This last week was pure Mama heaven. I am fresh off of the most wonderful vacation with a group of my girlfriends and our children. We decided a few months ago that we were going to take everyone up to an Airbnb by the water and relax for an entire week. No work, no soccer practices, no morning gym sessions. Just the water, good company and good food.
Of course, relaxation isn’t the first thing that people think of when they talk about traveling with a group of toddlers and kindergarteners. And I’d be lying if I said we weren’t all apprehensive about it too. Although the kids get along great and were sure to keep each other company, it also wasn’t home. And it was by the water.
We had concerns about the kids getting outside without us and going to the lake by themselves. We also worried about the house itself, since the owners were a retired couple whose kids had moved out over a decade ago. Childproofing wasn’t on the amenities list on their Airbnb rental page.
We wanted to figure out a way to make it work. Time on the beach was just too good to pass up. Then I had a revelation.
I scoured the online photos of the Airbnb. I could decipher from them what kinds of door knobs they had, what big furniture items were inside, and even how many cupboards and drawers their kitchen had. I knew that this vacation was just about to get a whole lot more relaxing.
I placed an order that day from Jool Baby Products. I ordered two 4-packs of their Door Knob Covers for all of the bedrooms, bathrooms and the front and back door. Then I decided to buy their Child Safety Strap Locks after seeing that there was a large armoire in the room that the kids would be using – I wanted to keep that shut to avoid smashed fingers. Lastly, I ordered several Child Proof Cabinet Locks. I wasn’t sure what the homeowners had stored in all of those cabinets, but I didn’t want to find out when it was too late that they were filled with antique vases that were in smithereens all over the floor. Wouldn’t THAT be a joyful end to a wonderful vacation? Cabinet locks would definitely give us peace of mind. As a final thought, I threw in a potty training toilet seat. With all those kids in one house, extra potty seats wouldn’t be a bad thing. I just love the ease of use not only with the Jool Baby Products website, but the products themselves. No drilling, no difficult installs – everything uses 3M adhesive, so the Airbnb owners wouldn’t even know we ever used them!
Yes, I could have just taken these items from my own home – because obviously I own them all already. But I was just worried that I would forget to pack them last minute, or even that I would leave them in the rental house when we came back. And I couldn’t stomach that thought. This was an easy solution though, not only did we have a wonderful time that was destruction-free, but now I have an extra set of baby proofing supplies to take on our next trip! Win-Win for all!