I’ve taken much effort into baby-proofing my house.  You want to have your house as safe as possible so that you’re minimizing risk of injury (with or without your supervision). 

1. Using playmats.  The use of playmats is great.  You can get them at Toys R Us as big sheets in an array of colours.  I’ve only quarantined their play area and Vanessa’s bedroom (to cushion falling off the beds) and no slippers or shoes are allowed on these areas (plus I get my helper to clean it daily).
2. Edge Guards.  You can purchase these from Toys R Us (in North America) or from Bumps to Babes (in HK).  I’ve pretty much blanketed my house with these.  Table corners, my coffee table rim (the whole radius), the floor edges (see above picture – these things are quite sharp and we’ve got ceramic floors), the window rails (again, made of ceramic), closet and bed corners.  I’ve used about 3 rolls of edge guards around my house.
3. Locks on all window grills (oh and the obvious window grill itself).  It’s so critical to have window grills in Hong Kong – not just to prevent people from breaking into your house (because it’s happened, they climb the water pipes), but to prevent people from falling out of your house!!  And the locks, of course, are to prevent curious toddlers from opening the grill and then opening the window.
4. Curtain string shorteners.  Merely a choking prevention.  Oh yah, it’s a swing deterent as well.   If it becomes undone, I’ve seen Vanessa try to swing from these! WHAT?!
5. Cabinet door locks.  I’ve put these transparent “locks” on all floor cabinets (including the shoe cabinet).  The kicthen ones are most critical because I’ve got my cooking utensils inside.  The bathroom ones are also critical because they contain nail polish removers, creams, hair dryer and other potentially dangerous stuff.
6. Door hinges.  As the children get older, they learn and love to close and open doors.  This is a great prevention to those slamming doors and caught fingers.  This cheap alternative is better than the door wedges that go around the door edge because with this, you can’t even come close to closing the door.
7. No wires.  My house is pretty good with sockets.  I’ve pushed all the wiring behind cabinets and shelves and any that are exposed are out of reach.  Sockets that are unused are sealed with a plastic socket cover that are really hard to remove.

Of course, there are other precautions you have to take as a parent, but here are a few key ones that I’ve done.  If you’ve got some that you think you’d like to share, please post your comments here.  I’m always looking for ways to improve my home so that it’s safe not just for my children, but for visiting kids as well.  And, if I leave my kids with the helper or grandparents, it’s just one thing that I can take off my mind – safety.