Who rules in yours - the toddlers or the parents?

that was very good advice.i have not baby proofed my home,just tried myself to be cautious so that the kids dont get hurt by any objects that can hurt them.the breakable objects we try to keep it out of their way till they understand that they are not supposed to play with it.

We must have listened to the same expert because we always held that "the baby will fit into our lives, not the other way around." Everyone thought we were being selfish, unrealistic, mean... everyone thought we didn't know what we were talking about! We got the "Oh, you'll see!" Now, our son is 3 1/2 and we've stuck to this point. Our son is very well behaved and happy. We have friends that have young children and they completely lost their lives when they had kids! They LIVE based on the kid's meals and nap schedules! They can't bring their kids into other people's homes because they didn't teach the kids how to behave. They won't bring their kids into certain areas of stores (toy dept) because they don't know how to say "NO." They won't go more than a 30 minutes drive away from home because the kids need to sleep/eat at certain times... It's annoying to be friends with them at this point! I'm not saying that we give NO consideration to our son and his needs, but we don't panic if we have to change things around either. We did babyproof our house because one of our biggest things was we wanted to be able to leave our son in a room for a while, alone, so that he would learn to entertain himself and gain independence. So his rooms are completely baby safe and I have no fears of him getting into anything because there isn't anything in there that can hurt him. As far as the rest of the house, we put plug guards and cabinet locks. We didn't remove breakables from where he could reach, we just taught him how to handle or not to handle at all. We have had to adjust some things now because some of what we did when he was little is backfiring now that he's older, but for the most part, he's a very well behaved little guy and HE fit into OUR lives just perfectly!

I just let the little munchkin run rampant. If he gets hurt, he will know what not to do next time. Don't get me wrong here though, hurt is one thing, injured is quite another. But nothing we have lying around is likely to injure the little brat. Brat he is indeed. I don't give into his whims, but for the life of me I can't seem to get his mother to understand why it isn't a good idea, and for her part she will argue tooth and nail that she doesn't give in. I actually find it quite amusing. He pretty much leaves everything that isn't "his" alone, except when he wants to play, then everything you are touching is a toy, including the keyboard, and what with all the one button apps, and the sliding tray, it can get rather fun at times.

babies are very delicate and cannot adjust as per its surroundings.it wont bother about the things that are there at your place, no matter if there are delicate or sharp objects around

I didn't really baby-proof my house that much. I did put a lock on the fridge because my son kept trying to eat the chocolate syrup, and I put locks on the cabinets so he couldn't get to the animal food or the cleaning supplies, and I put plastic covers on the outlets (one time he managed to shock himself but I never did figure out how) but other than that I didn't do much. I expect him by now (he's two and a half) to know what he is and isn't allowed to touch, and as he was growing I'd tell him if he'd grab something that wasn't his. That's how I would train him-I'd say, "That's not yours. You have a whole toy box to play with. Don't play with Mommy's things or I'll take your trucks." Maybe not the nicest way to be, but he gets irate when the cats or anyone touches his trucks. So I'd let him know he has to be respectful of other people's stuff like we are with his stuff.

Yes, I think the article introduces the right discussions, I agree whit it, but I think when we using those things to teach our kids, we must know something else. when the kids are under 2 years old, even 3 years, their understanding is very low, though we remind them much time ,they would not remember, so i think the method suits for bigger kids, not for smaller kids, we should use other methods such as hiding more things to proof them.

I don't bend over backwards every time my daughter starts crying. She's not quite 1 yet but all children need to learn to self soothe or they are going to be in for a rude awakening when they get older. If she cries because she doesn't want to go to sleep, we'll let her cry. She'll eventually give up and go to bed. We're not going to give in to her every time she wants something. I don't need to be raising a diva pricess who expects to be carried everywhere and handed everything she ever wants. As for baby proofing, we do some of it. I don't go around and nail all my cabines shut and strap pillows all over her body to prevent a bruise or a scrape. The townhome we're in already had those plastic tabs on the cabinet doors that keep kids from getting in them, but if they weren't there, we'd likely buy one or two sets and keep the cabinets under the sinks locked as that's where we keep our cleaning products. We do have a baby gate at the top of the stairs we use. Our DD likes to toddle around while we're upstairs in our room or right before she goes to bed and we don't want her falling down 15 steps. But we haven't gone around and started hiding stuff she could break. She knows by now enough what she's supposed to touch and what she's not and she does respond to her name and us telling her no if she touches something she's not supposed to.