Stove Surround / Screen - Child Protection

I have a 2 year old and a 10 month old, so we needed protection around my wood stove. We got a gate system that surrounds our stove. The name on it is Summer. it is an octagon shaped thing with a locking pass through section and it does the trick.

While it is plastic it doesn't get even warm except where the stove door/glass is. It doesn't get very warm, just a little. At night I keep the pass through open as there is no reason to close it.

I can unsnap sections to make it straight or whatever, it doesn't need to be octagon shape.

There definitely are protective gates to keep children away from stoves. You'll find some threads with people discussing how expensive they are. There's a recent thread, in Perfect Picture I believe, where a member showed a home-made wooden gate that was very nice. If you don't feel up to making your own safety gate and want a less expensive alternative, you might check out pet gates. Truthfully, they look like the same metal system sold to wood stove burners but are less expensive (they have extensions available to configure them to cover a 13 sf area, including rectangular areas; the pet gate with extension panels runs about $90). The major pet centers seem to carry them.

child safety gate



pet gate

Razor wire works well.

You can get fancy and spend money or you can do what I did and tell yourself that your kids will actually grow up one day so don't get fancy.

My 2 cents. Teach them early and teach them often -- "This is very hot (even in the summer time we told them) so stay away. Hot Hot Hot." Threw water on a burning stove and they (twins) looked like they just saw the devil. But, I did not trust them to truly understand and we bought a Super Playard XT. So, in the summer time it performed double duty outside too. Then, when they were old enough, sold it for nearly what I paid for it.

Teach them right and teach them well and teach them often. My babies are now 9 and unscathed.

http://www.nextag.com/superyard-xt-play-yard/search-html

AGE

LJ,

I agree with you. My two kids grew up with the stove and fortunately, never had an accident. They will know to stay away from a hot stove.

Jim

My brothers and I all grew up with a stove and never burned ourselves. My little girl is 14 months now, and so far it hasn't been an issue. Actually my parent's stove bothers me more, since it sticks farther into the living room.
We also didn't start telling her the stove was hot until it actually was. I figure there is no sense in telling a kid, that's hot, when its summer time and stove is room-temp. She really isn't that interested in it.

Kids WILL learn to not INTENTIONALLY touch the stove; however, those that get scars are often the ones who touched it accidentally, e.g. a sibling pushed them, or they tripped, or something happens, and they end up with a permanent scar on the side of their face where it hit the stove (seems like everyone knows, or knows of, someone that had that happen to them).

I built a wooden "fence" or rail that I can easily step over to fill the stove (I have an oversized hearth pad), and it's beefy enough to sit on while I'm tending the stove. Looks halfway decent, too. I don't have to stress about my toddler while I'm not in the room, too.

Just my 2 cents.

I agree with MisterM. My kids would never intentionally touch the stove but accidents do happen. I don't think I could live with myself if one of my babies were scarred because I was too cheap/lazy to explore the gate option. That being said wood stoves have been around for many years. I don't remember seeing a gate around Charles Ingals stove and Laura turned out just fine!

back when my son was of an age when I was worried about him tripping- but I could not come up with the $$ for the big surrounds for my Stanley cookstove, I got some 1/2 galvanized electrical conduit # connectors and some chicken wire, and made two L-shaped frames, each about 3 feet tall that went around the stove and met in the middle. hitched them together in the middle with some stiff wire. worked well and i eventually gave it to someone else with a young kid

I have a 3 year old and a 10 month old, and we always stress that it is hot. I got a few of those "spark screens" from lowes a couple years back - the accordian-type things to put in front of your fire place (I think they have three sections??). Anyhow, I put those around the hearth, overlapping a panel between sections. It isn't the prettiest thing, but it is temporary, and made of steel. If a kid falls on it, it will fall on the stove and keep the kids off of the hot surface. They are easy enough to pull out to load the stove, too. I think I paid something like $16 each for them.

I am of the "how else will they learn" school, too. But it must be said that 15 months is right in the middle of that unguided-missile phase when they are tottering about on their new little legs... it is not hard to imagine a tragedy where one of that age tumbled into a hot stove and got a disfiguring burn to the face or arms, much more than just an "ouch" and a little finger blister which would be the "educational" burn. (We had a truly sad one here a few years ago involving a beach campfire and the death of an 18-month old due to flame inhalation... obviously a more dangerous open fire, but same root cause.) So for the next few months, I'd say you're not being over-protective.

Eddy

We use a simple fireplace screen (the kind that has two hinges and can set upright). It works really well and we reinforce the "no" principle when they get near the stove pad. No problems at all with a 4 year old and a 15 month monster.

Also teach to appreciate, not be scared of the stove. My daughter is 2 1/2 and she helps me start the first in the morning. Sits right in front of it with me and hands me the paper and kindling. I then take the small pieces of wood and ask her if she thinks its a good piece.
When its time to light the stove, I tell her that this is a job for adults not children and she needs to take a step back.
We are also lucky enough that the stove is in a room that is not common to everyday movement other than stovework.
Chad

Been thinking about a gate also. We have 2 granddaughters 10 months and 8 1/2 months who are in the crawling stage. Need something just in case so will look into what you all are using.

Unfortunately it won't be your own immediate family that gets hurt. it will be some guests' kids. When guests arrive with kids, normal tending goes out the door and sometimes they are not closely watched. VC has a very good stove screen with three 30" panels. It looks more like a hearth product and folds for easy storage. I recommend you do something as it won't be your kids getting hurt.

I have a 2 month old and was wondering about this subject and now have some good ideas! Thanks for sharing!

chad3 said:

Also teach to appreciate, not be scared of the stove. My daughter is 2 1/2 and she helps me start the first in the morning. Sits right in front of it with me and hands me the paper and kindling. I then take the small pieces of wood and ask her if she thinks its a good piece.
When its time to light the stove, I tell her that this is a job for adults not children and she needs to take a step back.
We are also lucky enough that the stove is in a room that is not common to everyday movement other than stovework.
Chad

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I agree with teaching them early on. My 12 year old son can start up our stove now as well as reload it and he loves doing this- always when I am around. 15 year old daughter has no interest what so ever in stove maintenance. She uses the hot air from the blowers as a hair dryer so she does know how to turn the blowers up higher.

Then there is my 19 year old son who has never shown any interest in the stove. He was home alone with a friend a few days ago and decided to add some wood to the fire. (I had left it to burn down and burn up the coals while the rest of us were out.) He put a few pieces of hard wood in on coals that were too cool so they wouldn't catch. HIs solution was to add more wood. He finally go that it wasn't going to catch.

We got home and I smelled stale smoke - peeked into the insert and saw 2 smoldering logs. Realized what he had tried to do and I began to build the fire back up. When I went to the wood pile next to the stove I was horrified :ahhh: to see a piece of charred wood sitting on top of the stack. Way too close for comfort. I consider us lucky to still have a roof over our heads tonight.

His response to the piece of wood was 'I knew it was out mom.'......

So bravo for teaching her now before she knows 'everything' which happens somewhere in the teen years. ;-P

natural consequences are great as a teaching tool as long as they do not last a lifetime. Have a look at the love and logic materials if you want some really good down to earth and practical methods or raising children.

In the meantime, with little kids, have a look at the dog fences. We bought ours through the fosters and smith catalog. Ours snaps together and you can form it into different shapes including an octagon kid pen

Rob
Father of 4 under 6yrs old
School counselor to 356 JH kids
glutton for punsihment

I also built my own wooden railing. I think I spent $20 in lumber. My son never had a problem understanding the concept, but kids can be clumsy. I chose not to take a chance. Making your kid "learn the hard way" by BURNING them is kind of harsh. And saying "I never got hurt as a kid" is like saying "I've never crashed a car, why should I wear a seatbelt?"

Also, I'm not nearly as in control of other kids that come to my house. I'd hate for them to harm my precious stove.

If the kid is put in a playpen you don't have to worry about making the house babyproof. This is the protect the house from the kid approach.