The Parenting Journal

The living room looks harmless. Soft cushions, a rug underfoot, maybe a houseplant in the corner and a TV on a stand. Then your child starts pulling up on furniture, and you see the room differently. Every surface becomes a...

The bathroom is the most dangerous room in your house. Not the kitchen, not the garage. The bathroom. It concentrates water, medications, sharp objects, electrical appliances, and caustic chemicals in a space roughly the size of a large closet, and...

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury death in children ages 1–4 (CDC). That number stops most parents cold, and it should. Pools get most of the attention, and rightly so. But toilets sit in nearly every home, they...

Every kitchen tells a story about the people who use it. Mine tells a story about a 22-month-old who, in the time it took me to answer the front door, opened the cabinet under the sink, pulled out a bottle...

About 3,500 infants die each year from sleep-related causes in the United States, according to CDC SUID data. Most of those deaths happen in environments that looked safe to the parents who set them up. That’s the part that stays...

Every nursery looks safe before a baby arrives. The room is clean, the furniture is new, the crib is assembled and sitting in the corner like a promise. Then your baby starts moving, and you realize the room you designed...

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury death in children ages 1–4, according to the CDC. It happens silently. There is no dramatic splashing, no screaming, no moment that looks like what we see in movies. A toddler can...

Every summer, I walk out to our backyard and feel the same split-second of relief when I see the gate latch is still in place. It takes about three seconds to check. It takes far less time than that for...

Every fireplace in a family home is a heat source, a fall hazard, and a chemical risk compressed into one architectural feature. Most parents think about the flames. Fewer think about the glass.Glass-front gas fireplace surfaces can reach 500°F minimum...