How to Help Kids Who Can’t Reach the Lights

My 4-year old is old enough to know when she needs a light turned on, but too short to reach all of our light switches. Anyone else have this problem? For a year, we heard a lot of “mommy, can you come turn on the bathroom [playroom, hallway etc.] light for me? I researched ways to increase their independence, so you don’t have to.

Option #1: An extender to make the switch lower for them. We’ve got both old and new light switches in our house, so we tapped into both of these options. They come in tons of design styles and fittings for different types of switches, so there’s a good chance one will work for you. This glow-in-the-dark toggle is in her bedroom, but we added this type for those flatter, rocker lights in a few other key spots.

Option #2: Set up smart home devices and pair them with smart light switches or bulbs. At this point, she’s old enough to say “Alexa, turn on kitchen” very clearly, so this has given her (and us) loads of freedom. There are tons of reasons why smart homing may or may not be your cup of tea, but gosh, this is a huge pro during this stage of life!