Childproofing a Staircase
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Childproofing a Staircase
May 2002
We have a staircase with quite widely spaced rungs.
I would like to teach my son to be careful rather than go crazy
babyproofing every inch of the house but the staircase really
poses a lot of dangers. Because we rent our home, we
cannot do anything too drastic. I'm wondering what others have done in
their homes.
Any suggestions will be very much appreciated!
Amanda P.
Regarding the staircase; we have a similar problem on our
staircase -- both the rungs being widely spaced apart, and the
bottom rail being unacceptably high above the ground. What we've
used that seems to work very well is a stuff called ''Kid Shield.''
It's a very heavy, clear plastic that you can attach to the rungs
of the stairway (with something like velcro or zipties). It's
nice for two reasons: 1) you don't have to change the stairway
and 2) you don't really notice it, because it's clear. As an
aside, my son really likes the result; he ''bangs'' on the plastic
and it makes a bit of noise that he finds very appealing. I don't
know if you can buy it locally; I got mine off the internet -- it
comes in various length rolls.
Karen
My friend addressed a similar problem
with her balcony by securing heavy-duty plastic netting (webs are
about 2 or 3-in square) across the rails. You can probably find
it at Home Depot.
Teresa
I don't have inside stairs, but I have definitely heard of
people blocking off stairs with zip ties and baby gates, again
using screw eyes on the inside wall. Hope this helps.
Jennie
One way to baby proof stair railings is with bird or deer
netting (lightweight plastic with 1cm openings; available at
most garden supply stores) attached with zip ties.
Jennifer
this page was last updated: Oct 29, 2012
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