We all love a clean laundry room. It’s no wonder that when content creators show laundry rooms that aren’t just clean, but aesthetically pleasing, and do it all with a lot of ASMR, it goes incredibly viral and grabs your attention.
However, those of us with younger kids need to take some extra steps if we want to use these systems ourselves, because they can be super dangerous for little ones. This doesn’t mean that enjoying a pretty laundry room is entirely off-limits, though!
Here’s why you should be cautious about these seemingly harmless practices, and some ideas on what you can do instead.
Restock Videos Are A Viral Sensation
There’s something so satisfying about watching order emerge from chaos, especially when, as parents, we spend a lot of time watching the opposite happen. Add in the ASMR sounds that viewers find relaxing and calming, and they’re irresistible.
If you aren’t yet familiar with these videos, they’re short clips in which a content creator transfers products into more aesthetically pleasing containers. Fridge and pantry restocks may involve placing soda cans, fruit snacks, and cookies into clear containers that are more accessible, making it easier to see at a glance which items are running low. In the laundry room, these items include detergents, scent boosters, dryer sheets, and stain removers.
The containers are the co-stars of the show. They’re either transparent, typically filled with pleasant-colored or coordinating products, or the containers themselves coordinate (wood grain, patterned ceramic, etc), and they often have dispensers built in. You can check out one appealing variation below.
So, What’s The Problem?
As lovely and satisfying as these videos are, it’s essential not to forget that these are cleaning chemicals, and that our smaller kids think they’re very pretty too.
In fact, many of these products are visually similar to candies, sprinkles, and other treats, posing a real danger to small children. As far back as 2013, Tide revamped its packaging for laundry pods to reduce the risk of children ingesting them. The change was twofold: it made the containers more secure and more opaque, so that the colorful packets didn’t catch toddlers’ eyes so well.
The scent boosters (such as Downy’s Unstoppables and similar products) in these videos can appear quite unappealing in their containers. The lids are tight or childproofed — but dumped into a clear canister with a cute lid, they are super accessible and look like they might be a close cousin to candies like Nerds or TicTacs, or maybe a variety of sprinkles.
Often, these restock viral videos even include powdered or liquid detergents, which carry their own risks. If a minor child pulls one of these over, splatter into their face can cause chemical burns and damage to eyes.
We don’t necessarily know the safety measures involved in the homes of these creators. Some may not have kids, or may have older kids; others may lock their laundry rooms or otherwise keep their kids out of the rooms. Since we don’t see those parts, parents may not consider the risk in their own homes.
The video below, for example, is visually appealing to watch, but it also features OxiClean stain remover powder and liquid detergent, among other products. (If you’ve ever had the kind of small child who manages to wake up before you or during your shower and make ‘potions,’ ‘experiments,’ or ‘recipes’ on his own, you can probably imagine just how bad this could be.)
How Can You Balance Safety & A Cute Laundry Room?
The simplest plan is to save the restock-style redecoration until your child is old enough to be safe.
However, if you can’t stand the sight of all those plastic bottles with their child-safe lids and garish labels in the meantime, you can work out some alternatives that will help protect your child while also making your laundry room a bit brighter and more aesthetic.
One option is to put the detergents and other chemicals out of sight. This has the bonus advantage that it’s safest overall — it not only reduces your child’s access and temptation but also reduces the risk of a container falling off a shelf and being broken or damaged.
Some content creators on Restock Tok do place their repackaged products on higher shelves, which may be an effective option if your child isn’t climbing and your washer never gets unbalanced and starts throwing things around.
Locks and latches are always an option. The video below shows these same pretty containers being placed inside a simple cabinet—the kind to which it would be easy to add a latch.
The Safest & Most Recommended Choice
Unless and until some companies start offering pretty detergent jars that have child latches, the safest choice continues to be keeping it both out of sight and latched, locked, or otherwise childproofed.
Poison Control advises parents to keep detergent pods and similar products out of sight of children, and to also use the latches or other childproofing features on the container.
The American Academy of Pediatrics takes it a step further, especially about detergent pods, which they describe as “more dangerous to children than other types and forms of detergent.” They advise parents to keep the products in a locked cabinet.
You can still enjoy these videos on TikTok, and if you shift over to the pantry restock, you can find equally satisfying content (see below) without the chemical risks.
At home, though, you’ll want to balance that sense of satisfaction with your child’s safety. For most households, keeping it safe means keeping cleaning supplies out of sight, out of reach, and inaccessible until your kids are a little older.