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More Than Child Safe: A Child Friendly Home

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Beyond Child Safety Measures in a Montessori Home

You spend hours making your home safe for your child by crawling around on your hands and knees, ensuring that all potential hazards are identified and then rectified. All the appropriate drawers and doors have safety latches, the outlets are covered, gates are installed, heavy furniture is attached to the wall, and sharp corners are covered. Breakable objects are either packed away or placed up high out of reach. Your are ready to bring Junior home. Your home may be child safe, but is it child friendly?

The goal of this lens is to examine ways to go beyond "child-proofing" and create a Montessori-style environment in your main living space that is welcoming and invites your child to safely explore and enjoy your home with minimal intervention on your part.

To me, a child-proof room is one where all potential hazards for children have been mitigated, leaving behind a room that has been stripped of all evidence of normal, daily family life. Pretty things are up high and out of reach or removed all together. Art work is hung at a level for adult enjoyment. Nothing breakable is within reach, meaning most touchable objects are either: immovable (like furniture) or; made of plastic which gives little sensorial stimulation. A child proof room also conjures up images of devices designed to restrict movement: bouncy chairs, high chairs, play pens and car seats.

But children are born to move - they are driven to touch, taste, smell, see, look and hear everything that surrounds them.

I am not suggesting that we throw safety out the window and let the kid fend for themselves as best she can. What I propose is that after the safety issues have been addressed, we revisit the space and ask ourselves "What can I add to the room that includes my child rather than distances or restrains her from my life?" It is in the inclusion of the child that I apply the label "child friendly". A child friendly home is also one where children are encouraged to be independent. Not surprisingly for those of you already familiar with my own work, these ideas are taken directly from the teachings of Maria Montessori and are being used in homes around the world.

A child friendly home is where a child can safely explore and fully experience the daily life of the family with minimal intervention and where indpendent actions are encouraged.

Don't Try to Do It All!

A child friendly home doesn't necessarily mean that each and every room needs to be decorated to suit your child. If you concentrate on the rooms your family uses most together, such as the kitchen and the child's bedroom, you will have done plenty. And of course, your home would never look like this!

The Living Room

In my home, the living room is where we play with toys, read, listen to music, watch TV and is home to our pet bird and gerbil. For you, maybe it is a separate family room or even a play room. The living room is our daughter's main play space, but the room is not over run with toys. There is a basket brim full of books, and a few select toys on a reachable shelf, each with their own basket or tray. Cupboards hide other toys we aren't currently using. She can get into these cupboards, but generally ignores them. The bird is up high out of her reach, but that is in consideration of the bird's safety, not hers.

My living room also houses our dining space at one end. My daughter is a climber and it is impossible to keep her from moving the chairs so she can climb onto the table. But rather than putting her into a playpen to prevent her from climbing onto the table, we chose to remove the chairs from the room when we are not using the table. We have a SMALL home, so this is not easy or convenient for us. But this keeps her safe yet does not prevent her from enjoying the use of the room. All that is missing from this space are photos and artwork displayed at her eye level!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Practical Life Activities

Children want to do what we do. Rather than getting a toy vacuum, why not get a carpet sweeper instead? Most carpet sweepers come unassembled with three metal segments for the handle. If you leave the middle segment out, the handle becomes the perfect length for a child to use. Sure, your child won't be keeping your floor perfectly clean, but at least they will be happy to be doing something useful. You see it as housework - your child sees it as spending time with a loved one! In a similar vein, you could keep in a basket a small duster and/or a dust pan and brush.

Trust me, I know doing house work with children is NOT efficient!

Child Sized Cleaning Tools

You are never too young to learn a new trick

Bring the Outside In

Children NEED to connect with nature!

The main living space is also a perfect place to bring in nature. Teach your child how to water a plant and polish the leaves with a wet sponge. (Of course, check with your local extension office to make sure your houseplant is not considered poisonous to children!) Create a nature display on a low table or in a basket by collecting objects from outdoors. Rocks, seashells, bark, leaves and pine cones are beautiful to look at and exciting to touch. Change it seasonally and you'll be giving your child a sense of the passage of time.

Consider collecting small vases for your child to have a place to put all the flowers they bring into you. Dandelions, your prize roses, onion blossoms all look better when displayed in a vase!

Natural Additions

For More Information

Try these sites if you are interested in learning more!

Bringing Montessori Home by K.T. Korngold: The author shares how she has made her home "child friendly"
Article: Designing a Montessori Infant Environment at Home: For ideas relating specifically to infants
Designing a Montessori Home: Ideas for all areas of the home

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Current Child Safety Concerns

Tide to change Pods lid over child safety concerns: P&G to add double latch to Tide Pods containers * Move comes after poison concerns * Single-dose laundry detergent relatively new to US By Jessica Wohl May 25 (Reuters) - After at least one child was hospitalized for swallowing its prettily packaged ...
Tips for cleaning out your garage with kid safety and the environment in mind: But if it's put away in a locked cupboard or drawer -- or up on a shelf -- kids can't get to it," Murray says. "It's important to put things away properly." One way to create a safe, orderly garage is to designate zones for various categories of items.
'Keeping Kids Safe' child safety fair planned: CARLSBAD ? At the beginning of next month, a top child safety program will be hosting a child safety fair to help local parents develop records of their children, including fingerprints and photographs that could aid in a police investigation.

More Than Child Safe: A Child Friendly Home

Beyond Child Safety Measures in a Montessori Home

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

Child Safe v. Child Friendly

Don't Try to Do It All!

The Living Room

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Practical Life Activities

Child Sized Cleaning Tools

You are never too young to learn a new trick

Bring the Outside In

Children NEED to connect with nature!

Natural Additions

For More Information

Try these sites if you are interested in learning more!

Current Child Safety Concerns

Some more sources for helping you create a child friendly home

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