A child-friendly bathroom is not only fun for the little ones. In addition to our safety checklist for the bathroom, this article contains creative decoration tips and great tricks on how you can design a monotonous wet room in a child-friendly manner.
The bathroom is one of the most important rooms in the apartment or house. Just think how much time you spend here? How important is it in your life? It is the first room we enter in the morning and the last one we leave before we go to bed. This is exactly why it is important to prepare the toilet for your children too.
Checklist: Child Safe Toilet
Safety first! Unimagined traps for your children are hidden in the toilet. So that you don't have to take a look at the little ones always and everywhere: Make your toilet childproof. With our checklist in hand, you can remove all dangers point by point.
Move dangerous objects in the toilet out of reach
Privacy is important, but a stuck key in the toilet door can quickly become a danger for your child. If by mistake or on purpose, the door is locked from the inside and then it cannot be opened, this can quickly lead to a panic scenario. Simply remove the key and place it on the door frame, for example, so adults can still access it without any problems.
Lock the toilet door
First of all, consider buying a more secure lock that prevents opening from the outside. You can also equip your child-friendly bathroom with a flip-lock.
This is how you do it: Simply pull the lower part down and fasten it to the upper one using both parts on top of each other. This way, children cannot open or close the door by themselves.
Practical proof: If your toilet has no wall to lean on for this purpose, attach two coat hooks underneath the gap beneath the door so they stick out horizontally. Pull them down so they face each other parallel to your body when seated at the toilet and you've got yourself a practical safety rail for incontinence pads or diapers.
That way nothing is thrown around and flushed away by mistake.
Toilet seat locks to the rescue
Toilet seat locks are the first thing you should install in the toilet. Not only do they reduce the risk of slipping something important (e.g. Barbie) into the toilet, but most importantly, they greatly reduce the risk of accidents involving water in general.
The most important thing to lock away is cleaning products and liquids that could poison your child or at least cause lasting damage. It is the same with medication: it is essential to keep them out of the reach of children.
Types of toilet seat locks
There are two basic types of toilet seat locks:
Locks that fit into the hole in the toilet lid, preventing it from closing.
Locks that prevent the lid itself (equivalent to a basin cover for sinks) from simply being removed without switching off the lock first.
It's clear that if the toilet seat locks prevent a child from closing a toilet lid, they're very practical. So first of all, you need to find out if your children can open the toilet without help or whether someone has to lift them into position on it.
If no one needs to lift your child into the bathroom but it is still possible for him or her to close the lid behind themselves, you should install this kind of seat lock so as not to worry about leaks and splashes everywhere.
And also because even some adults have trouble turning off those leak-proof seats. If the toilet fits with these kinds of toilets from before, there is no problem using a regular seat lock – regardless of whether it is a lock for the lid or one to prevent it from being lifted off.
If your child cannot close the toilet lid, you should install locks that stop children from being able to open the lid. Seat locks are recommended for this case. They are also very practical because they can be installed directly onto the hinges of the toilet seat so that there are no fiddly pieces to deal with.
Also, these kinds of seat locks have levers on them so you can switch them on and off easily when necessary. So now, whether you have two people in your household who use separate bathrooms or you simply want extra safety precautions in place – there is a locking solution for every situation!
What else can I attach toilet seat locks to?
Here are a few more things you should lock away in the child-friendly bathroom: medications, cleaning products, toothpaste, and toothbrushes. So make sure your children cannot reach them if they are placed high enough or low enough.
It's also worth considering installing a lock system on other potentially dangerous items that are usually found in the bathroom such as hair dryers, curling tongs, nail clippers, etc. This way you will ensure everything is safe for your little ones at all times – even when you aren't there.
One last tip: Add hooks above the sink so small bottles of medicines can be placed on them and easily reached by adults without any problem.
Padding for toilet fittings
Stumble once and it happened: your child has a laceration on the head. That doesn't happen with rounded corners on your cabinets. So toilet seat locks are not the only things to install in the toilet.
If you don't want to buy new cabinets, or if you don't want to round off the corners of your old cabinets, temporary padding of fittings and cabinet corners is a good solution for child safety.
Faucets can also be nasty. Your child can get injured quickly on the hard surface. So that everyday bathroom life goes without tears, there is air cushion protection for fittings. You simply put it over the fitting and everything is safe.
Socket fuse in the toilet
A socket fuse is completely common in all other rooms. You have probably already provided every socket there with it. But in the toilet? Never thought of it?
Again, it is important to protect the little ones from electric shock. In the bathroom and toilet, in particular, there is an increased risk of exposure to water. It is therefore imperative that you secure every socket carefully with socket fuses.
A little bit of fun is always good. But without the toilet water! So that your child can also let off steam in the bathroom, secure the toilet lid with specially made lid locks. So no Barbie dolls or children's heads end up in it and the danger of drowning is also eliminated.
Anti-slip mats in the toilet
The classic when it comes to child safety in the bathroom is probably the anti-slip mat in the toilet. If you don't have one yet: definitely buy it! The risk of slipping on the wet surface should not be underestimated. If you buy one more thing in addition to toilet seat locks, be it anti-slip mats.
They are really functional. No more unnecessary bathroom cleaning, no more slipping or falling! Also, the toilet is full of germs. So you won't get sick after touching it because anti-slip mats are approved by hygiene experts.
But they aren't just for old people or children! You can also find them in many different designs, shapes, and colors so that the design fits perfectly into your home too. They look good and protect you from harm at all times!
When it comes to buying new cabinets, there are some things you need to consider beforehand. For example, if you have young children or if someone in your household often has trouble standing up then even if your cabinets are not exactly low, there still might be a risk of being trapped.
For these situations, you can use a special lock for cabinets so that no one can be trapped in them by accident.
Other safety tips on the bathroom for your baby:
One of the prime responsibilities most parents have for their children is keeping them safe. This is where home safety for your baby comes in. But this doesn't just mean keeping toxic products away from young children. It also means making sure they are protected from injury during everyday activities--like bathing, playing around the house, or sleeping.
Here are some tips on keeping your baby safe at home:
- Keep young children away from mirrors and glass shower doors. Little ones like to lean against such surfaces, which can ultimately lead to them falling through or getting cut by the broken glass. Therefore, make sure you always keep such areas out of reach of toddlers.
- Always keep the bathroom door closed when there is no one in there; if it is left open, a child may wander in while playing outside the room. If you have pets in your house who tend to go into bathrooms unbeknownst to you, be even more vigilant about closing doors during showers or baths so that they don't run inside unexpectedly and potentially interrupt or endanger you or your child.
- If you have an elderly person living in the home (grandparent, aunt, or uncle) make sure they also understand the importance of keeping bathroom doors closed when no one is inside so that grandchildren do not wander in unsupervised.
- Make sure your toddler never enters the bathroom alone; it's likely he or she won't notice if they fall through a mirror or glass shower door, so you need to stay vigilant at all times no matter what room of the house you're in (and even outside). Of course, this also means he/she shouldn't go into rooms like closets or kitchen cupboards unsupervised either; always make sure there are no sharp objects lying around that can hurt your child if he/she stumbles across them.
- Make sure you install adequate lighting throughout the bathroom for safe bathing at all times of the day. If your electrician friend can hook this up for you, even better!
- Give your child ample time to explore their new home. However, if there are doors that need extra locks or latches, do not shut these until you have shown these areas to your child and let him/her play around in them first so they aren't startled by locked doors or cabinets out of nowhere.
- When replacing old bathroom products with new ones always check to make sure they are not too heavy before letting children use them; even though it's good practice to keep young ones away from medication.