I have to admit that I am a child safety freak. When my children were really small, I had a really hard time taking them to visit other people because their homes were not baby-proofed at all. And they were not interested in baby-proofing either! I got really tired of chasing my kids around, trying to keep them from breaking things and hurting themselves! I was smart enough back then to bring my own tension-mounted baby gates with me when we went to visit folks that had stairs! I finally understood why my girlfriend with small children (when I was child-less) preferred to have me come visit her at her place! Her place was child-proofed when mine wasn’t!
Back then there just didn’t seem to be very many items on the market designed to help keep children safe. The whole idea back then was to simply stick them in a play-pen! Well, my children HATED playpens once they were old enough to crawl, and it was just not worth the hassle of trying to convince them that play-pens could be fun! Chasing my kids around was probably what kept me thin back then! I was lucky enough to find and install some cabinet locks back then, and they were great safety devices that made life a lot safer (and easier!)
Modern parents have so many great products available on the market now to keep their babies and toddlers safe. They really don’t know how lucky they are!