Today I want to write about kid friendly holiday decorations and how you can decorate your home festively without having your kids get into everything or pose choking or electrical hazards. But as I sit here typing away looking around my home, there is not one darn thing that is kid friendly. So I’m stumped and feel like calling today’s blog “Don’t Break My $H!T”.
I have a 9 ft tree covered in lights with the electrical cord obviously exposed and plugged into the wall. There are glass crystals hanging all over the tree along with poinsettias that have these little plastic berries on them that I’m sure can be easily pulled off and swallowed. The stockings are hanging from our mantel and are definitely within reach and they are hanging from metal stocking holders and should one be pulled down it would definitely hurt. I have a runner down the middle of my table with glass lanterns holding candles as well as garland that has more plastic berries and other small objects glued to it. The table is only a few feet high and that runner is easy to grab onto and pull everything down with it.
Here’s All The Stuff I’m Talking About!!!
So how in God’s green creation am I supposed to write something to our readers that will help them decorate this holiday season in a kid friendly way? I WON’T! There’s nothing kid friendly about holiday décor. All you can do is put things up a little higher, watch the heck out of your kiddos, and hope and pray they don’t throw a glass ball ornament, eat the tree, or get tangled in the lights. Or if you’re me, you hope and pray they don’t pull the 3 lb. stocking holder down and knock themselves unconscious, chew on the end of the electrical cord, or swallow an ornament hook.
I’ve been pretty lucky in that Lincoln hardly notices the tree itself and is really mostly interested in the cord that plugs into the wall. Knocking on wood as I type, he has yet to see or acknowledge the stockings that are only 2 feet above his little head when he’s playing in the fireplace. Oh yeah, and now that we’ve started having fires we have ashes in the fireplace so that’s another obstacle I have to watch out for. I can definitely see why people with young children opt not to have a tree or really decorate… it’s just too dang difficult if you have a curious kiddo!
So tell us moms, what are some kid friendly decorations you use? Are you creative? Or are you like me and think to yourself, “just don’t break my $H!T”?
We are pretty old school parents and we beleive you teach your kids the meaning of no instead of rearranging your lives because of the kids. My kids got their hand swatted when they were really little anytime they reached for ornaments or other off limit decorations. Just this week as I walked through the fine china at the mall I realized what a benefit that is. I did not have to say one word to my boys about not touching something breakable. They know because early on those types of things were off limits. We were never the type to follow them around redirecting, we simply taught them “no” meant “no” In my opinion you need to pat yourself on the back and know you are raising your child to function in the real world, where not everything is baby proofed!
I am so lazy this year! No decorations or tree! Figured I’d go to my friends house to get pics of j under the tree, lol