Childproofing your house during the Holiday Season – tips and tricks

We all love holidays, but we are all well aware that when the kids come it can be tricky. As a parent, you know that you need to protect your child from all the potential harm. Childproofing your house during the Holiday Season is something that you need to add to your holiday list. There are some basic and easy steps that you can do, that will ensure your kid’s safety. You can always talk with the other parents and check do they have any additional experience and ask for advice. We created this guide that will help you with basic steps!

Childproofing your house during the Holiday Season – first steps

We are going to go through some possible scenarios that can happen during the holiday season. We can assume that you will have to pull out all of your Christmas decorations from your storage or maybe some closet. You need to make sure to clean them very well and assure that there is no dust. Dust can cause different allergies and you need to make sure that your kid is safe from them.

Make sure to clean your Christmas ornaments

All of this gets more complicated in case you are moving., it might seem strange, but a lot of people actually move during the holiday season. We often make New Year’s resolutions and we decide that we will start over, or look for another job. If that is the case with you, make sure to look for your movers in Midtown that are reliable and reputable. Explain your situation to them, and schedule your date on time. Also, ask about storage units – it might come in handy!

Christmas Tree

So, this is the biggest and the most obvious thing that you need to childproof. Kids love to play with different shiny decorations and they love to touch the Christmas lights. So- you need to make sure that your Christmas tree is safe and sound, and that your kid can enjoy holidays without being hurt.

Artificial or a real tree?

This is a question that bothers a lot of parents and sometimes it is hard to tell what is a better decision. On one hand – a real Christmas tree is always nicer but the artificial can be safer. But, it is not that simple. Most artificial trees are made from PVC plastic. PVC is loaded with toxic chemicals, its production also results in an emission of dioxin and ethylene dichloride. Also, lead is often used as stabilization for the tree.

If you are using artificial tree, make sure it is up to standards

It might seem unbelievable, but some of the artificial Christmas trees need to have warning labels because they shed lead-laden dust, exposing children to the toxic chemical! And although there is belief that they are safer, they are also treated with flame retardants. It can still cause a flame!

Real trees, on the other hand, are much safer. Your kid might have allergies, but you can find a tree that can be tolerated even from those who have allergies. Fresh trees are an also natural, renewable, reusable and you can plant them in your garden! But, we understand that once it starts shedding it is really hard to clean that up.

How to decide?

Well, since you are childproofing your house during the holiday season it is up to you. We can give you the advice about the artificial trees that you should look for polyethylene tree (often labeled with “PE”) that hasn’t been treated with flame retardants. Live Christmas tree always gives that holiday smell, but as we mentioned they shed a lot. Choose to your preferences, take everything into consideration and make a decision based on that. You might want to change your decision when you are remodeling, so make sure to choose wisely.

How to protect Christmas tree?

There are some basic tips for childproofing your house during the holiday season. Here are some the most important:

• You should put breakable ornaments to the top. That way your kid will not be able to reach them and break them and harm itself.
• If you have a baby – use a baby gate around the tree. That way your baby will not be able to hurt itself when crawling. You can decorate the fence with some garlands and that way make it fit into the holiday spirit. This way you are childproofing your house during the holiday season but making it festive as well!
• The second way to keep your tree safe is to place large boxes wrapped as gifts and stop your kids from damaging lower ornaments!
• One of the most important things, when you are securing your tree, is to by using a large enough base for its size and installing a hook in the ceiling or wall and tying the treetop to the hook with twine or wire or even fishing rode. This way you will avoid accidental tripping and damaging tree and potential injuries!

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  You can surround your tree with big boxes wrapped as gifts!

• Christmas lights

• Well, this is also one of the important things when it comes to childproofing your house during the holiday season. Christmas lights are very attractive to kids and they tend to touch them and play with them. Sometimes it can be really dangerous, so be sure to inspect the lights before putting them on a tree. Also – make sure that you don’t place them low on your tree. Place them a little bit higher, so your kids can’t touch them. It would be ideal to choose RoHS compliant lights for lead safety.

• Additional tips

• It is not wise to use real misseltoe since it is very attractive to kids, and it is poisonous. Don’t place tablecloth and decorations on the table before the dinner itself. Kids can pull them. And, if you have gone a little bit too much with ornaments and you are worried – you can always contact companies like Dynamic Movers NYC where you can store all of your Christmas ornaments until next year. That way, you will be sure that you can buy even a little extra and store it for the next year!

• Are you spending holidays at your parent’s house?

• If you are, you can not expect them to arrange their tree as you. What you can do is to watch out for hazardous materials, keep an eye on your kid and be sure that they are near you. They can easily find things that they will play with and they might be dangerous for them!