Prepping your dining room for grandchildren

Are you finally getting your grandkids to come for a visit now that they are past that toddlerhood stage? This is one of the most fun times to be a grandparent! But you want to make sure that your home is ready for these explorative children.

Among the things that you do to childproof your home, redesigning your dining room is probably not at the top of the list, if it appears there at all. Yet many dining sets are not the best for young children, and it is important that you have a safe and easy to clean place for your grandkids to visit from time to time.

As such, part of prepping your dining room should be getting a kid-friendly dining set. Here are some things to consider when deciding if you are going to keep your dining set, or if you are looking at other dining sets.

Dining chairs with heavy bases

Dining chairs should have a heavy base so that they can’t be easily toppled by small children crawling on the floor. Lightweight dining chairs with thin or round legs pose hazards to toddlers that are still using furniture to pull themselves up. It is best to be prepared for this from the start.

Traditional dining room sets made of solid hardwoods are heirloom pieces that can be passed down through the family, and they are heavy enough that they remove this hazard. The hardwood is also easy to sand and refinish to remove scratches, stains, and other scars left behind by clumsy and learning children. When they are grown, you’ll once again have a beautiful dining set without another investment.

Heirloom dining sets aren’t as expensive as you might think. You can find many inexpensive dining room sets that meet these criteria online.

Scotch guard polyester upholstery

If you want to have upholstered dining chairs, choose ones that have a polyester upholstery designed with families in mind. Make sure that the upholstery is also scotch guarded, as this will make cleaning up spills easier and reduce the appearance of stains.

The right type of dining chairs for booster seats

Particularly if you have more than one grandchild that is still at the toddler stage, having high chairs sitting around can be a nuisance. Booster chairs take up much less space in your attic, closet, or basement, and work with the dining chairs that come with your set.

However, it is important to note that not all dining chairs are appropriate for use with a booster seat. Even though there are different designs of booster seats to work with different types of dining room seating, you will need to make sure that you have at least a dining chair with a solid, even seat and straight chair back.

Kid-friendly and stress-free fun

You don’t ever have to worry about your good floors or table linens getting messed up by your grandkids. While you’re browsing dining sets online, look through the décor available from the same sites for ideas. You can get some colorful or kid-approved plastic placemats, as well as a plastic floor mat for underneath the table itself. This makes spills easy to clean up and harmless to your dining room décor.