What Exactly is Baby Proofing?

I really doubt that anybody would actually not know what baby proofing is. However, just in case some new parents ended up reading this, let me clarify what it is. Baby proofing is not a real dictionary term, but it’s actually a way of describing all of this:

  • Your baby can crawl or walk now and can start doing dangerous things so you have to protect her
  • Your baby still likes to put things into her mouth which can choke her
  • She likes to touch everything so she can knock things over to hurt herself
  • Your job is to make your home a safe living environment for her so she doesn’t kill herself when you get distracted by something

In other words, if you didn’t baby proof your home, then your child will have a chance of getting herself killed because she doesn’t know better. This article will focus entirely on how to make your christmas tree safe for your mobile little one.

So How Exactly Do You Baby Proof a Christmas Tree?

Christmas trees are nice and all, but they are also one of the most dangerous things your child can play with with or without adult supervision. It has so many goodies hanging all over it, so of course any child will get extremely excited to get her hands on it.  The best thing you can do to make the tree as safe as possible. Try doing the following:

  • Don’t use tinsel -For those who doesn’t know what tinsel is. Tinsel are these long strings of pine needle looking things that people normally hang on their christmas tree. It’s very shiny and it comes in different colors. The whole point of it is to reflect the flickering lights around the Christmas tree in order to create sparkling effects. In the past, these things were made of metal, but now it’s made of plastic. Either way, its something your little one can easily tug on and put into her mouth. It’s a definite safety hazard you want to avoid.
  • Be careful about glass – You might have a lot of nice looking glass ornaments that you can hang on your tree. However, these can actually fall and leave glass shards all over the place. You definitely don’t want your child to put this into her mouth. Use shatterproof ornaments instead. and also make sure they are not small enough to be a choking hazard. This applies to antiques that you want to hang on your tree. If you have antiques that you definitely want to show off during Christmas, then don’t hang it on your tree. Put it on a high shelf somewhere and stabilize it so that it doesn’t fall over.
  • Put your tree in the corner – Your tree won’t feel lonely if you put it in the corner. It’s the best place to be safety wise. The reason is because at the corner, there are already two walls protecting it, so you can at least have the tree “hang on” either of those walls which makes it much easier to secure the tree.
  • Stabilize your tree – Your Christmas tree might look rooted, but it’s not obviously. I read somewhere before that even a cat is capable of tipping it over. If a lightweight cat can do it, then your moving child will definitely be able to tug it over herself and turn into a living pancake. If you want to avoid that then make sure the roots are stabilized. You can either screw it to the floor or fill a bunch of boxes with big heavy rocks and anchor it down. The choice is yours. You can also gift wrap those boxes so that they look like gifts. Just tell your kids that they are only allowed to open them after Christmas.
  • Watch out for electric shocks – If you have lights hanging around your tree then you most likely powered it up with something like plugging into an outlet for example. Your kids can actually electricute themselves by playing with them. Use outlet covers that requires two hands to open by an adult to stop that.
  • Don’t use hooks – Hooks used to be the way to go when hanging ornaments. However, it’s highly recommended that you don’t do that, because those hooks are a serious choking hazard. These hooks might fall onto the floor and your little one might put one in her mouth and choke herself. Do yourself a favor and buy a ball of string instead and tie the ornaments tightly to each branches. You might consider ribbons too, but they are quite pricey if you want to hang more than just a few ornaments.
  • Add alarms that works – I have heard of recommendations where people put bells on their trees to alert them if their baby plays with it. That’s not a bad idea, but choose bells that are actually more sensitive to the touch. Some bells are so quiet that your child can actually be chewing on the pine without you noticing. Make sure the bells don’t requires vigorous shaking to make a sound. It should start alarming others at the slightest movement.
  • Give up the real tree – If your child still enjoys putting things into her mouth then I highly recommend you get a fake christmas tree. Real trees shed pines in which your child can swallow. You don’t really want that. It’s true that fresh pine trees shed less pines, but it still sheds them. Real pines also has natural oil on them that can easily burn and cause a fire. It has actually happened to a lot of people already so beware.
  • Don’t give them the ladder – Alright, maybe you won’t really give  a step ladder for your child to climb to the top of the tree. However, there are similar furnitures that can produce the same results as a ladder, so for safety concerns, move all furnitures away from the tree if possible.