Starting to work from home when you have one or two children to supervise simultaneously can be pretty challenging. You will be required to childproof the home office so that your work materials can be kept safe from your children and vice versa. The primary aim is to get your work done on time without worrying about keeping your children safe if they venture into your workplace. This can be easily achieved if you childproof your office, so here are a few tips for childproofing your home office effectively.
6 Tips to Childproof Your Home Office
1. Cover Your Printer Or keyboard When Not In Use
It’s important to protect your office equipment, such as a printer, keyboard, or PC, from sticky fingers or accidental spills by your kids by covering them up. Covers for office equipment can easily be found at local electronics stores nearby. You must remember to cover your computer, keyboard, or printer before leaving the room after finishing work for the day in case your kid comes into the room unsupervised and too close to the equipment.
2. House Your Electronic Equipment On High Desks
If you use a desktop computer in your home office, you should use a high desk to store the computer tower. You can also keep it behind a raised sealed cabinet. This way, you protect your child from hurting themselves by preventing them from touching the computer tower. You should also keep paper shredders or printers out of your child’s reach by placing them on a high surface. Another good measure is using safety straps to secure your electronics, this way, you eliminate the risk of them falling on your kid and injuring them.
3. Keep All Your Drawers And Cabinets Secured
You can use locks on drawers, and door stops on cabinet doors to make them hard to access for your child. You can make drawers difficult to open and go through for your child by putting safety strips on the drawers. If you have big cabinets or storage units in your home office, ensure they are secure, and your child can’t tip them over. Otherwise, there is a severe risk of your child getting injured having a cabinet unit tipping over them.
4. Setup A Play Area for Your Child Near Your Office
Setting up a play area near your home office is a great way to keep them occupied near you, enabling you to get your work done and keep an eye on them simultaneously. If your kid is a toddler, setting up the playpen close to your office or creating a play area near your office using safety gates is a good idea. You can give your older child a work area of their own to keep them out of your office.
You can easily monitor them by creating a mini work area of their own in the corner of your office. Placing a small desk with drawers in that area and using reflective & safety tape to mark it off from the rest of the office can make it easy for your child to know where their workspace is. This way, you will be able to establish boundaries, and the entire workspace will be more child-friendly.
5. Store Office Supplies Out Of Reach
Office supplies such as printer ink, tape, letter openers, and other items need to be kept out of your child’s reach so they cannot make a mess in the office or hurt themselves. The supplies must be kept inside drawers which are secured using safety strips. Place your garbage in a trash can that has a lid so that your child cannot go through the garbage and put any harmful thing picked from the garbage into their mouth.
6. Give Your Child Child-friendly Office Supplies To Play With
You can keep your child occupied by giving them activities to focus on in their mini office that uses child-friendly supplies such as markers, legos, water-soluble paint, and crayons. Setup tasks for them to complete, such as building a spaceship or making a painting. This way, you can easily complete your work while they are kept creatively occupied. If they do end up making a mess, hire residential cleaning services to get a professional clean-up job.
Summing Up
Banning your child may seem like the simplest way to keep your child out of your office, but this will only spark their interest more, making them try to barge in. you should try the above mentioned tips to make your office space more friendly and safe for kids, allowing them to hangout and interact in your office. Childproofing your office by applying the techniques mentioned above will reassure you that your child will be safe when they come into your office. You can also search online for more tips on how to effectively parent your toddler. Happy parenting to you.
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