Temporary Toddler Proofing

Mr E

Howdy folks... my 2 year old nephew will be staying with us in my parents house for Christmas. Its going to be great fun (his first Santa!) but we need to do some work to make the house safe for him.

Specifically, the main thing is to get gates for the stairs. Where do you normally go for those kinds of things? It might be a stupid question, but is it possible to rent them? I ask because he lives with his parents in an apartment, so he doesn't have access to stairs normally - the gates will only be used for 3-4 days....

Thanks in advance for the advice.

embee

Mothercare do gates, I got my gates from a toyshop that has a nursery department too. I've never heard of gates to rent, to be honest. They aren't that dear as far as I remember, 30-40 quid for a gate, you could always sell it on afterwards. Or get a second hand one on ebay, or adverts.ie. It's a shame I gave mine away, or you could have them.

A fireguard is an absolute must, even if you aren't going to be lighting the fire, because there's every chance he'll put his hands into it and destroy his clothes/soft furnishings/paintwork.

If you have a VCR or DVD player, try if at all possible to keep the child away from them. There are crackers galore in our VCR and the sliding DVD drawer thing is bent

Christmas trees - make sure he doesn't have free access to it, in case he went to pull at it and yanked it down on top of himself. We keep ours nestled in the corner with couches either side of it - my wee one can grab away at it etc but she can't get close enough to pull it down.

Obviously, keep the child away from the oven and hob - lots and lots of cooking, heat, hot fat, boiling water etc. Best really if they stay away from the kitchen altogether! We do a lot of the cooking Christmas Eve to minimise the amount of time needed to spend over a hot stove on Christmas Day.

Oh, and socket covers - you can never have enough! They're cheap as chips and reduce the risk of little fingers getting jammed into sockets.

These are all things that I've learned from my own experience of having an almost 3 year old - you literally can't take your eyes off them for a second! Enjoy it though - it's my wee girls first proper Santy (that she understands, at least) and I can't wait to do the whole thing of leaving out a drink of milk and some biscuits for him.... its magical!

High&Low

Cover the entire house from top to bottom in bubble wrap, remove all furniture that isn't soft. Only joking!!!

2 year old's generally aren't too bad around christmas trees/TVs etc, I would think there is more a chance they will damage your things rather than hurt themselves, so probably best to put valuables/breakables out of reach. The stairs is a tough one, my eldest from about 18 months was safe/carefull on the stairs and we removed the gate before she was two, but she has always lived in a house with stairs. My youngest is 9 months and lethal on the stairs and I sometimes think the gate will be there till she is five.

Make sure they are not under your feet when you are moving pots of bioling water etc around, the rest of the time they should be fine.

I don't believe socket covers are not neccessary for a two year old, maybe a one year old, but then again we have none in our house!

I wouldn't worry too much...

bored and tired

as weird as it seems get down on your hands and knees and crawl around the house, what can you see.
lovely buttons on dvd player, my mam used to put the fire guard in front of the tv, after we got the vcr fixed only to find a half eaten lolly had been posted through its letter box by my then baby brother,!!!

sitting room table, thats a lovely crystal vase, photo frame, candle - smash.

kitchen cupboards wonder whats under the sink??, you can use wool to make a make shift cupbord stop, simply plait 3 strands together, tie into a circle just big enough to hook over door handles, and presto 2 year old cant get into cupboard.,

in other words if you can reach it, open it or eat it on your hands and knees than move it now, and have fun.

noby

I agree with H&L - a two year old shouldn't be as destructive as he was 6 months or a year ago. But in an unfamiliar house I would still have the fire well protected, and gates on the stairs (top and bottom if he'll be sleeping upstairs.
Any friends or neighbours that has kids might have a gate thrown up in their attic, so ask around.

loyatemu

depends on the kid obviously, but our 27 month old is a hell of a lot more destructive than he was 6 months ago.

Put gates at the top and bottom of the stairs. Make sure that he can't pull any TVs down on himself - several kids have been killed by falling TVs in recent years. Cover plug sockets (ours have never shown much interest in them, but better to be safe). Make sure bleach and other cleaning products are out of his reach and scour the floor for coins, buttons and any other small choking hazards.... Merry Christmas!

littlebug

you can get travel stairgates. I had a look and can't see them in argos, mothercare or smyths. I know I've seen them on ebay. I've no idea how flimsy they might be though.

littlebug

noby wrote: »

Any friends or neighbours that has kids might have a gate thrown up in their attic, so ask around.

Good point. I've one under the bed. Save yourself some money by asking around especially since it's only for a few days.

Mr E

Thanks folks, thats all good stuff.

I'll put my thinking cap on about borrowing a gate for the stairs... thats a great idea.

noby

Oh, and don't be put off by all the warnings/advice here - once you've the basics covered you'll have great fun - kids that age are great entertainment.

oh well , okay

Talk to the parents and see what interests the chap in their house then safe proof the same in your own place . All 2 yr olds are different so you're best to find out what he goes for in his own house .

Our 2 yr old is fine on the stairs and has been for over a year , he's fine with the TV , fine with the oven , fine with the fire place and fine with Christmas trees . He is however a demon for starting the washing machine and a demon for locking doors if the keys are left in them . Move any valuables you have out of reach , leave any uncovered sockets switched off and lock any drawers with bleach / cleaning products in them .

Keep an ear out for silence - that's usually the first sign of trouble !

lostinnappies

If you dont want to buy a stair gate and its only for a few days, secure something to either end of the stairs insead. My mom does that when she looks after the little folk for me for a couple of hours. I would sujest getting socket covers though, even if you have the safty switch on your sockets ... it takes no time at all for them to learn to switch it on. If you go into mother care or argos they have a large selection of do-dahs you can use.

Asking around is also a great idea for a stair gate.

LolaDub

Mr E abouts where are you located?

Also to people who used a stair gate, how long did it take your kids to work out how to use it?

metrovelvet

Lock the cabinets.

Lock the toilet seat.

Hide all poisons and toxins.

littlebug

My daughter was probably 4 before she figured out how (or was able) to use the stairgate. We'd taken it off before my son ever considered trying it.

It's interesting how they and we are all different. We never locked the toilet seat... they never had any interest in it. We only ever locked the kitchen cupboard that had the cleaning stuff in it. Other than that the low down cupboards only contained things that were safe or unbreakable. In fact many hours have been spent emptying and filling them again. The cabinet with dvd/ ntl box etc was locked as was the desk compartment with the hard drive in it (boys like to push buttons) and the drawer with household files was locked. Other than that I think we just made a point of keeping stuff we didn't want them getting at up high.

lostinnappies

LolaDub wrote: »

Mr E abouts where are you located?

Also to people who used a stair gate, how long did it take your kids to work out how to use it?

My DS no.1 he was 1 year old when he learned to take it off, we took it away for a couple of months, moved stuff around and put it back .... he had forgotton how he did it lol.... he was about 2 before he figured it out again... we did the same thing, and he forgot again.... now he's 4 there is no fooling him ... dang:D

DS no.2 is just over 1 and is starting to copy his older brother when he opens it lol.