A home’s job changes once children arrive. Things you never thought about, like the height of the balcony railing, where the sockets sit or the canal out front, suddenly matter. The good news is that most of what makes a home child-friendly can be checked on a viewing, and much of the rest can be fixed cheaply after you move in.
This guide covers what to look for when choosing or setting up a home for a family with children, from the inside of the house out to the street.
A layout you can supervise
Parents spend a lot of time in the kitchen. A kitchen that opens onto the family room or the yard lets you cook and keep an eye on the kids at the same time. On a viewing, stand in the kitchen and look around. Can you see the living area? Can you see the front door?
A few other things help:
- A child’s bedroom close to the parents’ room, especially while the kids are small.
- A bathroom that’s easy to reach from the family room, so children don’t have to pass through the kitchen or carport to get there.
- A living area with enough open floor to play on, not just a walkway between rooms.
You don’t need a big house. A small one works well when the space isn’t chopped into tiny rooms. If Indonesian house sizes still confuse you, our guide to what house “types” mean explains them.
Stairs, windows and balconies
In a two-storey house, the stairs deserve the closest look. Check whether the steps are too tall or too shallow, whether there’s a handrail on the open side, and whether the gaps between balusters are narrow enough that a child can’t slip through. Stairs with no side railing, or with horizontal bars a child could climb like a ladder, need work.
Fit safety gates at the top and bottom of the stairs while your children are toddlers, and make sure the walls around the stairs are solid enough to hold them.
Check upstairs windows and balconies too. A window with a low sill can be reached by a child standing on a chair or bed. Window locks, or security grilles that open from the inside in an emergency, are a sensible middle ground. On a balcony, look at the railing height and whether there’s anything a child could climb on to get over it.
Electrics, kitchen and bathroom
Low sockets and dangling cables attract small hands. Cover unused sockets with safety caps, and make sure the house wiring is in good shape. For an older house, check the electrics before you buy, including whether there’s a residual current device that cuts power when current leaks.
In the kitchen, keep the stove and gas bottle out of reach, fit latches on lower cupboards that hold soap and cleaning products, and store knives up high.
Bathrooms are where most falls happen. Slippery tiles, an uncovered water tub (bak mandi) and buckets of standing water are all risky for toddlers. Choose textured tiles, put a cover on the tub, and never leave a full bucket unattended.
Room to play, inside and out
Children need somewhere to move. Indoors, a corner of the family room with a rug and a toy shelf is often enough. Outdoors, a small yard you can see from the house is more useful than a big one round the side where you can’t.
Think about the surface. Paving and concrete get hot at midday and are hard to fall on, while grass and soil are softer but turn muddy in the rainy season. For ideas on small yards, see our guide to minimalist gardens.
Heat matters too. A play area in full afternoon sun won’t get used much. Shade from a canopy or a tree makes the yard far more usable.
Water around the house: the risk people forget
In Banjarmasin and many towns across South Kalimantan, rivers, canals and drainage channels are everywhere. Plenty of homes stand right on a riverbank or on swampland, with an open space under a raised floor. For small children, that’s a serious hazard.
On a viewing, check:
- Is there a fence or barrier between the house and any river, canal or pond?
- How deep does the channel out front get after rain and at high tide?
- Can a child get under a stilt house, and does water pool there?
- Can the back door facing the water be bolted high up, out of a child’s reach?
If the risk can be closed off with a fence and a lockable door, add that to your renovation budget. If it can’t, for example a house that opens straight onto the river with no room for a fence, think hard before buying. Standing water also breeds mosquitoes, so watch for blocked drains nearby.
The neighbourhood: streets, schools and parks
A home that’s safe inside isn’t automatically safe outside. Look at the street. A road used as a shortcut by cars or trucks is riskier than a dead end or a quiet residential lane. Houses inside an estate with a single entrance tend to be calmer.
Time the school run yourself at the hour children actually travel. Ask the neighbours which schools local families use, including Qur’an classes such as a TPA (Taman Pendidikan Al-Qur’an) if that matters to your family.
A park, a field or a mosque yard where children can play is a real plus. In some estates the open space promised in the brochure was never built or ended up used for something else, so go and look. Our neighbourhood checklist has a longer list.
Small changes after you move in
Few homes are fully child-friendly on the day you buy them, and that’s normal. Some small fixes that are usually affordable:
- Safety gates on stairs and doorways.
- Socket covers and cupboard latches.
- Locks or grilles on upstairs windows.
- A fence on the side facing a river, canal or pond.
- Corner guards on low tables.
Note these during the viewing and estimate the cost, so you can use them when you negotiate.
The bottom line
A child-friendly home doesn’t have to be big or expensive. What matters is a layout you can supervise, a plan for the hazards (stairs, windows, electrics and water), and a neighbourhood that fits daily family life. Bring a checklist to every viewing, look at the house from a child’s eye level, and price the small fixes before you make an offer.
If you’re looking for a family home in Banjarmasin, Banjarbaru or elsewhere in South Kalimantan, the Vorneo Property team can help you find one that fits.
