Great gates for restraining kids and pets

[BarnOwl]

Just about everyone with kids knows about Hands-Free Gates, but pet owners might not.

See them (and read the reviews) at

http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Ha.../dp/B000058CC7

Our twin grandkids will celebrate their first birthdays tomorrow. We bought two of these gates months ago to keep the kids confined to the living room when we babysit, which is every Thursday.

I think back of when we had a dog, and the gates would have been great then, too.

Once you've got the gate set up (which is easy), it's a cinch for an adult to open and close it. Impossible for a toddler to open it, however. And like the name infers, you can open these gates even when your hands are full.

[Marienee]

Originally Posted by BarnOwl

Once you've got the gate set up (which is easy), it's a cinch for an adult to open and close it. Impossible for a toddler to open it, however. And like the name infers, you can open these gates even when your hands are full.

Well, it isn't impossible. My toddler did. But the child in question has to be, um, a certain kind of child.

I feel fairly certain a dog couldn't do it. And in fairness, everybody else I knew who had them back then liked them very well.

[BarnOwl]

[quote=Marienee]Well, it isn't impossible. My toddler did. But the child in question has to be, um, a certain kind of child.

What kind of child? The force you must exert on the pedal would seem to be more than any toddler could generate.

[Marienee]

[quote=BarnOwl]

Originally Posted by Marienee

Well, it isn't impossible. My toddler did. But the child in question has to be, um, a certain kind of child.

What kind of child? The force you must exert on the pedal would seem to be more than any toddler could generate.

The kind of child who thinks of standing on the pedal, holding on to the top rail and jumping up and down.

And who when forbidden to do that (he was then and is still a very agreeable child in certain ways, thank god) figures out that you can lift up on the pedal and it will also work.

[BarnOwl]

[quote=Marienee]

Originally Posted by BarnOwl

The kind of child who thinks of standing on the pedal, holding on to the top rail and jumping up and down.

And who when forbidden to do that (he was then and is still a very agreeable child in certain ways, thank god) figures out that you can lift up on the pedal and it will also work.

Oh. A smart child!

Pretty damned good that he figured it out.

[Marienee]

[quote=BarnOwl]

Originally Posted by Marienee

Oh. A smart child!

Pretty damned good that he figured it out.

The weird part is, he never actually went through the gate. He didn't give a shit about the gate. He thought it was a new toy, I think, whose purpose was to open and close.

When he was four and opening locks it was much less funny. Because his brother was then two and did want to go through the doors.

When my neighbor found my two year old playing on the lawn in his jammies one Saturday at 6 am and the four year old lockpicker sitting happily on the sofa (and their parents snoozing blissfully away in bed)...well, I got over my psychotic fear of fire and got a lock that keyed from the inside.

Because it was the fourth childproof lock I had installed.

These things are funny now that my children are seven and four. (Where's that gritting teeth icon?)

[fessie]

Happy Birthday to your grandkids - I remember you posting about them before! My twins have just started making birthday cards for their loved ones, we cranked out a Great-Aunt last week & just started one for Grandpa tonight.

Hope you have a lot of fun celebrating!

[BarnOwl]

Originally Posted by fessie

Happy Birthday to your grandkids - I remember you posting about them before! My twins have just started making birthday cards for their loved ones, we cranked out a Great-Aunt last week & just started one for Grandpa tonight.

Hope you have a lot of fun celebrating!

Thanks very much, fessie.

We got them a Baby Grand Piano (at amazon) which is pretty versatile and should keep them amused. They're crazy nuts for our digital piano with its preset 50 songs, so when we babysit, the kids are on our laps, at the piano for a good part of the day.

We also got them a bay's Bongo Drum but gave it to them last week.