Over the past month or so, I’ve been babyproofing the home. I’ve always really been into interior home design. From Art Deco cut glass to baroque candleholders and mirrors, my apartment used to be littered with sparkling adornments that paid homage to forgotten eras. Sadly, I had to say goodbye to some of my most prized possessions; this was not before losing some to the inquisitive little hands belonging to my one-year-old.

For some, packing away or giving away items that serve no purpose in a home where the baby now rules the roost can be a breeze. I on the other hand really miss sitting amongst my beautiful things! That said, the safety and happiness of my little one is of course paramount, as is the same for all the mamas out there already on or just about to enter the babyproofing-the-home journey.

There are some basic essentials that moms and dads can pick up or order to make the home safer for babies and toddlers. Babyproofing the home needn’t be a chore and doesn’t need to cost a bomb. The first phase of babyproofing your apartment will generally involve finding new homes for items that could be dangerous in the hands of curious little ones, or the removal of items from surfaces and counter tops now reachable that you don’t want damaged, or smothered in baby drool. Pack away or find new homes for ornaments, books, remote controls, (my son is obsessed with every kind), and anything made from materials that are likely to smash if dropped!

Once the removal of dangerous (and precious) objects is out of the way, use some of these essentials below to finish off babyproofing the family home. All of these items can be found on Taobao and take seconds to assemble, stick on, or plug in!

• Outlet Plug Covers

Put safety plugs or outlet covers over used and unused outlets, or block them with furniture.

• Foam Corner Protectors and Edge Guards

Attach foam (or another soft material) corner and edge guards to sharp cabinet corners, rocking chair corners, bed corners, and sofa corners. You get the gist – wherever there’s a corner, slap an edge guard on there!

• Foam Floor Tiles

We recently moved to a newly refurbished apartment. We loved the look of the new tiled flooring, but realized this was one of the biggest danger hazards for our then crawling and now walking toddler. Cover wooden and tiled flooring with child-friendly floor tiles. They’re great for playing, and are smash- and toddler-tumble-proof!

• Safety Gate

I’ve yet to install these, but safety gates are the perfect solution to stop little ones from entering rooms and keeping them within a designated area where you can keep a watchful eye on them. Place them at entrances to bathrooms, kitchen, bedrooms, or within the living area to create a play pen that’s inescapable!

• Cabinet Latches

Control access to unsafe areas with safety gates, door locks and knob covers. Stop your toddler from opening and peering into low cupboards and grabbing at items that are likely to break when not handled with care. My little one loved peering into my kitchen cupboard, and has already successfully emptied my pots and pans shelf. Do yourself a favor and get those latches on!

Photo: Pixabay

“The hacker demanded that one of the girls in the group send him explicit pictures, and threatened to post photos of her if she didn’t. When she didn’t respond, he posted hardcore pornography on the group account.”

As soon as I accepted this position as Managing Editor, I knew I would eventually oversee an issue delving into the uncomfortable topic of sex education, child abuse, and sexual harassment and cyber-bullying. I haven’t been discouraged by the embarrassed snickering when I introduced the topic to some, but I was surprised by the overwhelming encouragement from the parent community to spearhead this issue. The truth is that these are real issues teachers, parents, teens, and kids face.

I was four years old when I was first sexually abused, and the abuse lasted for four years unbeknownst to my parents. Now as a parent, I can easily see how the abuse was undetectable. My secret horrified and grieved my parents when I finally told them. I didn’t have the courage to tell my parents until I was a senior in high school, but by then the abuse had affected my personality, the way I coped with the anxieties of my life, my studies, and how I interacted with others and accepted peer sexual harassment. I had been living in pain and shame for something that wasn’t my fault.

I’m sure any parent can understand my current fears of something like this happening to my children, but it’s not just my own children I want to protect.  Every child and teen deserves proper protection and advocacy from their parents and schools. Therefore, this issue is meant to educate and help parents, teachers, and administrators do just that. Students, if you or someone you know is going through this type of abuse, please turn to pg 38.

On pg 54 you’ll find a feature about the different developmental stages of children and how to talk to your children about their changing bodies. On pg 48, we share the true story of a Beijing student who was cyberbullied and, due to identify theft, was also accused of sexually harrassing his peers. For parents with young children, we found books that could help with these very tough topics (pg 36).

We didn’t want to leave the whole issue in such a serious mood, so we also have some light-hearted columns, including luxury gifts for Valentine’s Day (pg 17), a great meal for an at home date night (pg 22), and very cool projects by ISB students (pg 40).

Photo: Samuel David Rhinehart (Flickr)

 This article originally appeared on page 2 of beijingkids 2017 February Issue. Download the digital version here.

I was sitting on the couch with my four-year-old son when he said, “I’m your husband.” He looked up at his father with a smirky smile meaning, “I said it. Whatchya gonna do ’bout it?”
Hubby put on a WWF wrestling face, “What did you say?” He replied in a serious tone.
The boy sheepishly giggled, “She’s my wife.”
Hubby picked up my son and body-slammed him on to our very plush, soft couch while my son screamed and laughed from enjoyment.

He hasn’t dropped his Oedipus complex since that challenge, often declaring that I’m his wife on other occasions, especially when daddy is around, since it’s such good fodder for horsing around. I just assume that he sees the sweetness of his parents’ relationship and wants to express how much he loves me, too. I heard about the Oedipus complex in college while studying the tragedy. Professor Sprague explained that her son was four years old and in love with her when he said, “Mommy, let’s stuff Daddy in a trash can.” Her story was odd to me then, but now it’s so cute.

I couldn’t help but reminisce about these things when I read a recent article by Xinhua about the Chinese show and its intern fathers who came under fire for the inappropriate relationships between adults and children. “Daddy, Where are We Going?” became famous for documenting relationships between male celebrities and their actual children, but new Chinese legislation has protected the amount of coverage that a celebrity child can receive. The show has transformed by still casting male celebrities on the show, but instead, they appear with children that aren’t their own.

Recently, one celeb, Dong Li, has seemed to go too far in his “fatherly” love with a show child star called Arale. The issues include joking comments that Dong made that Arale was his ideal girlfriend, and Arale saying she wanted to marry Dong and that she felt more comfortable around him than her mom. More seriously, the show depicted the two sleeping together with Arale wearing nothing but a shirt and underpants, and promotion of the show was of the two with “pecking kisses.”

Chinese netizens are taking two sides: it’s innocent and promotes paternity, or it’s incredibly irresponsible by promoting inappropriate relationships between adults and children. But chalking this up to simply another case of the Oedipus complex isn’t justifiable. One or both biological parents are able to intervene in such instances and say, “Hey! That one is mine!”

In a Global Times article, Cao Siqi reported that Dong was furious over the “couple fans” who were making articles and videos to highlight the couple-like aspects of the relationship, concerned that such media would hurt Arale. He defended himself, that he had a “sense of propriety” and a female director had taken care of her during the show. It’s also hard to believe that this did not all happen under the watchful eye of one of Arale’s guardians, considering how protective Chinese parents typically are.

Though Dong may not have any malicious intents toward Arale, and positive male role models are a good thing, the producing company’s use of the “couple factor” to promote the show is inexcusable. Their defending comments are back-tracking.

The show’s production company, Mango TV, fanned the flames by posting an online video clip set to a love song and captioned “Dong and Arale’s interpretation of ‘Let’s Fall in Love,'” referring to a famous Chinese dating show. Mango TV is the online division of Hunan TV, one of China’s largest television channels. (Source: Xinhua)

Dong would probably grieved to learn that the majority of childhood sexual abuse cases happen at the hands of someone they know. It’s important that all adults understand they are responsible to keep children safe.

Photo: Official Weibo account of Dong Li

More stories by this author here.
Email: vanessajencks@truerun.com
Twitter: @vanessa_jencks
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Three days ago my friend looked frazzled when we met. “I think someone was following me,” she said while looking over her shoulder. We sat down for several minutes in complete silence before breaking it by asking if she was simply overreacting; she wasn’t in my opinion and I told her as much. Later, after calming down, she told me if a need arises she would have to use her Krav Maga moves despite being reluctant to use them.

A key component of self-defense that isn’t highlighted strongly enough is developing awareness and avoidance. My friend might not have known at the time that her training had come in handy as she was vigilant about her surroundings and noticed immediately that something was off. The major role of self-defense classes is to get out of situations and seek refuge and help.

Krav Maga, originally developed for the Israeli military, is a self-defense system that focuses on real-life situations and emphasizes situational awareness, preemptive attacks or aggressive counter-attacks, and targeting the opponent’s weak points (e.g. groin, eyes, throat, and knees).

This autumn Krav Maga China is hosting a women’s only course on October 22 and 29, November 5 and 12, at 1-2.30pm. The 4-session-course, at their Liangmaqiao branch, KMG Xiaoyunlu Studio (Sunnyfocus Sports Club), will strive to teach techniques and strategies that specifically pertain to women.  This course is open to teenage girls as well, from age 15 and above. The topics that will be addressed are (these topics aren’t typically focused on in the regular class):

– Striking and turning on aggression
– Developing the self-defense mindset
– Avoidance and awareness of danger situations
– Dealing with attackers who are bigger and stronger than you
– Dealing with grabs and pulls (someone controlling you)
– Dealing with choke-type attacks
– Dealing with low-light situations
– And much more…

Pricing & Packages:
Single (1 person)
– RMB 1,400 – early bird price (before Oct 12, 2016)
– RMB 1,800 – regular price
Pair (2 persons)
– RMB 2,600  – early bird price (before Oct 12, 2016)
– RMB 3,000  – regular price

All packages include: 4 sessions of Women’s Self-Defense + complimentary 10 hours of regular Krav Maga classes (valid until November 30, 2016)

For beijingkids and the beijinger readers, the special price of RMB 1,400 (one person) or RMB 2,600 (two persons) will be available after the October 12 deadline to October 21. When signing up let the good folks at KMG know that you are one of our readers to get the special discount.

Get in touch with them by calling 150 1051 4712 or emailing info@kmgchina.cn, info@kravmagabeijing.com

Here’s an interview with head instructor and founders of the China branch of international Krav Maga, Yonnia Chan and Von Ng.

Photos: KMG China

Next month Beijing will debut a new air bubble that provides a shield for people from up to 70 percent of pollutants, Bloomberg reports.

The device, designed by London-based engineering firm Arup Group Ltd. and a unit of Hong Kong property-developers Sino Group, is an air purifier and creates a protected area that can keep around 20 people from pollutants through creating a kind of air bubble.

The technology for this bubble cost around USD 77,391, and was tested in Hong Kong. Results here showed that there was a 30 to 70 percent reduction in PM 2.5 levels for people standing within the space affected by the air purifier.

Although the developers have stated they’re not yet planning to commercialize the device, we’re keen to see what happens next.

This reminds us of a similar project from last year, although slightly different, that also involved Beijing and the word bubbles. The project, titled, you guessed it, ‘Bubbles‘ was kickstarted by a London-based architect who hoping to build a botanical garden inside a bubble, including office buildings, retail outlets, and apartments.

The surface of the bubble would be lined with built-in solar panels to generate electricity, and a controller would have the ability to manage temperature and humidity.

As always, we’ll believe it when we see it, but living in a bubble of clean air doesn’t sound so bad!

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on May 13, 2015.

Photo: metro.co.uk via thebeijinger.com