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Cabinets and Drawers:

When your baby starts getting into stuff all the time, one of their favorite things to get into will be drawers and cabinets. Whether they are in the kitchen, bathroom, or any other room, it doesn’t matter. Kids especially like kitchen cabinets, though. All those pots and pans, they are loud and look like fun, plus Mom and Dad are getting in there all the time, it must be interesting.

What many parents will do, and this seems to make many babies very happy, is to put latches on most cabinets and drawers, but leave one without them. This one cabinet will contain only things that can't really hurt the baby, such as pots and pans, plastic or wooden spoons, plastic bowls, etc. Some parents have filled one cabinet with toys, but usually this doesn't satisfy the child's curiosity. It's not that they just want to be allowed to get into the cabinet; it's that they want the stuff inside.

If noisy pots and pans bother you (and keep in mind that they can be loud, especially when they do as most children love to, and turn them into a drum set), you can use something a little less noisy. One great idea is to put plastic bowls with their lids in the cabinet. This will keep your child occupied for a while, because they will be trying to put the lids on and take them off, plus they are much quieter than banging on metal pots and pans.

Drawers are an excellent place to stick a few toys, or to leave plastic stirring spoons for your child to play with. One way to do this is similar to the cabinet above: keep the locks on all other drawers except the one that has things for baby in it. This way, you won't have to worry about her getting into all the other drawers, but she can still have some fun digging around in one.

The downfall of doing this (and this applies to both drawers and cabinets) is that you aren't only around cabinets at home. If you go visit relatives, and your baby gets into the kitchen, the first thing they will go for is their cabinet or drawer. They are probably more likely to do this if they have their own cabinet or drawer at home than if they don't. If every time they try to open one at home, it won't come open, they may not even bother with trying somewhere else (then again, they might, you never know with kids). But, if they have access at home, they will assume that it's okay to do it anywhere, and they will likely try.

One way of trying to avoid this would be to keep them out of that person's kitchen. You will probably have to deal with this type of problem, though, no matter what. Babies get into everything, so even if you don’t allow them in the kitchen of wherever you are visiting, they will probably find something else to get into.

One of the biggest benefits of having a cabinet like this in your kitchen is that, while you are cooking, the baby is a lot less likely to try to take your attention away from what you are doing. Even though they may be right under your feet, at least they won't be trying to get you to hold them, and having two free hands tends to make cooking a whole lot easier.

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