The long and lazy days of summer are gone, it’s officially autumn and school is in full swing. That means parents around the nation are doing their best to adjust their households to new routines and activities. It’s tough enough for parents with school-aged kids to make the shift into this time of year with school activities, after school sports, social gatherings, while maintaining some aspect of common routine. Add a younger toddler sibling to the mix and it can be nearly impossible to manage it all while giving the littlest ones the attention they demand and keeping them safe while they are on a constant home exploration.

One solution that many parents employ is to involve their toddlers in day-to-day activities around the home. In fact, a recent survey shows that 50 percent of parents have their toddlers with them in the laundry room while washing clothes.

We all know that little kids are curious and love to explore, and the laundry room has no shortage of interesting gadgets, piles of soft and colorful clothing and funny sounds that may be exciting to the youngest members of our household.

If you do decide to fold your toddler time into the laundry routine, make life easier for yourself and safe for your kids by following a few simple laundry safety tips:

• Always remember to keep liquid laundry packets in their original container and stored up and out of reach of small children. You can even order a free reminder cling from PacketsUp.com so that you don’t forget.
• Invest in child safety locks to keep curious toddlers from exploring cabinets that may contain items you don’t want them to touch or play with.
• If you don’t have cabinets in your laundry room, consider investing in shelving and/or colorful storage bins to make storing laundry products and other household items out of site easy and organized.
• Lock washer and dryer doors and pay attention to the placement of your machines so that your child can roam around the laundry room safely without going in or behind your washer or dryer.

Make fall fun AND safe for your family this year. If a laundry packet is accidentally ingested, call the Poison Help line at 1-800-222-1222.