Socket guards are really good.. the kid pulls on the bottom and breaks them off at the earth pin leaving the shutters open. You do know that the sockets have shutters to stop kids putting things in them?
Do people not shout at their kids anymore? No wonder they roam the streets in feral packs.
Just out of interest, how ofter have to seen this happen?
I never have. As for shutters, they aren't undefeatable either - some more easily than others.
To be honest, our house is half and half - where there were guards, they are there and where the guards have vanished, we never bothered to replace them.
Cheers
Tim
More often than the kid putting something in the socket.
Yup.
Sockets are boring. You can poke stuff in the earth but beyond that they offer little interest.
Whereas a smashed socket guard has a bit that is obvouisly DESIGNED to go in the top hole, thus revealing a mysterious godlike opening into which a pair of scissors may be poked to 'feel the power of Jesus' ..
Hallelujah!
On Wed, 25 Jul 2007 21:51:17 +0100, The Natural Philosopher mused:
When I was younger I found that if you just pulled the plug forwards slightly you could drop a 5p across the live and neutral pins. I would imagine that was fun, I can't actually remember it but I do think I've still got the plug somewhere.
So its you that caused the plastic covers on the pins to become mandatory! You have cost the economy millions. ;-)
snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote in news:1185273671.433518.61810@
57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com:
The original poster asks a simple DIY type question and gets flooded with gratuitous, often useless, child care advice !
How about just answering the question and leaving your own, often uninformed, opinions to yourself ?
Alternatively, you could form a new group - alt.gratuitousopinions ?
A DIY Enthusiast
It's called thread drift, and it happens.
Early answers (including mine) *did* address the point.
That your opinion, is it?
Si
On Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:54:05 +0100, "dennis@home" mused:
Yeah, but in some way, I'm not bothered! When I'm PAT testing I can sell more plugtops than if I hadn't have experimented with loose change and 240VAC.
Sorry to preach!!!!!!!! BUT ....................
Small children don't belong in kitchens, especially at floor or any other level; period. In most cities/countries there are too many accidents in kitchens, ranging from scalding, pulling out heavy drawers and or getting into cleaning materials under the sink etc.
Unless, perhaps, a child strapped in a high chair being fed in a supervised manner at kitchen table level by an attentive adult.
Our 16 month old is now 28+ and working in the Middle East. However he and ourselves still remember the low plywood door that I installed between the kitchen and the family room. I could step over it but it could only be opened from the kitchen side by a bolt out of his reach! and the family room which was in direct view of anyone in the kitchen was child proofed.
At a later age he had a habit of accessing a kitchen cabinet above one counter where medications were kept. The hole for an eye bolt that enabled that cupboard to be pad-locked, is still there!
Training about "hot" and "nasty" and "hurt you" had already started by the age of 16 months. However that son is is now a very competent-do- it-yourselfer; capable of fixing anything from the air conditioning of a vehicle in the desert. The electrics/electronics of of an oil pipeline pumping system, repairing his quad or dirt motorbike, or additionally fixing just about anything anything on our sailboat or around this house!
Dare I say he's more diverse than his old man and a pleasure to have around?
So PLEASE keep 'any' child out of the kitchen.
Gratuitous and uninformed eh? 'Simple' DIY question? Huh!
So: If I asked advice about the easiest/cheapest and illegal way of getting into the EU, from say North Africa, you should reply only about the 'how to do it', of that question?
Not that it is illegal, dangerous and probably best not attempted? Also that many wouldn't recommend and that deaths sometimes occur?
Or if your pet kept getting mauled by a Pit Bull or Rottweiler down the street with consequent vet. bills you should do nothing except try to remember to put the latch on the oven (oops, sorry) 'gate' beforehand?
Sorry can't agree.
Even in this civilized part of the world (Canada) there have been too many fatal, near fatal and in some cases maiming accidents involving children; such an unnecessary waste!
And since we managed to train and bring up three of various ages, now up their 40s with families of their own, without serious injury, we feel, since the question was raised, that we have experience and an opinion to express.
My point exactly, if more concisely.
Then how do they learn to make cakes? CBeebies is the ultimate weapon around supper time.
terry wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@o61g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:
If, and only if, the poster had phrased his question along the lines of "how do I prevent my child getting hurt by the oven" then you would be correct. The poster obviously knew of the dangers of the oven because he was asking about locking devices! None of us know the particular circumstances of the poster - perhaps they only have a living room cum kitchen, perhaps they have already taken every other possible precaution against harm and this is the only item remaining. If the posting had been in a "child-safety" newsgroup, then the gratuitous advice would have been appropriate.
Terry W.
Wait until they're older than 16 months, which is where we started...!
In my youth, my mother would never have let me alone for an instant. ANY aberrant behaviour got a sharp word or a smack. Indeed, this behaviour persists to this day..sigh..
However, it is an interesting reflection that people today regard a toddler as something that one can turn ones back on, even for an instant.
Out cat has a kitten: Up to about 8 weeks, that kitten was only left alone for the time it took her to nip outside, do her business and nip back in. And then ONLY when it was sound asleep. Later on, she would go out for longer if one of the eunuch cats around was looking out for it. Which they did. Sat staring at it every second.
The little terrier, who thought there was a new playmate, got a faceful of claws when he tried. THAT learned him!
How is a child going to learn, if its not encouraged and corrected on every action it makes? Shut and locked doors are merely puzzles to be learnt: The only concept of danger is to experience pain. Until reason starts to function, the only way to affect behaviour towards safety, is to associate dangerous things with pain or anger. And reward safe behaviour with approval and a cuddle.
I accept that in todays busy lifestyle, sometimes schooling is sub optimal, but I don't think anyone should be deluded into thinking its right or proper of good for children: its the lesser of two evils, that's all.
Childproof lock for an oven? easy. Weld a padlockable loop and slot thing on it. Just don't forget the key when the turkey starts to burn.
Shove a heavy sandbag against it.
Construct a couple of hooks across the front of it and drop a bar into them.
Its not rocket science: The real question is why a child on approaching something hot, and getting the door open to it, should have no concept at that age that hot HURTS. I would take the child, open the door, get him or her to touch the door on the outside "See, hot.." and then find out which bit is JUST hot enough to touch and say 'touch that - see VERY HOT, OUCH!' and the point inside and say 'VERY VERY HOT. HURT LOTS'
If the child fails to grasp the essential simplicity of the scenario, I'd be inclined to let Darwin take his course as it were.
Safety consciousness consists in only getting a little bit hurt, or narrowly and comprehensibly avoiding getting hurt a LOT. Encapsulating a child in a cocoon of cotton wool is fine as long as you can guarantee that he never needs to come out of it.
Or how to do the washing up?
Owain
IME children are naturally cautious and conservative. They won't eat anything that isn't identical in every detail to something they're already familiar with, and will usually watch you eat it first in case you're trying to poison them. I suppose there are toddlers that would glug a bottle of bleach, but I've never met one. Of course accidents happen, and I think every parent frets over the perennial stair gate issue. If you have one, it takes longer to get used to the stairs and, if you don't, a lone adult can't ever go to the toilet. My conclusion is that you need them for emergencies but they're best left open by default.
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