The Parenting Journal

Every second counts when a toddler gets curious. In 2024, household cleaning substances topped the list of substances kids under 6 got into, accounting for roughly 1 in 10 (10.1%) of all pediatric poison center cases, according to America’s Poison...

Bubble wrap feels satisfying to pop, and it’s free if you just unpacked a delivery. The logic is understandable: it’s soft, it’s padded, it wraps around a corner. But the logic is wrong, and understanding why matters before your toddler’s...

Every foam corner protector you’ve ever peeled off the floor and tried to press back onto a table leg has one thing in common: the failure wasn’t random. There’s a reason it fell off, and once you know it, you...

Every year, parents make dozens of small decisions about furniture that seem minor but aren’t. A glass coffee table is one of them.Foam corner protectors can reduce the injury risk from sharp glass edges, and that matters. But they don’t...

Every parent has a version of this story. Mine happened on a Tuesday afternoon when my younger daughter, not yet 18 months old, emptied the entire under-sink cabinet in the time it took me to answer the front door. Sponges,...

Approximately 2,400 children are treated in U.S. emergency rooms each year for electrical outlet injuries (CPSC). That number is small enough that many parents assume the risk doesn’t apply to their family, and large enough that it absolutely might. The...

Renting an apartment or living in a leased home doesn’t mean you get to skip babyproofing. It means you have to be smarter about it.For a lot of parents, the fear of losing a security deposit is real enough that...

About 93,000 children under 5 are treated in U.S. emergency rooms each year for stair-related injuries, according to a Nationwide Children’s Hospital analysis of CPSC NEISS data. That number is why baby gates exist. And it’s why the question of...

The cabinet lock you installed six months ago is now losing its holding power. The key magnet that used to snap the door shut with satisfying resistance no longer does. You’re not imagining it. Magnetic cabinet locks do lose their...