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My home entertainment system is a mess - there are cables, remote controls, various units, multiple plugs, DVDs, Blu-Ray disks, corners, glass bits and other various components which make for a fun but very dangerous place for a baby to crawl to. What can I do to help baby proof the system (besides do my best to make sure he never gets to it)? |
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The only child proofing we did was disable the power sockets in the hall and keep the knives in a high drawer. This was for a very good reason - we wanted to be able to take our children anywhere and not worry about them breaking something or hurting themselves. So we watched out for them in the early days, and then educated them. So they never posted food into a CD player or pulled a cable or burned themselves on a fire. This may seem like high effort but it is actually much less effort in the long run, and leaves you with kids that are safer everywhere. Don't hide things away from them - teach them what is dangerous and what is safe. |
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According to CBS news http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57558985/tipping-televisions-kill-record-number-of-u.s-kids-govt-warns/ Every year 25000 kids are injured by falling TVs. In 2011 41 children have been killed. Sorry for being drastic here, but this requires your full attention. The TV is best kept but of reach or tied down with a wall strap. |
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3 kids and 3 DVD players later, I'd say if you value it, lift it up high! When my eldest discovered the DVD drawer, he would not rest until he'd yanked that sucker right out. The next, a slot loader was rapidly filled with pennies by the middle child. The last was more complex, a DVD was rubbed down with some kind of jam by my youngest and forced into the drive. additional DVDs were then forcibly inserted until the whole thing ground to a sticky halt. Don't get me stared on the in car CD player, we've learned to live with rattles. The solution? Netflix and Spotify. |
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Wires and delicate electronics need to be kept away from young children for a long time unless you're fond of frequent replacement and missing equipment. And of course there is the risk of the child getting hurt. The most expensive answer is to replace the furniture. Many companies make entertainment centers like this one from Ikea. It hides all the equipment and wires and secures a flat planel from tipping over. Wires from speaker systems can be routed through walls or hidden. Barriers to access like baby gates work as short term solutions, but I haven't met anyone who tried it and was satisfied for more than a week. Earthquake kits do a good job of keeping things from tipping over, but don't protect the wires or the electronics from poking and innappropriate usage. Remote controls are a frequent target of young hands. They see us play with them all the time so it is only natural that baby wants to see what the fun is all about. If you have the typical home theater, you probably have accumulated 5 or 6 and keeping them all safe is tricky. Replacing them is a powerful universal remote like a Harmony can make life easier. Plus they're kind of awesome. The lowest cost approach is to take away some items and pack them away until your child is older. There is life without television after all. :) |
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You can buy corner guards to go on sharp corners. Cables can be routed through cable ducts And there are various ways of securing a television However - and I guess this doesn't really answer the question - what I've ended up doing is not leaving my baby unsupervised near the entertainment system, and giving a firm "NO!" and then moving him away when he tries to touch it. This has actually worked and after repeatedly doing this, he now almost never goes near it. |
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Some things I did:
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