A little ingenuity required!
Will this babyproofing never end? Stairgates, childlocks, the removal of pointy objects, the replacement of personal trinkets on bookcases with Fisher Price toys. It seems like every time we finish one childproofing project, there’s another to do, or worse there’s one that we’ve started but not yet managed to finish.
It’s been some time now since I installed the child locks on the doors of the kitchen cabinets – or at least tried to. I successfully installed safety catches on all of the doors except the most dangerous of all. For some reason, the cabinet under the sink is recessed about an inch back from the edge of the kitchen counter, and a little bit more back from the edge of the washing machine, which is beside it. This isn’t a problem for day to day access to that cabinet – but I never considered its implications for babyproofing. Did you know that although you can install a safety catch on a cabinet door like this, it’s not much use to you because your fingers won’t be able to reach the catch to unlock it when the door opens? Well I discovered that after I had installed the first part of the safety catch.
I tried placing the catch on different parts of the cabinet – at the top, at the side, even closer to the hinge. No use. I couldn’t find a position that would allow the catch to be reached so that it could be opened. Anyone I mentioned this to suggested moving the dangerous chemicals from under the sink to a cabinet that Little Man wouldn’t be able to reach. In a normal house that would certainly be a option. Not so in our boomtime-built matchbox! There is no spare cabinet to move the stuff to.
Charlie and I have been worrying about this problem for quite a while, looking for solutions online, but we just couldn’t find anything that would work. Then today, Charlie had a brainwave. Months ago, inspired by this YouTube video, he ordered rolls of velcro online. I was not as inspired by the video, however, and was not so keen on having pieces of velcro taped all over our house. So the rolls of velcro have sat in a drawer, unused and unwanted for months. Until today…today I give you babyproofing by Velcro!
It really is one of mankind's greatest inventions!
I don’t want to upset you guys … but little people are smart and very curious too.. velcro is the favorite toy of my kids, could be the sweeesh noise it makes or the magic of sticking. But who knows, one thing works for one people, doesn’t work for others…
We didn’t find a single childproofing thing which works. The cabinet under the sink is not proofed at all, after the accident when older son (18 month old) sprayed himself with some chemical. With the all washout he got a big lecture from his mom and a new word in his dictionary- CHEMICALS. He learned the lesson hard way, but looks like it worked. We have one childproof – it’s the words CHEMICALS and DANGEROUS
Hi Olga – I’m sure he can figure it out. We’ve wrapped the velcro towards the back rather than at the front, hopefully that will make it a bit harder. But when he eventually figures out how to open the velcro, I’m hoping that the sound of it being opened will give me enough warning that I’ll be able to get over to him before he can get anything dangerous in his hands! I’ll keep you posted. I might well be back here tomorrow night complaining about how the velcro babyproofing solution didn’t even last 24 hours!
I thought we were the only household in Ireland where the husband came home from work one day with an industrial sized roll of velcro, and started installing it all over the house – apparently not!
Lory, if Charlie had his way, there would be velcro all over our house – and our car! He’s always looking for a reason to use it! 🙂
oh god all our ground level cabinets have this overhanging problem. when i say all i mean the 2 that we have + washing machine hidey door thing. so yeah, we don’t have a spare cupboard lying around to fill with spatulas & tupperware to play with, or a high up one to move undersink nasties to.
i cook with my legs variously splayed to hold doors shut with my knees. ‘STUCK! It’s STUCK!’ i cry out hoping he’ll give up…
the velcro trick will work for the one big cupboard (blender, pans, booze & all the herbs & spices), but unfortunately that will push the focus to the cleaning products one. its beside the dishwasher who’s door obvs opens downwards – any suggestions!?
Sorry Jill – can’t help laughing at that image of you cooking – mainly because I’ve done it myself. Since I wrote this post, people have made various suggestions to me of alternate ways to tackle it. The velcro is still working for us, so we’re leaving it for now. But one suggestion I thought might work if you’re not concerned about longterm damage to the outside of the cabinet door is using a chain lock – you know the sliding chain lock that you’d use as a security lock on the inside of a front door. Another option that was suggested to me is fitting the door with a keyed lock – like a little wardrobe door lock. I don’t think we’re DIY-inclined enough to do that, but if you were, you could try it. If I hear of any other options, I’ll let you know!