Stair gates

[Welshmum16]

How can I drill it into my husband not to close the stair gates?

Our son goes up and down the stairs fine at over 2 years old, we have a second child on the way so I'm not taking stair gates down as they are screwed to walls but I keep telling DH not to close them except bed time DS doesn't need them we'll use again for next child.

Today while I'm downstairs sorted some clothes out I hear DS crying he's gone up stairs to find top stair gate closed, husband left the bottom one open 😡 DS has then fallen down half the stairs and managed to stop himself luckily, only a graze on his nose.

I keep telling DH to not close them but I am really struggling to be polite about it now, but why would he close the top and leave bottom open 😡

How did the top one being closed cause him to fall? If your DS is that steady and stable on the stairs it wouldn’t have mattered if it was closed? I don’t think you can blame that one on your DH.

Other than keep reminding him I’m not sure what else you can do. It doesn’t sound intentional.

To be honest if you’re having a second you’re going to need them closed again (ok probably not for another year, but still). I’d probably just keep them closed and teach your child to ask you to open them and teach him to close them behind him.

However my friend’s second child fell down the stairs because the gate was left open so I’m a bit paranoid about this!

Or if you reallt don’t want them closed could you tie them open somehow?

DS2 used to tell DH: "Shut a door!" if he left the safety gate open. Maybe you could teach your DS to say "Open a door!"

Can’t help with the husband training, but I used a cheap magnet catches (like you use for cupboard doors) to hold our stairgates back against the skirting boards, so they stay out of the way when open instead of flapping about. It’s possible that this might help him ‘remember’, i.e. if he has to overcome some slight resistance (from the magnet, not from you...) to shut them.