[blparent] baby gates question

[Jo Elizabeth Pinto]

I agree that baby gates at the top of the stairs can offer a false sense of 
security, and can worsen falls that do occur.  You might consider getting a 
door chime to install at the top of the stairs instead.  The chime works on 
a beam of light, and rings if someone passes through the doorway.  If you 
put the speaker part in your bedroom--check to see that the model you choose 
comes with a separate speaker that can be moved around--then you would hear 
if your child goes down the stairs in the night, and you could get up and 
work with her on staying in bed.  I haven't checked lately, but a lot of the 
adaptive living aids catalogs had door chimes in the past.

Jo Elizabeth

"Some people see things as they are and ask why.  I dream things that never 
were and ask why not."--Robert F. Kennedy

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2011 7:48 AM
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blparent] baby gates question

> My kids are teenagers now so you may think I don't know what I'm talking 
> about, but I was and am still a little uneasy about gates at the tops of 
> stairs.  It
> depends some on the gate and some on the kid, but from a kids perspective, 
> barriers are there to be overcome, usually when you are not there.  If a 
> child
> climbs over a gate successfully, the fall is likely to be more serious 
> than a potential fall down the stairs.  If the idea is to keep them from 
> going down the stairs
> and they already do that, you may be introducint a chance for a fall that 
> doesn't exist without the gate.   One of my kids was able to use the 
> kitchen chair to
> climb onto the table so she could play with the salt shaker before she was 
> even walking well.  I am less concerned about a gate preventing a child 
> from
> going up a set of stairs because it cam provide a barrier, and if the gate 
> is climbed over, it usually isn't going to cause a fall.  Obviously, all 
> this does depend
> upon the child, the gate, the stairs, and even the situation.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve
>
> On Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:25:49 -0700, Veronica Smith wrote:
>
>>Let me tell you what my brother and his wife did.  They never did get a
>>gate, but taught their daughters to go down the stairs backwards.  The 
>>kids
>>would go to the top of the stairs, sit down and then crawl backwards to 
>>the
>>first step.
>>Others I know, have gates but they never open them, the adults just step
>>over. V
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>>Behalf Of Ken Quinn
>>Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 1:25 PM
>>To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
>>Subject: [blparent] baby gates question
>
>>hello all,
>>i am looking to get a baby gate cause my daughter has now master the art 
>>of
>>opening her door and coming down our steps to the first floor. i am 
>>looking
>>for something that is both easy  to install as well as easy for myself and
>>wife to open up but difficult for my daughter to open. any suggestions 
>>would
>
>>be deeply appreciated.
>>thanks in advance,
>>ken
>
>
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