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It's safe to say most parents aren't watching Teen Mom for the parenting ideas. But that doesn't mean they aren't in there. Did you catch what Teen Mom 3 star Briana DeJesus did the other day? She hired a babyproofing company to come to her house and make it safe for little Nova!
Didn't know there was such a thing? Neither did I, at least not until I saw the folks from Child Senior Safety walking around the home Briana shares not just with little Nova but with her mom, Roxanne, and sister Brittany. It's a place filled with adults ... and with hazards for the baby girl.
As Brian explained to The Stir,
We decided we had to [hire them] because Nova was getting bigger.
The company ended up coming in, assessing the home for dangers, and then making some changes. The result was a $350 bill -- at least on TV. Briana later told us that the company found out she was a young single mom, so they gave her a break, taking it down to $100.
But what exactly did they do for that cash? Did parents really need a company for all of that? With the way MTV edits things, it was hard to tell. So I contacted Bob Dale, owner of Child Senior Safety, and got the skinny on babyproofing straight from the source.
It turns out the company he owns with wife Sandra is one of about 150 of its kind in the United States, all members of the International Association for Child Safety. They're a for-profit company, but their mission is to help moms and dads keep their kids safe (although the Dales also do work in the homes of seniors).
As Bob said to The Stir, "If I can save one little baby from getting hurt, that's why we love what we do."
A home assessment and babyproofing could run in the $500 to $600 range, Bob Dale told us, but the couple works with families to do what they can afford ... and what best suits their home.
"If you can't afford it, you go in stages," he said. "You get the bottom cabinets done, the bottom drawers done. It will be awhile until they can reach the top drawers where you have your knives and forks."
It's not uncommon for the Dales to return to homes multiple times to do updates as the kids age.
But why hire them in the first place? Can't a mom and dad babyproof the house themselves ... for a lot less?
According to Bob Dale, there are two big reasons to hire a babyproofing company. For one, they have products you don't find in the baby store, products that will actually work with your wide-mouthed staircase or your odd-sized doorway.
The other selling point for the Dales is their expert eye.
"We have the knowledge. We know what to go in and look for," he said. "A lot of [parents] miss things like bookcases ... that can topple on a child. Or dressers with a TV. That dresser should be actually strapped to the wall, and that TV should be strapped to the dresser."
The Dales are often called on to talk to TV stations when accidents happen to children because their homes weren't child-proofed. The MTV appearance, however, was a first. The small clip with Briana was actually three hours of filming that they walked us through.
"She didn't want to do much, but her mom was pushing," Bob Dale said of Briana. Cost was a concern for the single mom, he said.
In the end the DeJesus house got a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs to prevent Nova from climbing, cabinet locks in the kitchen, and a toilet lock in the bathroom. And although Nova wasn't walking yet (at least not on camera -- she just turned 2 in real time), Dale said it was just in time. He recommends parents start babyproofing around 7 or 8 months.
"When babies start crawling, you need to be prepared for it!" he said.
Are you prepared for baby to start tearing the house apart? Would you hire a company to get you there?
Image via MTV
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