The Parenting Journal

Room by Room
Nursery Baby Proofing Checklist: From Crib to Closet

Nursery Baby Proofing Checklist: From Crib to Closet

Every nursery looks safe the day you set it up. The furniture is new, the crib is assembled, the little onesies are folded in the drawer. Then your baby starts moving, and you realize the room you designed for sleeping...

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Room by Room
Poisonous Houseplants for Babies: Which Common Plants to Remove Now

Poisonous Houseplants for Babies: Which Common Plants to Remove Now

The houseplant on your windowsill probably came from a garden center with a cheerful little care tag. Watering schedule, light requirements, maybe a common name. What those tags almost never include: whether your baby can survive chewing on a leaf.Most...

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Room by Room
How to Baby Proof Your Bedroom: A Safe Sleep and Play Space Guide

How to Baby Proof Your Bedroom: A Safe Sleep and Play Space Guide

The bedroom feels like a safe place. It’s quiet, familiar, the room where you’ve rocked a baby to sleep a hundred times. But CPSC data tells a different story: half of all child tip-over deaths happen in the bedroom, compared...

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Parent Life
Baby Proof Your Airbnb: A Quick-Setup Travel Safety Kit

Baby Proof Your Airbnb: A Quick-Setup Travel Safety Kit

The rental looks charming in the photos. Open floor plan, sliding glass doors to a patio, a loft bedroom, a kitchen with a low island. Then you arrive with a 14-month-old and see it differently. That low island has sharp...

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Room by Room
Baby Proofing Kitchen Checklist: Every Hazard Every Solution

Baby Proofing Kitchen Checklist: Every Hazard Every Solution

The kitchen is the most dangerous room in your house for a child under five. Not the bathroom. Not the garage. The kitchen, where you spend hours every day, where the hazards are hot and sharp and toxic, and where...

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Room by Room
How to Baby Proof Your Outdoor Spaces: Yard Patio Deck and Garden

How to Baby Proof Your Outdoor Spaces: Yard Patio Deck and Garden

Every yard has at least one hazard you haven’t thought of yet. Outdoor spaces are larger, less controlled, and full of variables that shift with the season, the weather, and how fast your toddler has learned to run this week.Indoor...

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Room by Room
Living Room Window Safety: Guards Locks and Screen Reinforcement

Living Room Window Safety: Guards Locks and Screen Reinforcement

The living room window is where my younger daughter pressed her face against the glass to watch the mail carrier, dragged a step stool over without my noticing, and had both hands on the sash before I crossed the room....

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Parent Life
Baby Proofing Gift Set Ideas: Practical Shower Gifts New Parents Actually Need

Baby Proofing Gift Set Ideas: Practical Shower Gifts New Parents Actually Need

Key Takeaways Give safety gear at the shower, before parents realize they need it at month eight. Every credible set covers outlets, cabinet locks, furniture anchors, and corner guards. Magnetic cabinet locks outperform adhesive styles on usability, and unused locks...

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Room by Room
Living Room Furniture Anchoring: TV Stands Bookshelves and Dressers

Living Room Furniture Anchoring: TV Stands Bookshelves and Dressers

The furniture in your living room looks stable. It probably isn’t.A bookshelf bolted to nothing. A TV stand with a 65-inch screen perched on top. A dresser your toddler has already figured out how to use as a ladder. These...

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