Old Homes Like These Are Childproofing Nightmares. Here's How These Parents Keep Their Kids Safe
By Erica Palan
Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA—No one wants to think of their home as a potential death trap. Sometimes parents just can't help it.
You can't look at those once-charming house features without picturing all the ways your kid could get hurt.
There are 'things that I used to look at [in] my house and say, wow, these are such beautiful details. Now I look at them, and I don't have that same warm feeling,' said Caitlin Martin, mom to 20-month-old Gates in Philadelphia. 'I still love the details to my stairs, but I just think he's going to trip and fall.'
Childproofing any home can be costly and stressful. According HomeAdvisor, a website where homeowners can connect with local service professionals, U.S. households spend an average of nearly $400 on childproofing. In Philly, the average is closer to $700.
That higher cost is at least partially tied to the fact that many Philly homes have unique quirks that make childproofing tricky.
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According to the National Trust's Preservation Green Lab, the average age of houses in Philadelphia is 93, almost 30 years older than nationwide.
In short: The houses were built before childproofing was really a thing. That means molded staircases or exposed radiators might not easily adapt to out-of-the-box baby gates or other products.
'Philly rowhouses present certainly a different challenge. I don't know if it's harder, but it's different from my friends who live in the suburbs,' said Anne Maija, who lives in a South Philly rowhouse and is mom to 1-year-old Claire. 'These types of homes … they're older and the layouts are different.'
Even in older homes that have been gutted and rebuilt, some of the newer features common in rowhouse renos can be hazardous.
Here are five unique challenges Philly parents face when childproofing—plus a few solutions from experts and creative parents.
Stairs
The challenge: Curious kiddos are at risk of tumbling down the steps in any house, but 'it's hard to find a house in Philly without stairs,' said Sarah Laroia, mom to 13-month-old Sushil. They live in a four-story Cedar Park home, so stairs are a big worry.
Anasztazia Di Leonardo lived in the Graduate Hospital area when she had her son Elio, who will turn 3 later this month. When he started crawling, 'I thought, oh my goodness, I can't live in a house … where his bedroom door is so close to the stairs,' she said. They moved to Roxborough when Elio was 14 months old.
How to childproof it:The simple answer is stair gates, which are available in lots of sizes. But finding one that fits might require a lot of trial and error. In Philly homes, 'there's rounded spindles and some of them are historic … also some of them are really big. They might be like 6 or 8 inches across,' said Joe Metzger, the co-owner of Safer Babies, a Media-based childproofing company.
'There are some like premade kits, but in a lot of cases, it's not gonna fit an antique post,' he said. 'Sometimes we can avoid that and go into the next spindle up.'
Railings
The challenge: Many houses in Philly, especially new construction or recent renovations, have ladder-style railings that are perfect for new little climbers to scale. 'Our stairs have a railing that has levels so you could climb the railing and jump over it if you're insane,' said Laroia. She hired Metzger to come troubleshoot.
How to childproof it: mesh nets or acrylic slabs.
'The horizontal steel railing systems, they're good some ways, but we like to put [up a] clear acrylic sheet, and that reduces climbing,' Metzger said. 'And then we'll tell folks to keep anything away from the railing system that a child could climb on to get to the top of the railing, like a laundry basket.'
Acrylic sheets can be expensive, so some parents prefer mesh nets.
'I got this netting that you attach via zip ties to the tops and the bottoms and various posts,' said Maija of South Philadelphia. 'It seems to be working for deterring [climbing]. She can just press herself against the netting and use the poles of the banister as an assist to stand.'
Joe Metzger, co-owner of Safer Babies, childproofs a basement staircase with a safety gate at the home of Philadelphia residents Sara and Asheesh Laroia and son Sushil, 13 months.
Alejandro A Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS
Cords and Outlets
The challenge:'I call it spaghetti,' said Metzger, talking about the tangle of cords that hang from desks and behind tables because we've all got so many electronics plugged in these days—even more since remote work became the norm. Tangled cords are especially common in Philly homes with limited outlets.
No matter what your living situation, cords can be an irritation, but for families with small kids, the solution isn't as simple as an outlet strip.
'Reducing a child's access to cords and not just for electrocution, I really focus on reducing strangulation,' Metzger said. 'Any cord that's longer than even seven inches can get wrapped around a small child's neck.'
How to childproof it:Metzger's solutions include shortening cords, moving lamps or humidifiers on top of a dresser or bookcase, or putting outlet strips in special boxes to contain the cords and the plugs. He takes 'whatever steps are needed to reduce a small child's access to those cords, so nobody's getting wrapped up, nobody's touching the prongs, or getting juiced,' he said.
Unpredictable Wall Materials
The challenge:Sharing walls with neighbors is the hallmark of Philly rowhouses and twins. Metzger says he hasn't run into issues with party walls because they're often quite thick, but he points out that because of years of renovations, it's hard to know what's behind Philly walls—and that can present issues when anchoring heavy furniture to the wall to prevent it from tipping over when a toddler pulls or climbs on it.
'A lot of cases, wall surfaces are plaster over brick or plaster over stone. And these are tricky for fastening anything,' he said.
How to childproof it:'You gotta evaluate the surface and then use the proper tools and fasteners,' Metzger said. He comes prepared with a variety of brackets and anchors.
Hardwood Floors
The challenge:A prominent feature in many older homes, polished hardwood floors can give a cohesive look to a South Philly rowhouse with an open floor plan or elevate the classic elegance of a West Philly Victorian. They can also be extremely slippery, especially for unsteady feet.
How to childproof it:After her new-to-walking toddler crashed on her hardwood a few times, Martin added area rugs and runners with padding underneath throughout her home. They got 'rug pads so at least when he trips and falls, he's tripping and falling on a rug instead of the hardwood floor,' she said.
These also help when other disasters strike: Martin recalls when the stomach bug tore through her home. My son 'vomited, and it got in the cracks of the hardwood floors, and I found myself with a Q-tip trying to get it out.' Area rugs can get thrown in the washer.
Copyright 2025 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Visit at inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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