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

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My parents had a stove when I was a kid. It never was a problem for me, nor my brother and sister.

One thing I like about my place is that it's not a terribly large house, and it has a pretty open floor plan. When I have small kids, It will be very easy to keep an eye on them. Better yet... when I have teenagers... It will be easy to keep an eye on them!

-SF
 
Kids learn fast, learn hot, learn danger pretty fast. That being said - I built a 3 piece hinged wooden gate around mine (it can fold flat to the wall when not needed).

The amount of "accidental" touching, rubber balls, toys, etc. that the gate has blocked was worth the 3 hours it took to build. Its not that kids can't learn - its the accidents. The unintentional stuff that happens when young ones are involved. It happens. They don't mean to fall and bang their little heads on tables, but it happens. They don't think they are going to slip and fall when they stand on the seat to their fire truck, but it happens. (can you tell I am talking about boys here? :) )
 
My wife was terrified of me leaving the room with the insert running at first. We bought this: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053 fireplace screen. It's perfect, and provides just enough room on the side of the stove for the fireplace tools. Kids might learn fast or be afraid of the heat, but the black fireplace tools can be a huge mess if my 15 month old gets his hands on the tools. The fireplace screen is very easy to pull out of the way while working the insert.

Does mellow lock his kid in that play pen to keep warm? That's the most elaborate setup I've ever seen.

Sometime my 15 month old does try to touch the stove when cold, but when it's hot, I can't even hold my hand a foot away from it without burning myself. He won't come withing 3 feet of the stove when it's hot.
(I try to run the doors and glass above 600 at all times for the best burn. I know I get the doors and glass up to 800 or 900 at times. Keeping those temps is getting harder with most of my wood pile covered in snow.)
 
I put a gate up mainly to avoid head injuries. have 3 kids 2, 4, & 5 and they are always falling running and being kids, and the hearth and stove can be hard on there noggins.They already have my genes so thats head trauma enough.
 
Plenty of people have cited possible burns as a reason to have an actual physical barrier, but another reason is to protect your stove! We had a woodstove when I was growing up and I never got burned but one time I rested my sneaker-clad foot against the side of the stove. To this day there is the burnt-rubber outline of a size 8 boy's sneaker stuck to the side of an otherwise lovely stove. Burnt on rubber does not come off. Not pretty.
 
One kid is never a problem. Its the wrestling boys and dancing girls that give me the worries. Somehow it danger is like an amusement ride.
 
I have a 9 month old and my wife has been nudging me to put up a gate around our stove. I've been putting it off thinking it could wait until next year. As I was reading through my mountain bike magazine this month, a reader wrote in and posted a pic of a homemade hearth gate they had built from old bike rims. It was a simple design--3 rims, each mounted to a small scrap of 2X6 and zip tied together. As an avid biker, I like the idea and plan to replicate it--will try and post pics once it's complete.
 
Seems like lots of folks saying they need gates for stoves, and I agree. A big hot metal box in the middle of the room can be dangerous. I think inserts, especially flush ones like the one I have only cause concern for the heat. I probably won't need my 3 piece screen next year, but it is so easy to move, and it keeps the tools out of reach too. So I'll probably continue using it regardless. A little extra protection. Something I'd heard banging around if either of the kids was messing with the insert or tools.
 
Each kid is different. Our youngest is now 21 months old, but she was 17 months and just starting to really get around when we had the stove installed. Her big brother (now almost 4) made it his responsibility to point out that it was hot, and to tell her (again and again and again and again and again) and everyone else who visits our house that it's hot. She's been great, never gotten too close, as have the neighbor's kids.

Now my son (the almost 4 year old) on the other hand, has been running around the house coming very close to crashing into it. And now's he's taken to standing in front of it to warm himself up. That's where the danger's gonna come from, not the littler one.
 
SlyFerret said:
Kids learn quick!! My guess, it'll only take once.


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

-SF
Click to expand...

Yeah...you can tell you don't have kids! And yeah...it only takes once for a beautiful child
to be scarred for the rest of their life. I hope you don't raise yours like that! I'm almost sure you won't.
 
For some reason I doubt my great-grandma's cook stove ever had a gate around it. Nor the others in the house.

Must be she made it clear that there is a time and place for fooling around, and next to the stove wasn't one of them. Amazing little thing called discipline and respect. Must be children are different today, or perhaps are the parents the ones who are different?

Guess when my great-grandfather died when the kids were 8 they should have been taken away too since it was far too dangerous since they had to learn things like how to buck trees w/ a 2 man saw, and use an old carriage axle to skid trees off of the hill behind the house to keep warm. Imagine my grandfather 8, his younger broth 6, and older brother 10 holding a pig in the air by rope ready to lower it into a boiling barrel of scald water over top of an open fire. Kids are capable of much more than many today give them credit for.

Ever think that we expose our kids to great risk by putting them in the car every day? I bet most who choose to even drive over the speed limit on occasion! How dangerous! Should we just stay home then to be safer? Should we only drive around in 5star rated crash test vehicles? Or do we accept some amounts of risk because of it's convenience. Can there be problems associated with over-protection? Is some level of risk OK? These are all concerns that every parent must weigh. Sometimes can a child learn more in the long run by being vulnerable in some ways?

In the defense of other modern parents, I think disciple would have been easier in a day where mom was home all the time and could be consistent with the rules. Now, there is a different set of rules for home and for the babysitters, or to complicate things further, a different set of rules at mom and dad's house. Additionally, big families often meant that mom wasn't the only one taking care of the little ones, bigger siblings did so as well. Today, both parents come home from jobs tired, and often just don't have it left in them to do more to make sure the kids mind.

My point, is simple, if you want to put a gate up, fine. I won't knock you for doing that. To the same token, I don't think it's fair to make comments such as
yanksforever said:
I hope you don’t raise yours like that!
Click to expand...

in reference to someone like myself who has differing views.

To make a blanket statement like that, one must be Supernanny x 1000. I am glad they have it all figured out, and I am so wrong. My poor kid.

pen
 
pen said:
In the defense of other modern parents, I think disciple would have been easier in a day where mom was home all the time and could be consistent with the rules. Now, there is a different set of rules for home and for the babysitters, or to complicate things further, a different set of rules at mom and dad's house.
Click to expand...

I would argue that since time immemorial women have served a variety of roles both in and out of the house in order to provide resources for the family. Even the 1950's housewife cohort was limited to middle and upper class families in households that had not experienced death, job loss, or disability.
 
pen said:
For some reason I doubt my great-grandma's cook stove ever had a gate around it. Nor the others in the house.

Must be she made it clear that there is a time and place for fooling around, and next to the stove wasn't one of them. Amazing little thing called discipline and respect. Must be children are different today, or perhaps are the parents the ones who are different?

Guess when my great-grandfather died when the kids were 8 they should have been taken away too since it was far too dangerous since they had to learn things like how to buck trees w/ a 2 man saw, and use an old carriage axle to skid trees off of the hill behind the house to keep warm. Imagine my grandfather 8, his younger broth 6, and older brother 10 holding a pig in the air by rope ready to lower it into a boiling barrel of scald water over top of an open fire. Kids are capable of much more than many today give them credit for.

Ever think that we expose our kids to great risk by putting them in the car every day? I bet most who choose to even drive over the speed limit on occasion! How dangerous! Should we just stay home then to be safer? Should we only drive around in 5star rated crash test vehicles? Or do we accept some amounts of risk because of it's convenience. Can there be problems associated with over-protection? Is some level of risk OK? These are all concerns that every parent must weigh. Sometimes can a child learn more in the long run by being vulnerable in some ways?

In the defense of other modern parents, I think disciple would have been easier in a day where mom was home all the time and could be consistent with the rules. Now, there is a different set of rules for home and for the babysitters, or to complicate things further, a different set of rules at mom and dad's house. Additionally, big families often meant that mom wasn't the only one taking care of the little ones, bigger siblings did so as well. Today, both parents come home from jobs tired, and often just don't have it left in them to do more to make sure the kids mind.

My point, is simple, if you want to put a gate up, fine. I won't knock you for doing that. To the same token, I don't think it's fair to make comments such as
yanksforever said:
I hope you don’t raise yours like that!
Click to expand...

in reference to someone like myself who has differing views.

To make a blanket statement like that, one must be Supernanny x 1000. I am glad they have it all figured out, and I am so wrong. My poor kid.

pen
Click to expand...

Oh yeah and we walked 10 miles to school and plucked the chickens before cooking them. Get real...times have changed..some for the better some
not...but times do change...your still not driving a Model T right? And when I was little my parents used to smoke in the car when we went on long trips. Do you still think that is a good idea? I just wouldn't want to see a little child have to learn the hard way...that's all i was saying. And no .I'm not a "Supernanny"...I'm just a caring Dad that looks out for smaller children and doesn't want to see them get hurt or injured. The End!!
 
~*~Kathleen~*~ said:
pen said:
In the defense of other modern parents, I think disciple would have been easier in a day where mom was home all the time and could be consistent with the rules. Now, there is a different set of rules for home and for the babysitters, or to complicate things further, a different set of rules at mom and dad's house.
Click to expand...

I would argue that since time immemorial women have served a variety of roles both in and out of the house in order to provide resources for the family. Even the 1950's housewife cohort was limited to middle and upper class families in households that had not experienced death, job loss, or disability.
Click to expand...

Absolutely correct. My point is that as people have changed in what type of work they are doing, and have moved further from home in doing so, it has made it easier for kids to play off a consistency that may be missing as they have different caretakers frequently.

It's just another challenge that must be faced. Each generation has their unique set based upon circumstance.

womeninworkforce.gif
 
yanksforever said:
Oh yeah and we walked 10 miles to school and plucked the chickens before cooking them. Get real...times have changed..some for the better some
not...but times do change...your still not driving a Model T right? And when I was little my parents used to smoke in the car when we went on long trips. Do you still think that is a good idea? I just wouldn't want to see a little child have to learn the hard way...that's all i was saying. And no .I'm not a "Supernanny"...I'm just a caring Dad that looks out for smaller children and doesn't want to see them get hurt or injured. The End!!
Click to expand...

Absolutely times have changed in good and bad ways. My point wasn't that we should go back to the old ways at all. If they were so good the scenario I mentioned wouldn't have existed. But perhaps there is more than one way to approach a situation.

At the time, it was appropriate for my grandmother to raise her kids as she did. Today, there would be welfare to help her out. But then, we were talking about survival. Thank god my kids will never have to do or go through what some of their grandparents experienced.

Parenting is different not just for each and every family, but for each and every kid.

Sometimes our kids miss out on bigger life lessons/opportunities because of being overprotected. Maybe for some kids, a baby gate is not over protection. For others, it just plain isn't necessary.

It's all relative. I just don't think it is right for you to judge in your original post by saying:

yanksforever said:
I hope you don’t raise yours like that!
Click to expand...

It's as simple as that.

pen
 
I'm not picking sides. As stated above, I installed a gate so that the 23 mo and 1yr old grand kids won't accidentally get burned.

That said - as a person who has had 3rd degree burns on 11 percent of his body can attest. Any burn that can be avoided, should be. I do not consider burns on a little baby one of lifes little lessons. Thats just me I suppose. :smirk:
 
Jags said:
I'm not picking sides. As stated above, I installed a gate so that the 23 mo and 1yr old grand kids won't accidentally get burned.

That said - as a person who has had 3rd degree burns on 11 percent of his body can attest. Any burn that can be avoided, should be. I do not consider burns on a little baby one of lifes little lessons. Thats just me I suppose. :smirk:
Click to expand...

+1 Amen!
 
I agree that a burn for a little kid that was avoidable in the first place is unacceptable , but for me - the thought of my son cruising across the room and losing his balance and cracking his head on the brick hearth was also why I put up a gate. He actually never had any close calls (he is 5 now) and as soon as he had his feet under him, I removed the gate. Now he brings in wood from outside for me when it's time to load the stove. But, inevitably, the gate will be up again next year for my daughter who was born on Feb 1st. I forgot how much work this is...

Rob
 
No baby gate here with my kids we just took them to the stove when it was operating and put their had on the ash shelf which gets uncomfortable to touch but won't burn you and put their hands on it and said "hot!".

All of them have stayed away from it although the three year old burned his hand on it earlier this year when he got too close when trying to warm up. All my kids have a healthy respect for the stove but are not afraid of it and enjoy helping daddy fire it up after I clean it out every few weeks.
 
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