When my wife and I got married almost ten years ago, we had planned a ‘large’ family. We “planned” as much as anyone could possibly have any sort of control over it, that is.

We tossed around the idea of having three, four, or five children spaced about 2 to 2 1/2 years apart each. For inquiring minds, she wanted four or five, I thought about three, and here we are with a nice even four. We’ve decided that four is our magic number.

It feels as if our family is perfectly balanced with two little girls and two little boys, and we feel very blessed and complete.

The first three came one after the other, not allowing us any of the fun or the “practice” phase of trying to conceive. Each time like clockwork, as soon as my wife said “alright let’s practice!” the bun was, as they say, not just in the oven but already rising. Pun intended.

A New Addition

Having said that, our newest addition, Evelyn, who was just born this past April, weighed in at a teensy and petite 5 pounds 9 ounces.

In the four and a half years between child number three and four, we started donating baby clothes, we gave away some redundant baby items, and we enjoyed a certain level of freedom from baby-proofing.

Free from the shackles of baby gates, outlet covers, corner cushions, oven locks… those had all gone the way of the garbage bin. Blessed is the day that I don’t have to read a manual to get the toilet open when I’m in panic mode.

Beyond that, we did keep the cleaning products and Tide laundry supplies stored high and out of sight.

Moving Forward

Even though my wife and I were completely ready for the arrival of Evelyn (we have so many kids it’s all just white noise now) it hit us like a ton of bricks that we were gonna have to ‘lock it down’ all over again before she starts moving around. Since we’ve only lived in our house for just over a year, we were going to have to start this plan from scratch.

We’ll focus on the common rooms in the house and certainly lock up the cleaners, etc. under the sinks, but one of the most important places in the house is the laundry room. We’ll move everything back up high – room air fresheners, batteries, stain removers and our never-ending stash of Tide Pods with the patented Child-Guard tubs and/or zip bags. We’ve used Tide ever since I was a kid growing up in rural Pennsylvania It’s never let us down, always able to drive those nasty farmhand stains out of my jeans and white t-shirts. The Tide PODS make it even easier to do laundry…especially with six of us in the house now.

These days, the stain-fighting and scent-boosting power is even stronger and so is the thought and design behind packaging that will keep my kids out of trouble. Life gets hectic sometimes (can you imagine if we would’ve had FIVE kids?!?) but I can find comfort in Tide’s Child-Guard design.

It feels like everywhere you turn as a parent, you’ve got to be concerned with the safety of your children. When it comes to safety, Tide is curious what kind of parent you are? They developed a short quiz with a few different safety situations that parents will be all too familiar with – from the first time using a babysitter to dressing the kiddos for the beach.

Take the QUIZ and let us know what safety style you are in the comments! Not bragging or anything – but I’m a cheetah!

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a sponsored campaign on behalf of Proctor & Gamble and Tide, however the dirty clothes and baby-proofing are unfortunately all mine. For more on Tide Pods and their Child-Guard technology, check them out HERE, on Facebook and Twitter.