Making Your Child's Room a Safe Zone

As my son has grown from a baby to a toddler to a school-age boy--his room space needs have changed.  What he needs in his daily life has become more specific which has caused me to become an interior decorator in a sense.  So the first challenge is that my son butts his head on anything he can find while he is sleep.  It's sort of a soothing mechanism.  He also has a lot of sensory needs...he likes to chew on things, feel vibrations, and rock.  As a diaper digger, we needed easy to clean fabrics.  Lastly, he likes to explore, pull down things, and rearrange furniture so safety is a huge issue.  So here is what I discovered on my room decorating adventure.

For the head butting, I purchased the colorful foam mats for the floor.  They are easy to install because they connect together like a puzzle.  I purchase gymnastic mats for the lower level of the walls and used velcro to attach.  This ensured that he would not injure himself on the floor or walls.

For sensory, you can attach different fabrics and items to the wall so your child can explore.  If your child chews or mouths items like my son, I put the items in a plastic shoe container and did it as an organized play time.  He was able to touch feathers, beans, rice, blow bubbles, etc.  For the rocking, I purchased a rocking chair as well as a mini trampoline for his room.  Another great idea, is to fill up a playpen with those colorful plastic balls to make a ball pit.  I was also able to find these great handheld toys that spin and light up so that he could mouth them and feel the vibrations.

If you need easy to clean fabric, try purchasing pleather or vinyl fabrics.  They have child-size chairs and couches that come in handy and are worth the money.  I purchased a fold out cushion chair that turns into a bed...dual purpose is always the way to go.

For safety, I mounted my son's TV on the wall.  I also cleared out most of the furniture and only left a couple of pieces for storage purposes.  If you have a child you likes to pull everything out of drawers and cabinets, find furniture on rollers and turn it towards the wall when your child is playing in the room or going to bed at night.  This will prevent access.  If you have any other clever ideas, please share.  I'm sure other parents would love to get some free room decorating advice :)

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