17-month old in garden

[nidge1975]

We have a 17 month old who has literally only just started to walk. Our garden is relatively child-friendly but one part of it (maybe a 10-foot stretch) has a 2-foot drop down to a concrete patio. Does anyone have any ideas how to make this secure?

She wouldn't be in the garden by herself, so it wouldn't need to be a permanent structure (yet anyhow), it's more to hold her up if she make a run for it.

I was half thinking of simply using some mesh netting, but not sure if others had faced similar issues and had a better solution.

Thanks

I would just be vigilant and perhaps put some of that cheap foam play matting down so if she does go over it won't hurt as much.

£15 from Argos for two packs

17 months is a good time to start learning to watch where you are going and listen to parents instructions to avoid getting hurt. Toddlers need to start to learn risk assessment skills which they can't do if everything is made safe and squishy for them.

I'd just put a crash mat on the other side. Other than that they do have to learn about risk especially about the risks in her own environment. Show her the drop and show her how safely get down it by sitting and dropping down on her front like a pool entry. You'll be surprised how fast she masters it.

Thanks for the replies. I didn't really think of using protective mats instead of some kind of guard tbh but I guess it makes sense.

Now that we've got some good weather, we need to get this sorted sooner rather than later!

I would buy some square plastic pots from Wilko and plant them as a living wall. The ones about 2 foot deep should be tall enough. Maybe the little one would be able to plant Nasturtium in them, they are nice big seeds and grow really quickly,.