Got any ideas to keep my 9 month old away from the fireplace insert?

I've got three little critters (4 if you count the dog) and I bought 3 end of season closeout fireplace screens and fastened them together to make a C shape that goes around my free-standing wood stove. $36 all-in...bought them at Menards.

I got one of those gates that comes in sections, and was about $150
Funny, I was thinking it would be nice to get rid off when the kids are old enough, but then I would loose the added value of having a drying rack in front of the stove when the kids come in from playing in the snow.
A few folks have built some nice ones using just 2 by 4's, so hopefully they can chime in....can't find the post.

electronic fences worked for me.

Kids learn quick!! My guess, it'll only take once.

Of course, my outlook will probably change once I actually have kids though.

-SF

We had two little ones. When they each started to crawl and pull up, we took them to the stove when it was almost too hot to touch and held their hands close to the stove so they could feel the heat, and said, "Hot, DO NOT TOUCH!" We did that twice for each one of them about three days apart. From then on they would point to the stove, look at us and say, "HOT! No touch it!" and shaking their heads all the time. They never touched the stove when it was hot, but put their toys on it when it was cold or in the off-season. They appear to be at least as smart as pets and realized that too close to the stove was not pleasant. Pets never touched the stove and neither did our kids. Not sure our little training sessions made any sense to them, but who knows . . . !

It never was an issue. Now, all these years later, when we got the FV, Katie, who is now 19 and doesn't live at home anymore, walked in, saw it for the first time, pointed to it and, out of the clear blue, said in her best "baby" voice, "HOT! No touch it!", shaking her head all the time. We all laughed 'til tears ran down our faces and we got the hiccups!

We found that our kids naturally avoided not only the hot wood stove, but anything that was giving off uncomfortable "signals", not only heat, but lights that were too bright, hot wind from hairdriers, loud noises, the oven when it was on, small electric space heaters, etc. Your 9-month-old may not need to be restrained. Ours were a tad younger than yours, when we introduced them to the stove. My suggestion is to watch 'em closely and give 'em the benefit of the doubt, until you have reason not to. We took the approach that they needed to learn how to live and we'd do our best to teach 'em about things that could hurt them, but we refused to hover. They grew up without a single accident . . . well, other than Scott pulling up on his favorite empty Pampers diaper box, putting his hands on the flap and falling head first into it and couldn't get out. Actually that only briefly frightened him and, after I dug him out while laughing my head off, he wanted to do it again! They ARE pretty smart.

pen said:

I've got an 18 month old and no gate around my wood stove. He was around it last winter as he was starting to crawl and this winter as he is perfecting his walking / running. His first word(s) were "what's that" quickly followed by "hot"

He knows that the stove is out of bounds. When he was first introduced being near to it, his reaction was much like our pets the first time, looking at it trying to understand the heat coming off of it.

First time he took a step towards it, I spoke up in my "pay attention NOW" voice and simply said "HOT".

That was the first time I ever spoke to the boy in that voice and haven't had to use it since. It made an impression.

For the next couple of months he must have pointed at the stove and said "hot" 30 times a day. During that time, everything that had an extreme temperature, even ice cream, was described as being hot.

Point is, I think I don't have trouble with my kid getting near the stove because it's not the forbidden fruit behind the wall.

My buddy who has a gate around his (made out of the old style metal railing that can be used on front porch steps) has a kid that spends his day throwing his toys over the railing next to the stove and trying to figure out what things he can poke at the stove through the railing.

Every family is different. And disciple / authority only goes so far as the person handing it out is comfortable with it.

Just sharing my experience, not trying to say you would be wrong for putting up a gate, but just wanted to share that it's not always necessary.

This is the family room / play room. As you can see by the bare floor it's under renovation at this time!


pen

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Cute boy, Pen. Where are the boxes? Our kids would play with the toys for about 30 seconds and then with the boxes until they fell apart in shreds! If we had it to do over, we would just go to Toys R Us and get boxes and give 'em those! :lol:

One touch is all it will take. But kids are smart, and they instinctively know to stay away from something hot. It's hard-wired in us.

A friend of mine came over with her toddler some years ago and wanted to know if there was a barrier we could put up. Nope. I took the kid by the hand and did the same thing Terry and Pen did. Kid played on the rug in front of the stove without incident while we chatted and kept an eye on him. Not any more of "big deal" than the staircase.

I agree with the idea that once is all it takes, but that once could be a pretty rough burn. Besides a child of this age is pretty unsteady on their feet and a wobble here or there could result in accidentally bumping into that stove. Teach the child that the stove is hot, but put up some barrier to avoid accidents until they are steady enough to avoid an accident.

We use the Kidco hearth gate, which is the black version of the gate we used to contain him earlier on in the dining room. Now he mostly has the run of the place but he isn't walking yet. Nor does he have language skills. He's 11 months and trying to walk but not quite there and he babbles a lot, but doesn't speak. Last night we had a temper tantrum in the tub when I wouldn't let him pull the drain plug. I told him "no", I tried to distract him and the tantrum lasted for 20 minutes. My point is, you do what's right for your kid. I declined my wife's request to put foam on the hot water radiator pipes that run through the kitchen. But that pipe doesn't get hot enough to give him a 3rd degree burn. I said he would grab it once and learn his lesson. We told him "no, HOT" when he went near it. He only grabbed it three times before he learned to avoid it. So in our house there's a gate around the insert!

I would like to take this time to thank all of the over protective parents out there. If it weren't for you I would have never had the opportunity to get a spotless Hearthstone Heritage for a grand.

Berone said:

We use the Kidco hearth gate, which is the black version of the gate we used to contain him earlier on in the dining room. Now he mostly has the run of the place but he isn't walking yet. Nor does he have language skills. He's 11 months and trying to walk but not quite there and he babbles a lot, but doesn't speak. Last night we had a temper tantrum in the tub when I wouldn't let him pull the drain plug. I told him "no", I tried to distract him and the tantrum lasted for 20 minutes. My point is, you do what's right for your kid. I declined my wife's request to put foam on the hot water radiator pipes that run through the kitchen. But that pipe doesn't get hot enough to give him a 3rd degree burn. I said he would grab it once and learn his lesson. We told him "no, HOT" when he went near it. He only grabbed it three times before he learned to avoid it. So in our house there's a gate around the insert!

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They are ALL different! My nephew only requires a soft word of warning, while his little sister will stand there and look at you while she's trying to decide if the punishment is worth doing whatever it is you don't want her to do. Most of the time, she's gonna do what SHE wants to do and then YOU have to decide what to do about it. My sister was just like that when she was little. It's very entertaining to watch and my parents just love it!

We bought a "play yard" which is basically a bunch of gate sections joined together to make an enclosure for an infant to play inside of. This was 20 years ago, and the one we bought was fairly heavy duty and all wood construction. If you search Amazon for play yard, they are still sold, but I don't know the construction. We used it as a curved barrier around a stove area. Ours was a corner install, so one of these was enough to span the corner. Depending on how much it curves when installed, it might need some additional support so the kids can't knock it over easily. Ours was heavy enough and the layout had enough of a curve that it was very stable.

Experience. He/she will learn fast on their own if they don't listen to you.

It only took one bump against the stove for our kids to realize that standing next to it was fine. Getting to close hurts.

Northern NH Mike said:

I agree with the idea that once is all it takes, but that once could be a pretty rough burn. Besides a child of this age is pretty unsteady on their feet and a wobble here or there could result in accidentally bumping into that stove. Teach the child that the stove is hot, but put up some barrier to avoid accidents until they are steady enough to avoid an accident.

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Agreed. I know a grown up who is nursing severe burns on both her hands because she tripped and fell toward the stove and used her hands to break her fall.

~*~Kathleen~*~ said:

Northern NH Mike said:

I agree with the idea that once is all it takes, but that once could be a pretty rough burn. Besides a child of this age is pretty unsteady on their feet and a wobble here or there could result in accidentally bumping into that stove. Teach the child that the stove is hot, but put up some barrier to avoid accidents until they are steady enough to avoid an accident.

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Agreed. I know a grown up who is nursing severe burns on both her hands because she tripped and fell toward the stove and used her hands to break her fall.

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In a related note, I will probably suffer brain damage soon due to repeated blows to the head from hitting the barn beam mantel above the stove.

My son is almost 10 months and we have a gate around the stove. Sure he'll learn if he touches it once, I'm not willing to have him touch it when it's rolling along at 600+ degree's. If the stove wasn't in my family room it might be different but he plays in here and the room is only 11x16 so things are kinda tight.

we just moved into a new place with a wood stove. We have had no problem teaching our 2 year old to stay away from the HOT stove. He does like to curl up on his blanket about 5 ft in front of the stove - perfect!

Wife wanted to put a gate around it, but I was against it. I felt he needed to learn not to play on it - like somebody else here said, the stairs.

we were trying to teach him to stay off the tile area around the stove altogether - which is more difficult as it is flush with the floor around it. No matter what though, he always stays away from the "HOT"

...now that I think about it, at 9mos we did have a gate in front of the stairs

I don't like to take chances with my little boy so I spent $190 on a kidco gate, I had to get extensions for it to fit. So far I love it, my 22 month old loves to get into stuff and I feel more at ease with this, especially since the insert is in our living room where we spend a majority of our time. We have friends over all the time with small kids and they comment about feeling more at ease with us having the gate now, not as worried about their kid getting to the stove and getting burnt.

And as a bonus, its great to hang your wet snow clothes on to dry out!

And as a bonus, its great to hang your wet snow clothes on to dry out!

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+ 1 - Have the same exact gate.....great for drying stuff......was going to take it down when the kids get older, but I just might keep it.
I wouldn't be so afraid of a 12 month old, as much as I would my 7, 5 and 2 1/2 year olds zipping around the room at 20 mph and crashing into it

Setup a bunch of mousetraps around the stove - like a mine field