In my living room we have this new 2-drawer filing cabinet. It’s heavy, made of oak, it looks like, and measures 32" wide by 24" deep.
I want to be able to secure the drawers to prevent our grandkids from opening them and then slamming the drawers on their fingers. Or worse - like them opening the top drawer and having the whole mess tumbling over on top of them.
I have Googled for appropriate locks, but haven’t found any to fit the bill. I bought one at amazon, but this simply prevents the drawers from opening more than about an inch, or less, but it would still be possible for the kids to slam the drawers shut.
So then I thought of heavy duty bungee cords - one for each drawer. The overall perimeter of the cabinet is 112 inches. Are there such bungee cord lengths available that would solve my problem?
If yes, are there ways to secure the cords so they don’t snap open, to cause terrible harm?
And where online might I find them, please?
Finally, do you have a better solution than bungee cords? (I considered duct tape but it would ruin the finish.)
I’m not sure if they would work on your file cabinet, but we used these child-safety locks in our kitchen that were made specifically for this purpose. They would allow the door to open only about an inch and then hold it there. They drove me nuts because every time the baby walked through the kitchen he would leave all of the lower cabinets stuck in this position.
I don’t have any suggestions for a drawer lock, but as to the falling-over problem: I’ve just gone ahead and bolted any large furniture (bookshelves, cabinets, etc) to the wall.
I use eye-bolts into the studs (or heavy wall-anchors if there’s no stud), and spring-loaded hooks so I can unlatch it when I need to move the furniture. It may seem paranoid, but I’ve seen too many things climbed on/hung from/knocked over to really feel comfortable otherwise.
If you’ve got any CRT televisions on a stand, I’d look into bolting those down, too. All the ones I’ve seen in recent years are surprisingly front-weighted and easy to pull over.
As it happens, that’s exactly what I did the first time the kids were to visit. But this is not the happiest alternative. The damn thing’s heavy. So, we’re going to investigate the locks that **Eleanor of Aquitaine **suggested or call in a Locksmith as Kalhoun recommended. I was considering another alternative but **Kal **gently vetoed it, with, “The bungy cord look blows.”
You make me feel guilty with all the safety measures you’ve taken. I just don’t have the talent to do what you did. Very admirable, charizard, and I hope some day your kids will appreciate all the work you did to keep them out of the ER.
I’m going to be an old-school maverick and recommend you bolt it to the wall for stability (if it’s really so unsteady as to present a tip hazard) and leave it at that. IF the kids go for it (which is not a given) after they are told “no”, they’ll pinch their fingers. Big whoop. It’s how we learn about cause and effect and pain and suffering and the mortal condition. It’s how we gain the ability to sympathize when we see someone else hurt. It’s also how we learn to listen to Grandpa and Grandma because they’ve got our best interests at heart and care about us.
(I’m assuming the kids won’t be left alone in the room long enough to unfile all your files and create a huge headache for you, of course.)
WhyNot,
The last mother in the USA with NO child safety devices in her home, by educated choice.
You’re right and you’re also braver than I am, WhyNot.
My cop out is the grandchildren come here once a week, and I just can’t stand to see them get hurt needlessly. I’ll let their parents teach them the lessons you spelled out. While the kids are at my house, all I want to happen are good times and laughter.
I just might end up bolting the cabinet to the wall.
Also perfectly valid. You’re the grandparent. This is part of why being a grandparent is so cool, I suspect - you get the good stuff, and I get the band-aids and Life Lessons.
Mostly, I wanted to give you external “permission” to do nothing, if that’s what you wanted. I think we’re all under a heck of a lot of outside pressure to make sure our kids are completely safe at all times by being afraid and buying more and more safety equipment, and it’s not serving either us or them. If you become educated about the risks, costs and benefits and decide to install a lock, that’s cool. I just hate it when people spend all the time and money to make their stuff “safe” because they’re scared into it (and then they get complacent and don’t attend to their children, because everything is “childproof”.) You’re obviously not doing that. I don’t think it’s a “cop-out” at all, it’s a well reasoned argument.
Totally off topic, but check these out! Stack-'em stars and a bowling moon! I thought of your toy recommendation thread when I ordered these for WhyBaby for Christmas.
My favorite baby shower gifts are drawer and cabinet locks (the kind that require two hands to operate are entirely toddler proof), plastic electrical outlet covers, baby spoons that change color with high temperatures, and floating baby toys that do the same, although at slightly lower temperatures. A house that a crawling infant may be allowed to explore without limit is a far better learning environment than accidental punishments delivered by random chance. Yelling “No!” at a baby is a sufficiently harsh punitive reinforcement for a preverbal infant. Doing it a lot makes it less useful to both baby, and enforcer. Letting them get pinched is unnecessary. Doing so deliberately strikes me as conveniently easy, and dismissive of responsibility. (YBMS)
Tris
“Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist.” ~ Michael Levine ~
I may regret saying this but when I read the title I thought the OP wanted away to make a combination unit that was a filing cabinet and a safe to store toddlers in
I think we’re all under a heck of a lot of outside pressure to make sure our kids are completely safe at all times by being afraid and buying more and more safety equipment, and it’s not serving either us or them. If you become educated about the risks, costs and benefits and decide to install a lock, that’s cool. I just hate it when people spend all the time and money to make their stuff “safe” because they’re scared into it (and then they get complacent and don’t attend to their children, because everything is “childproof”.) You’re obviously not doing that. I don’t think it’s a “cop-out” at all, it’s a well reasoned argument.