proofing Summer Safety: Pool Sun Bugs and Outdoor Hazard Guide

Baby Proofing Summer Safety: Pool Sun Bugs and Outdoor Hazard Guide

Summer arrives fast. One week you’re watching your toddler chase dandelions in the backyard, and the next you’re managing a full outdoor obstacle course of pool water, bug spray, sunscreen, and a grill that’s somehow always within reach of small...

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Proofing Essentials
How to Anchor IKEA Furniture: KALLAX MALM and BILLY Safety Fixes

How to Anchor IKEA Furniture: KALLAX MALM and BILLY Safety Fixes

The furniture in your child’s bedroom is probably the most overlooked hazard in your home. Not the outlet covers you spent twenty minutes debating at the hardware store. Not the cabinet locks. The KALLAX loaded with board games. The MALM...

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Parent Life
Baby Proofing When You Have Older Kids: Balancing Freedom and Safety

Baby Proofing When You Have Older Kids: Balancing Freedom and Safety

The house that worked perfectly for one child rarely works for two. When my older daughter was a toddler, I had a system. Gates up, locks on, outlet covers in, done. Then her sister arrived, and I discovered something nobody...

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Age and Stage
Baby Proofing for ADHD: Managing Impulsive Toddler Behavior Safely

Baby Proofing for ADHD: Managing Impulsive Toddler Behavior Safely

Most toddlers test limits. A child with ADHD, or with the impulsivity patterns that often precede a formal diagnosis, tests them faster, harder, and with less hesitation than you’re prepared for.I learned this the hard way with my older daughter....

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Room by Room
How to Baby Proof Sliding Doors: Locks Stops and Finger Guards

How to Baby Proof Sliding Doors: Locks Stops and Finger Guards

Sliding doors are among the most overlooked hazards in a baby-proofed home. Parents spend hours installing cabinet locks and outlet covers, then leave a 70-pound glass panel on a track that a determined two-year-old can move with one hand.The risk...

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