Every parent wants their child to feel happy, safe, comfortable and secure at home. If you’re preparing to welcome a new addition to the family, you’ve recently moved, or you’re looking to revamp your home to create a more child-friendly space, here are some tips to provide your kids with a healthy home environment.
Adapting your home to suit children
Many people start researching the best home loans and trawling through property listings when they feel like they’re outgrowing their homes. In some cases, it might not be possible to accommodate new members of the family or enjoy the lifestyle you want without moving, but there are often options to consider if you love your current home.
If you need more space for your kids, or you want to adapt your home to enhance family life and provide practical solutions, it’s worth exploring ideas before you put a for sale sign up and apply for a mortgage. Extending your home, converting an attic or a basement or even adding a garden room can offer alternatives to upping sticks.
By creating new rooms and maximizing live space, you can design areas that are suited to different functions, separating child and adult spaces at the same time as providing bases to spend quality time together.
One of the best ways to adjust your home to cater to growing children is to set aside areas for relaxation, play, education and hanging out together as a family.
A playroom is ideal, but if you don’t have space for a separate room, you can section off parts of other living spaces to encourage and facilitate creativity and have fun together. Create an arts and crafts corner in the kitchen-diner or set up a cozy retreat in the living room to snuggle up, read books and listen to music. You can also use your creativity and flair for interior design to make your children’s bedrooms more functional and versatile by using different parts of the rooms for different activities.
The area around the bed should be dedicated to tranquil, soothing, calming activities, but you can use other spaces for role play, reading and learning and playing games.
Creating a safe haven
Safety is a priority for all parents, and it’s not until you have children that you realize just how many hazards may be lurking in your home. Accidents happen, especially when children are still young and they’re not steady on their feet, but there are lots of steps you can take to lower risks and keep your kids safe. Installing stair gates, cupboard locks and plug guards is a good place to start. It’s also beneficial to avoid using blinds that have cords that drop down, to use fire-guards and to keep medicines and cleaning products behind lock and key.
Encouraging healthy living
We all want our kids to be healthy and happy at home. The decisions you make will play an integral role in determining the kind of lifestyle your children have, but your home can also play a part.
Try to design a nest that actively encourages healthy living and facilitates physical activity, spending time together and gaining an appreciation of the outdoors. Bring the outside in, maximize natural light, spend as much time outside as you can, cook and eat together as a family and prioritize rest and recovery. It’s so important for children and adults to get the sleep they need.
Your bedrooms and the living spaces you use in the evenings should be serene spots that induce calm and tranquility.
When the sun starts to fade, and you begin to feel tired, you can retreat to these peaceful areas to wind down and relax. There are lots of ways you can make your home more soothing, including choosing colours that make you feel calm, adding houseplants and using soft lighting and textured soft furnishings to create a homely, cozy atmosphere.
The best colours for bedrooms include warm neutrals, pastel shades, tones of blue, green and purple, light grey and white. If you love color, but you want your boudoir to be a place to unwind and chill out, you can use accents and accessories, rather than going all-out with bright paint or patterned wallpaper. Cushions, throws, curtains, framed prints, plant pots, bed linen and rugs can all add interest.
Remember that house rules and habits can also affect how healthy your home environment is. Consider banning smoking indoors or consider making the switch to vaping. Promote healthy eating by openly displaying fruit bowls, while hiding sugary snacks and crips away and restricting access to them. Similarly, try to maintain a strict bedtime and consider limits on screen time at night to make sure kids are getting enough sleep.
If you’re in those blissful early days of parenthood, or your family is growing, you may be thinking about moving or making changes to your home. We all want our homes to be sanctuaries, but it can be difficult to strike the right balance and cross all of the boxes. Moving may be an option, but there are often things you can do to create a child-friendly home that provides a safe, secure base that caters to your lifestyle. Hopefully, this guide has given you some ideas and inspiration.
*Collaborative post*
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