Jaclyn Voran

One of my favorite holiday memories is going to my grandmother’s house to bake pies and other Christmas treats when I was a child. I can still vividly remember the feeling of sitting in her small kitchen with its 1970s appliances and rolling out dough on her circular kitchen table. Looking back, I have to give her credit for including me in such an ambitious baking feat every year. Granted, she is an excellent baker, but still, doing anything with kids makes it 1000 times more complicated.

When you live with kids, especially babies and toddlers, basically everything is a hazard. That’s why we secure dressers to walls, put up baby gates, and add toddler-proof latches on cabinets, right? But even the most baby-proofed home is susceptible to safety hazards. With big holidays coming up, parents should start thinking about potential holiday safety hazards, too.

If you’re anything like me, it probably feels like you just chose (and failed) a New Year’s resolution. That’s how quickly it feels like this year has gone by. And just when I was getting in the swing of summer, back-to-school season reared its head once again. Not to mention how fast the little ones in our lives are growing. If it seems like one minute you’re bringing home a little bundle of joy and in the blink of an eye you’re sending them off to kindergarten, you’re not alone.