shopTalk Episode 3: Creating Safe and Inviting Spaces for Kids

Photo courtesy of Life & Style Magazine

 Aside from discussing whether or not Mariah "Mimi" Carey's tricked out nursery for her pending babies is safe, Roachele and I talked about what it takes to make a safe and inviting space for your children.  According to many child care experts, childrens' rooms should be designed with three key growth stages in mind: infancy, toddlerhood, and adolescence.  By creating a space that grows with your child, you can save your pocketbook and help your child develop a sense of independence and self-sufficiency.

Of paramount concern in putting together a child's room is safety.  When the baby is small, the crib space should be designed with SIDS prevention in mind.  According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, African American and Hispanic babies are two times more likely than white babies to die from SIDS while American Indian/Alaskan Native babies are three times more likely than white babies to die.  As children become mobile, the concern is more about bumps, bruises and limiting trauma, especially head trauma.  The NICHD has a great pamphlet available in PDF form that gives great tips for keeping a child's room safe at any age. 

Once you've mastered the fundamentals of safety, it's time to shop and have fun!  When she's looking for tea-cup human design inspiration, she heads over to Ohdeedoh, an offshoot of one of my favorite sites Apartment Therapy.  A great tip she shared for minimizing your fridge's life as gallery space, was to invest in a set of Li'l Davinci Kid's Art Frames.

Worth the price of admission, these frames can be used over and over again because you swap out the art as fast as your child can create it.

To address the ever present issue of storage, Roachele offered a lovely, if not a little bank-breaking, option from Mod Mom.   

These chests are gorgeous, hand-crafted pieces that are a wonderful addition to any child's room if you have the cash to spare.  After you slay the storage beast, you can continue to adorn the wall space.  In addition to checking out the selection of wall stickers and decals over at Etsy, Roachele suggested decorating a section of wall or even the back of a door with this cool Graham and Brown 52050 Frames Wallpaper. 

 

 Finally, if you still need more inspiration or just some great reference guides, check out this selection of design books for childrens' rooms:

Room for Children: Stylish Spaces for Sleep and Play 

 

Children's Spaces: From Zero to Ten

Cool Spaces for Kids

Don't forget that shopTalk is back for a fourth installment on May 10th at 1:30pm.  We'll be discussing summer travel in the age of extortionate gas prices.