who's the loon, me or DH?

[sniffycat]

Does anybody consider doors dangerous for kids? Not just shutting their fingers in them which is obviously a danger, but that sharp bit that sticks out of the door that clicks into the wall when it's shut?.....sorry don't know the technical name for it.....the tooth?

In our old place DH put masking tape over that bit on all the doors. He says it's to prevent the kids slicing their faces open/losing their eyes on them etc etc when they're running about. That's because they are at head height and are very sharp.

I on the other hand tend to overlook that sort of thing. I kept/keep my kids safe with plug covers, stair gates, corner covers on sharp edges, bleach out of reach etc - I don't think I'm irresponsible.

But now we have moved house - DH is away all week working and home at the weekend. This weekend we had a huge row when he came home because I have overlooked putting masking tape over that bit on all the doors.

Am I being unreasonable for thinking he's a bit of a loon? Or is he in the right?

Thanks

i think we must have had particularly sharp door catches when i was small as i do remember more than a few times catching my head, face, and arms when i was bigger.

oh bless him....

Why are plug covers dangerous?

He is a total loon, of course. I have nothing covered in my house.

I do however have an interesting scar on my right hand middle finger, where when running around when I was about 7 (being chased by my brother), I caught my finger in the hole bit that the catch bit goes into and my finger stuck and I continued and I ripped the top of my finger and it had to be stitched back on.

So, whilst I agree he is a loon, perhaps for completeness he should also cover the hole bit up too?

Well he is a bit of a loon covering them , BUT I have a scar on my hand from when I managed to catch my hand on the one in our downstairs loo about a year ago. I don't know why it scarred as wasn't a particularly bad cut, but you can damage yourself on them!

Do you mean the bit that would retract if you fell against it & isn´t actually sharp?

He is the loon.

Plug covers - been covered before but hhere is the fatally flawed link. Basically, British plug socket already have an inbuilt safety system which makes it impossible for a child to be electrocuted unless they stick something in one of the other holes at the same time....like a handy plug socket cover:

www.fatallyflawed.org.uk/

Thank you! I am going to show him this thread

He does mean well but I would never have thought of it. It's interesting - I am rather careful (neurotic) but have never used plug sockets or table corners. My DS1 broke his tooth on our stairgate as well, so am not too keen on those either.

He'll probably ease up as they get bigger and the full ingeniousness of their attempts to hurt themselves becomes apparent,despite your cunning plans to prevent them. Anyway, got to go, my one year old is standing on the dining room table!

you know he's a loon, you just wanted a thread to prove you right so you can show him

We've never baby-proofed the sharp corners on stuff, just locked away dangerous stuff, out up a stair gate, etc.

I'm aware of door hinges because my brother got his finger trapped in one on a school trip and had to have the top of his finger sewn back on, but I've never done anything about the hinges on our doors here.

My toddler's ability to injure himself is amazing - when we were moving house, he was in the totally empty lounge (no furniture, no nothing!) with MIL and managed to trip over his OWN FEET and face-planted onto the wooden floor and split open his gum...

if the kids hit their heads - they wont do it again.

your dh is a loon

I might be going against the grain as i havent read all through the thread. 1 hour sleep last night and still cant fucking sleep .

Anyhow, I split my eye lid running into that sticky out bit, in fact the worst thing was that i wasnt even running. i walked around the corner and caught. i needed 4 stitches, proper stitchs not butterfly stitches. As an adult i have had a nasty gash from said door catchy bit.

I would be inclined to say that dh is being a little over protective, but saying that i was lucky it wasnt my eye that caught the catch. could have done some serious damage otherwise.

Mum taught me a rule that i try to live by, i have a ds with no fear, "If he gets hurt doing x he will only do it once"

Its hard but the new one that has been added is if you are big enough to get yourself stuck up tree/ on roof/ on wall you are big enough to figure out how to get down safely.

please not he has only got stuck on the roof (downstairs room height and safely jumpable onto the front lawn) once, and he is now scared of heights thank fuck

IMO DH needs to relax a little he cant protect them from everything, and they have to learn how to take action to keep themselves safe. best done when little when there is less risk.