15 Tips to Prep Your Home for the Growing Family
It’s been said that home is where the heart is, and that saying is absolutely true. Home is where not just the heart is, but where the family begins to grow and nurture each other. Growing a family in your home is no easy task, and that’s fairly obvious. From going through a pregnancy to an adoption or fostering process, making additions to the family is no easy task, and requires lots of attention, skill, and most importantly love from the parents of a household.
Necessary Modifications
If you’re planning on family growing through either having a child of your own, adopting, fostering, or even just looking after the children of your relatives, you must understand that you must prepare your home to ensure safety, comfort, and care for your children. Family growing is not just a task that will change your family dynamic forever, but also your home for many years to come. Family growing doesn’t just stop at your children either- you can begin to prepare a home even now to prepare for future grandchildren, nieces and nephews. The choices are endless!
Considerations
There are many things you can do to prepare a home for family growing. Consider the size of your family now, how soon you’re looking to expand, and the area you are living in. Is there a constant problem of natural disasters? Earthquakes, floods, or tornadoes? In addition, do you know if your home is prone to burglary or robbery? Though it might be scary to consider, you must take into consideration all the things that could possibly cause damage to your home and endanger your children, even if it means having to completely redo and upgrade your home. No question is ever too silly to ask yourself when it comes to family growing, and what’s right for you and your family when it comes time to renovate and remodel your home. If you’re looking at how to get started, here are 15 tips to help you prepare your home for family growing.
1. Get Kid-Friendly Furniture
Furniture is an essential part of any child’s upbringing. You can take the extra step of getting furniture that is kid-friendly and easy for your growing family to use. Invest in some kid-sized beds, chairs, and desks for your children to play in. Also, invest in some baby-friendly furniture such as cribs, walkers, and rockers to help make your family growing process a little bit easier. Always make sure to get furniture that is also kid-friendly by not having sharp edges, being made of glass, and easily mounted to your walls to prevent toppling over. Children can easily topple over anything from a book case to a cabinet, and if you live in California, earthquakes can also be a cause of toppling.
2. Get Stair Banister Guards
When you reach out to adoption services, social services will want to make sure your home is safe enough for your children to play and live in. One of the best investments is simple stair banister guards that ensure your child doesn’t fall down the stairs. They also ensure children don’t fall through openings within a stairs rails. A simple, yet vital tool for family growing: never underestimate the power of simple stair and banister guards!
3. Invest in New Paint
The color of your walls might seem like such a small concern at first. However, the color of your walls can assist in helping your children feel at ease in their new home. This goes for both newborn babies as well as adopted children. Painted walls can have a calming effect on people, including colors such as calming blue and green. In addition, an adopted child might be delighted to have a room that is in their favorite color, and even with a painted mural of their favorite character! Whatever the case is, investing in a new paint job for your home is part of family growing basics.
4. Have a Stocked Medicine Cabinet
Though you might be able to tough it out during a cold or flu sickness, children and young adults might not be so strong or daring. Children are susceptible to getting sick and suffer from recurrent ear or sinus infections, as this is just a part of growing up. However, it’s always a good idea to have medicine such as home remedies for sore throat pain on hand just in case your child feels ill. Make sure to buy child-strength medicine, as it will help children take their medicine and ensure they don’t overdose as well. Always lock your medicine cabinet after use.
5. Consider Schools
Consider moving to a home that isn’t just bigger, but also has a great school system attached to it as well. The best private schools in your area should be near your new home, as well as good public schools that can ensure your growing family receives a good education. Don’t be afraid to interview members of staff and faculty at your new school, and ensure they have programs that can help adopted and fostered children integrate into a new school system as well.
6. Renovate for Added Strength
If you’re one of the thousands of new American owners of a home, chances are you might have invested in a home too quickly that didn’t necessarily check all the boxes for a structurally sound home, but was cheap on the market. Though you could live with the squeaky floors, cold and inadequate insulation, and leaky roof, this will not work for a family growing with children and babies. Get the necessary roof repair, insulation replacement, and any other maintenance repairs to your home to ensure it lasts for years to come.
7. Upgrade Security Systems
Whether you’re dealing with a family law attorney that suggests you keep strict security footage of your home, live in a neighborhood prone to crime, or simply want some peace of mind, upgrading your security systems is essential to help in the safety of your children. Positioning camera to face your front, back, and sides of your home, and having a doorbell that records visitors is a good idea. Nicer upgrades are remote controlled door locks, garage locks, and upgraded fencing as well. All these security upgrades can help ensure that your growing family isn’t left without help or resources in case of an emergency, and if any crime does occur, at least part of it can be captured on video to help authorities.
8. Redo your Backyard
Your backyard before your children might have included a trendy dance floor, baren weeds, or even a simple garden. However, as your family grows, you’ll want to ensure your kids have enough room to play, relax, and enjoy the outdoors in order to stay healthy. A chain link fence can help in keeping your children and any pets stay in view of your yard while playing outside. Plastic playgrounds with rubber mats can help your children release energy while also staying safe. Or, getting a trampoline can help your kids have fun during the summer months. The choices are endless! Whatever you choose, do it with fun and safety in mind.
9. Invest in Pool Fence
Having a family growing means you’ll have kids of all ages around the house. This means you’ll have to be considerate of their skills and keep all of their safety in mind. To ensure this, there’s no better way than to invest in a pool fence to keep your children safe and prevent accidents such as drowning. Pool fences can save lives, even if you feel your children are old enough to swim. If you have babies that can crawl and seem to always leave your sight, a pool fence should be a priority!
10. Get Rid of Mold
Just like adults, children can be highly allergic to allergens that come from the changing seasons, dust, pollen, and most importantly mold. Allergies from mold can lead to problems with sneezing, itchy and watery eyes, and headaches. Mold can hide anywhere from the caulking of your bathroom, to the attic, basement, and any other parts of the house that come in contact with water. Because of this, it’s important to prevent mold by always drying and airing out your bathroom after showers, getting water damage restoration, and checking for mold after a flood. Ensure that your home is mold free, and your children aren’t getting sick from any mold in your home.
11. Upgrade your HVAC System
Upgrading your HVAC systems can keep the air quality clean in your home, allowing for your growing family to breathe in good quality air. HVAC systems ensure that your air is clean and filtered, and also ensures that your home remains at a comfortable level during the extreme heat and winter months. This is crucial for children that can easily suffer from dehydration and heatstroke. Take the time to upgrade your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system. Ensure that you always replace filters for your system, and are keeping up with regularly scheduled maintenance.
12. Upgrade your Kitchen
With your family growing, you can rest assured you’re going to be spending more time in the kitchen cooking and preparing meals. Sometimes you won’t even have time to prepare dinner, eat and clean all at once. In fact, about 53% of dinners are planned within an hour of eating, leaving little time for much else in between. Not only should you invest in some kid-friendly dinner plates and cups, but also invest in a bigger refrigerator and extra storage to pack all of your family meals that you’ll be preparing in a flash, as well as investing in kitchen equipment that is efficient and useful such as slow cookers and air-fryers. Growing your family can also lead to you having to spend more money in general, as well as have less time to wash dishes. Having a kitchen that has enough space to allow you to meal prep, cook dinner quickly, and also having a dishwasher are all great investments for your family growing plan.
13. Invest in your Bathroom
You don’t have to do a total renovation to your restroom to accommodate your growing family. But, it is a good idea to invest in simple things any bathroom with a growing family should have. Slip-resistant mats both inside and outside your tub can help prevent any accidents. Start shopping for kid-friendly shampoos and soaps to ensure your children stay clean and avoid getting red eyes or a skin reaction from harsh soap. Most importantly, a baby or child tub to bathe your young children in are must-haves for any child-friendly bathroom.
14. Get a Dedicated Nursery
With your family growing, you’ll be in need of more space for your children. More space allows for your children to have more freedom of expression, space to themselves, and is overall good for their mental health. If you are still caring for an infant, having a dedicated nursery can give you enough space for your child to be able to sleep comfortably and not have anything to waken them during the night. However old the new edition to your family is, it’s important to prepare a room for them accordingly.
15. Redo your Garage
Your garage can be a source of great fun for your growing family, and a place where you can teach future generations how to fix cars, paint, or even the basics of carpentry. Invest in your garage if you plan on working there with your children. Keep safety in mind and keep all tools locked away and organized, have adequate ventilation, and invest in some new garage doors as well. Whatever you decide to do in your garage, taking time to keep it clean and organized opens up doors to you and your children. If you don’t already have a garage, a home builder can help you plan out your new home addition.
