Is Tile Flooring Safe for Children?

There’s a well-known method of gaining a child’s view of the home. The parent simply gets down on his or her knees and takes to crawling the home to see where potential hazards lurk. This way, drooping cables can be spotted and tempting targets for tiny fingers are easy to scope out. Of course, this low-angle adventure should also include flooring. Tile flooring is a popular fixture in many family dwellings, meaning parents are asking, perhaps while engaged on that awkward crawl, if the surface is safe for juvenile wanderings. The answer to the question is a resounding yes, but there are provisos that all guardians must be aware of before starting a childproofing strategy.
Material selection is a natural starting point in investigating these reservations. Vinyl floor tiles, for example, are fabricated from synthetic substances. Higher quality vinyl tiles are designed to be safe for kids, but the homeowner will need to do a quality check to ensure that a particular brand is kiddie safe, meaning the material is free of lead and other hazardous chemical compounds. Phthalate content, for instance, is exuded by substandard tiles. It’s a chemical that aids in making the tile flexible, but it can affect a child’s development.
Fortunately, natural stone tiles, the porcelain and ceramic large-format tiles that grace high-end flooring outlets, are chemically neutral. There are no artificial components to worry about and the large-format outline reduces intersecting lines of grout to create a safe plane of movement for young feet. Undeveloped little knees can easily traverse these tile floors without bruising. It’s worth adding at this point that porcelain and ceramic flooring does require cleaning, but the chore is made safe by purchasing a biodegradable cleaning product that won’t affect kids or pets.
Inject a modicum of common sense into the home to deal with any lingering worries and any other provisos. Tile flooring can get slippery if there’s a spill. Clean up that liquid mess with the eco-friendly cleaner before the youngster comes tearing through the room. For the very young, these little ones love to feel a warm surface under their feet and legs when playing. Purchase a few temporary play mats to act as a recreational area until the child gets older, then remove the mats to restore the full glory of the tile flooring. Finally, many of these mats are designed to interlock, thus providing a soft and safe space should the child climb and have a little spill. The solution here is simply to ramp up the childproofing strategy to curtail those little climbing adventures.








