For any kid growing up, there really is no place like home. It’s the safest place in the world — or it should be — and your job as a parent is to make sure it is.

The first things parents do when kids are small is childproof everything in the house — covering electrical outlets, putting childproof locks on toilets, cabinets and drawers (so kids don’t get into things they shouldn’t), installing the right safety gates to stop small children from falling down stairs or into a swimming pool or hot tub, as well as installing anti-scalding fixtures. (Some faucets have colour-changing LEDs that let you know when the water gets hot.)

Then there are the bigger projects that will affect their health and safety in the long term.

For example, using low- or no-VOC paints — especially in areas where the kids will be spending most of their time, like in their room or basement; making sure you have safe stairs with secure handrails, safe electrical (i.e. GFCI-protected outlets), and not to mention healthy indoor air.

These are the essentials, and whether you have kids or not, your top priority should always be making sure your home is safe — for you or anyone that might be stopping by.

There are products out there that can help create healthier indoor environments for your kids and help maintain their safety.

That can include mould-resistant and fire-resistant lumber, VOC-absorbing drywall, mould-resistant drywall, mould- and moisture-resistant insulation that’s also fire-rated, and top-of-the-line furnace filters that help stop your kids from breathing in allergens, dust and mould spores; in some cases even viruses.

You can even get LED lights installed on your stairs, so if there’s ever a power outage or a fire the stairs light up and you can get out safely.

But as the kids grow up, so does the house, and if you’ve got your safety bases covered you can go from childproofing your home to doing fun projects that your kids will remember forever. Who doesn’t remember their childhood tree house or forts?

Now that the kids are back in school, maybe you’ve got some time to put together fun spaces for them to play in for their next break, or maybe something that will keep them entertained at home during winter when it’s too cold to go outside. Imagine that — kids who want to stay at home because it’s as much fun as a playground.

On past jobs we’ve built secret playrooms in the basement with chalkboards, hidden below stairs. Also state-of-the-art home theatres, properly insulated with Roxul’s Safe ’n’ Sound. It’s fire-resistant and mould- and moisture-resistant, which you need in the basement. Plus, it absorbs sound, so the kids can crank up the stereo or TV without bothering anyone upstairs.

But one of the coolest projects we’ve done for kids recently was building an artificial hockey rink in the basement.

The basement we were working in was big, so we had enough space to create two areas: one for Mom and Dad and their friends, and one for the kids and all of their friends.

On one half we built a bar area (under lock and key), home theatre and a gym. We also added an electric fireplace, so we wouldn’t have worry about combustibles or CO in the basement.