<p>went to my niece’s house, she (a nurse and hubby, a paramedic) have an 8 month old boy who is starting to crawl, backwards, but crawling. They have done no baby proofing, I mean kitchen cabinets, bathroom supplies, wall sockets, nothing. They also have a pool they are talking about getting a fence for but haven’t done it yet. </p>
<p>How does one approach this? Their mom, my sisterinlaw, who babysits, has same issue, done nothing.</p>
<p>Sigh, I am just shocked they are so lax</p>
<p>guess i would present them with a wonderful present of baby proofing supplies! I’m sure they probably know the importance being a nurse and paramedic. It doesn’t take long to get things in place–they just haven’t felt the need yet. It won’t be long I’m sure.</p>
<p>We never baby proofed our house and we also left all of our crystals and picture frames out. We did that by choice and our kids never touched anything they weren’t suppose to. Of course, we always had an adult with our kids at all time until we felt comfortable they could be left alone by themselves. I would have been very offended if someone had said something to me about baby proofing. I would have asked why.</p>
<p>I do not think I babyproofed our apartment extensively, but I was always there watching the kiddos. I would not worry about them not babyproofing, but I would be very concerned about the lack of fencing. </p>
<p>Many municipalities require fencing around swimming pools that meets specific requirements of the building code. By having no fence, they are violating the code and exposing themselves to potential lawsuits.</p>
<p>Buy them some baby proof locks. That’s all you can do.</p>
<p>I think there’s a difference between keeping your “things” safe from little ones and keeping little ones safe from “things”. I never moved my nice things out of reach. The kids learned what was touchable and what was not. A few things got broken, but they learned quickly. On the other hand, I wasn’t going to take chances with their safety. I wasn’t going to let them experiment with electrical outlets or cleaning supplies. I think some of my outlets still have those plastic covers in them. </p>
<p>As a young parent I may not have appreciated the unsolicited advice about my family. However, I probably would have listened to veteran parents telling me about their experience with active young ones and how best to keep everyone safe and happy.</p>
<p>I didn’t do a lot of babyproofing. When the 28 yo was a baby there really wasn’t that much emphasis on it-heck, there weren’t even car seat requirements much past a year in most places! With all three of them, if they were young enough to be crawling, they weren’t out of my or their fathers’ sight. Or, (GASP) they were in a play pen. </p>
<p>As they got older they were taught what to do or not do. Nothing ever broke, no one ever stuck their fingers in a socket, and the only emergency room visits we made were for illnesses or the one time S fell in the driveway and knocked his head-he was 7, no babyproofing involved.</p>
<p>As for advice-I really don’t say much unless I’m asked. H’s niece asked about school options for her son because she knows we dealt with a lot of the same issues. Last year she didn’t listen and this year was another year of hell for her. This year she asked again, I was firmer this time, she took my advice and I think next year will be much better for her whole family. Otherwise I keep my mouth shut. I tried to get my two non-speaking siblings to talk to each other and go nowhere. I’m done.</p>
<p>As others have said, you can get a baby proofing kit. The problem is, as all of these posts are saying, not that your niece has not baby proofed, but if there is not a lot of attention being paid to the baby when s/he is up and about, it’s an accident waiting to happen. No one likes to be told these things, however Everyone thinks s/he’s just fine as a parent.</p>
<p>My cousin’s daughter is a young mother of a little one about that age, and it’s a terrible problem that she is not taking the care of the baby as she should. Her grandmother has trouble having them around and refuses to go visit for that reason. I have a friend who is terribly estranged from her grandchlldren and daughter in part for that reason. There is no good answer.</p>
<p>I have friends, and family, who do not heed any advice given to them by their own mothers and close family as well as anyone else. They think they know better. Some of these young parents seem to think it’s cool to act cool about safety measures.</p>
<p>The pool makes this an especially disturbing situation. Aren’t there usually local regulations for how pools should be fenced? I can’t imagine people being casual about this kind of risk, especially if a young child lives in the house. Maybe they’re planning to take care of this in the near future, since a crawling 8-month-old isn’t going to open the door to the house to get to the pool. But time flies when our kids are small (well, when doesn’t it) and eventually the little guy will be able to do just that. I’m a big believer in minding my own business and keeping my mouth shut, but in this situation I might say “Aren’t you worried about Tommy getting into the pool at some point?”</p>
<p>As for the other, usually less dangerous stuff - I probably would bite my tongue. I baby-proofed to the nth degree with my own kids and am glad I did, since I was the adult home with them at all hours and didn’t want to be saying “nonono” or “don’t touch that” every two minutes. They heard that enough despite my baby-proofing efforts. :D</p>
<p>Unfenced pools make me nuts. One may be completely diligent about their kids’ safety, but if the people up the block are not, then children can die. Two kids died in NY two weeks ago when they wandered into a neighbor’s backyard and fell into the pool. Unfenced, a pool is not private business, IMO.</p>
<p>My friend had a pool and it was fenced according to regulation, but she was careless in watching her children. It took a near drowning event to get her attention. This was 30 years ago. Though there might be some changes in some things, you cannot regulate stupidity, negligence, carelessness and attitude.</p>