10 tips to keeping your stash away from children

It doesn't take 862 million views (and counting) to tell you that babies biting their brother's finger or doing other highly hilarious activities are appealing to all age groups. Something about the innocence of youth makes children eating sand or sucking on a lemon comedy gold. That comedy, however, will have less of an appeal if we swapped the lemon for a cannabis edible.

With the curiosity of children a beautiful but often unrelenting beast, keeping them away from weed, edibles, concentrates, medicines and other sensitive things is a vital task.

You know your children better than anyone, and as such, how best to prevent them from finding things you don’t want them to find. But to help all weed loving parents out a bit, we have collated 10 tips to secure your stash and keep it out of the wandering hands of kids.

1. LOCK AND KEY

Sounds obvious, but you probably wouldn’t leave the house without locking the front door, so why leave any marijuana laying around? In a worst case scenario, while your child may find said container, intrigued by what's inside, they will be unable to gain entry without a key. And unless they have taken ingenuity to a whole new level, a simple storage device with a lock should be sufficient to deter any outside interference.

2. CRAFTY HIDING SPOTS

Children may be curious, but they don’t possess the worldly wisdom of adults (OK, most adults). As such, specially designed hiding spots throughout the house can be a great way to keep valuables out of chocolate-covered fingers. There are even products that exist intended to mimic plug sockets. With the simple turn of a screw, the front panel comes loose to reveal a secret stash spot.

3. EDUCATION

Education, education, education! It can be a problematic mantra for a two-year-old to learn, but by educating and empowering young children, marijuana use, both medical and recreational, can be an open topic. It doesn't imply condoning the use of marijuana from a young age, but if children understand the impact and repercussions of the substance, then there hopefully is no need to find elaborate hiding places.

They will decide to leave it alone by themselves, in the same way they do alcohol. There are also very useful books on the market that can help educating children on the topic of cannabis.

4. UP HIGH ALWAYS WORKS WELL

Find the tallest cupboard you have, the one that even needs tiptoes for you to reach the back of it. Then add the height of a footstool. Anything that matches that height, that's where you can store your cannabis.

The directors of Home Alone did not come up with the script all by themselves. Kids will find a way to traverse obstacles, even if it means stacking a Lego box on a chair, on a stool, or a box from the garage.

5. PLANT A DECOY

Hiding in plain sight is often the best approach. If, like many adults, you are open and honest about your marijuana use, your children will know that there will be some, somewhere in the house.

By planting a decoy, their attention will be turned away from the genuine article. The decoy can still be secured using any of the methods previously listed, but by the time they get to it, their interest should have wavered.

6. DISGUISE THE SMELL

Although many of us love a good stinky strain, it is also like firing a flare into the sky for your children. Even if they have to elicit the help of a household pet, the smell of weed will be enough to tempt them into finding it. Wherever you choose to hide your marijuana, make sure it is stored in a vacuum-tight or odorless container.

7. OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE

A drastic approach, but also one of the safest. That doesn't mean traveling across state or county lines every time you want to smoke, but instead utilizing a garage or garden shed. These types of location naturally tend to feature high-up or elusive hiding spots.

It can also be a great way to hide the smell of weed so the aroma doesn't act as a breadcrumb trail back to your stash. All you have to do is think of a decent excuse to spend a couple of hours in the garage every day.

8. USE A SAFE

The next step up from a lock and key. If you have older children, the art of picking locks or using brute force to gain entry to your locked container may have you rethinking your strategy. Even smaller and cheaper safes offer an incredibly secure means of storing goods. It doesn't just have to be for weed either; now might be the perfect time to lock away other valuable assets.

Just remember to keep the combination in a secure location, otherwise cracking the family safe will be a simple task for curious minds.

9. IN THE CAR

If you don’t have a high shelve, garage or shed to use as a place to store your stash, the next best thing is a car. Secure when you aren’t in it, it is also unlikely that small children will be able to get inside your vehicle to explore the various gloveboxes and different areas available to stash your cannabis. And even when they are in the car, car seats and seatbelts should keep them firmly in place to prevent any investigation and uncovering of your prized supply.

Of course, depending on where in the world you live, we wouldn’t necessarily recommend carrying weed with you while driving with children.

10. AVOID THE KITCHEN

This last one might help us adults as much as kids, as with the boom in cannabis edibles, it can be all too easy for marijuana-infused goods to come in packaging that looks just like regular sweets or cakes. While the prominent place for any food is the kitchen, this is also the first place children will look when they are hungry, which coincidentally is a lot of the time.

Either by decanting edibles into a suitable and safe container to remove the allure of any packaging, or by storing your edibles in a completely different place than the kitchen, you should be able to avoid potential mishaps.