Childproofing- smart for you, smart for baby

Childproofing is one of those things that parents don't think of until it's almost too late. Especially with a first baby, it's easy to think "oh, I can do it later." But before you know it, the newborn is crawling around, putting things in their mouths and generally making mischief. So how can you protect your child in a rental home or temporary housing situation? Luckily, most childproofing items are removable and leave no lasting damage or marks. Here are three important areas to consider when childproofing. For more information, check out this article.

1) Get on baby's level. It's easy to think things are safe when you only examine them from an adult perspective. We might bust our shins on the coffee table from time to time, but baby can bust her head. After examining the room from baby's level, remove or make safe any potentially dangerous items- coffee tables, low entertainment centers with heavy television sets, fireplace hearths. Get some outlet covers and use them all the time.

2) Protect baby from falls. Obviously, falling is part of learning how to walk. But there are some falls that baby shouldn't be allowed to learn from- down the stairs for example. If you have a staircase, buy a baby gate for the top and bottom of the stairs. Make sure it is for stair use. These usually anchor to the walls, which shouldn't be a problem with the landlord, but you should always check to be sure. The damage to the walls of a few holes that need to be filled with spackle before move-out is definitely easier to repair than anything that may happen to the baby if she tumbles down. A gate at the bottom is also important, as babies usually learn to climb up before they can figure out how to get down.

3) Keep the floors clean. This can be an ongoing battle, especially if you have pets or older children. But it's important to keep any items smaller than a toilet paper tube out of baby's reach. They can potentially choke. Also, remember that babies mouth everything they come in contact with. If you wouldn't lick your floors, would you let your baby?

Unfortunately, childproofing is not a service we offer at Provident Management. But it is an important part of having children and keeping them safe and happy. If you have any questions or would like more information about services we do offer, contact us.

Getting to know us

Every so often we want to publish some fun posts so that you can get to know our company better. Today, we want to introduce you to the office pets. We love pets here. We are pretty evenly split between cat and dog people.

Our oldest pets are two dogs. They are both rescues from the Humane Society, though they were both pretty young when we got them. Tanner is the older and bigger of the two. He's a shepherd mix. He's a pushover really. This is a picture of him with his summer hair cut.



And the other one is Nicki. She's another Shepherd mix and the more high-strung of the two. She's quite the character.



Then there are the cats. We have two currently. They do not get along. One prefers to stay outside and one prefers to stay inside and that seems to work things out. They spend most of their time avoiding the kids, who LOVE to love them.

So those are our pets. They keep us company around the office and provide entertainment for the kids.