What actually matters when childproofing a house?

Prioritize by what actually injures children rather than by what is sold in childproofing kits. Furniture and television tip-overs kill and injure children regularly, and the fix is anchoring dressers, bookcases, and televisions to wall studs with anti-tip straps, which manufacturers now include and most people never install. Drowning is a leading cause of death for young children and occurs in bathtubs, buckets, and toilets as well as pools, which means never leaving a young child unattended near any water, emptying containers, and installing four-sided isolation fencing with a self-latching gate around pools rather than relying on a house wall as one side.

Poisoning is the third major category, and it includes items people do not classify as poison: medications including vitamins and adult supplements, laundry detergent packets, cleaning products, alcohol, cannabis edibles, and button batteries. Button batteries deserve specific mention because ingestion can cause severe esophageal burns within hours and is a genuine emergency, so secure any device containing them. Store all of it locked and above reach rather than merely out of sight, and program the Poison Control number into your phone.

Then the structural items. Hardware-mounted gates at the top of stairs, since pressure-mounted gates can be pushed out and are appropriate only at the bottom. Cordless window coverings or cord cleats, since blind cords are a strangulation hazard. Window guards or stops on upper floors, because screens do not hold a child's weight. Stove knob covers and rear burner use. Secured heavy doors and firearms stored locked and unloaded with ammunition separate. Working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms on every level. Outlet covers are worth doing and are far less consequential than the preceding list. And reassess as the child develops, since the hazards for a crawling infant, a climbing toddler, and a curious four-year-old are different, and the most common failure is childproofing once and considering it finished.