Curtains or blinds in toddler boys' bedroom? Privacy, light blocking and potential boy mayhem!

[Gentleness]

My instinct says curtains are easier and less dangerous. But to counter that, I don't want to have to keep putting poles back up because some unidentified imaginary monster has swung from those tempting curtains...

I love the look of bamboo / wooden venetian blinds, and soft roman blinds, but being a shambolic housekeeper I think curtains may be easier to clean.

Sadly I am stuck with a couple of requirements which mean I can't just stick simple unlined cotton curtains up as I'd prefer. It's a front room, so some kind of privacy is called for. And we have to have something able to block out the light from the lamp-post outside too.

Any advice or corrections to my thinking?

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In my 2yo DS bedroom I have a made to measure cream blackout blind in the window recess and a pair of Next tab top bedroom curtains to match his duvet, hung from a Homebase metal curtain pole. Curtains are tied back with some plain blue tie-backs I sourced from Amazon because the window is small and with them just hanging it blocked out too much light during the daytime. Does the job and looks great. We're moving in the autumn and one of the first jobs will be to get another made-to-measure blackout blind for his room. Wouldn't be without one for bright evenings, early mornings and afternoon naps.

I have faux wooden blinds & curtains on DS's room. No chance of accidents on the blinds as there are no loops on the pull cords. Theya re M2M & I go them form blinds2go.com/co.uk - whichever!

Do wooden blinds take up a lot space in the window recess? I have a fear of blocking light unnecessarily. I would so rather just have sheers... oh well!

Unfortunately there have been several terrible cases of toddlers accidentally hanging themselves in blind cords or between slats, so for that reason alone I would choose curtains. :(

www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/may/24/toddler-accidentally-hanged-window-blind

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-17142716

We are in rented place with blinds and a 19mo and am about to beg landlord to let me change to curtains, even though they will let in more light.

It's just a terrifying risk once they are old enough to get tangled...

Our DDs have just had black out blinds (roller blind type, that you don't really think about when it's rolled up to the top) so far, but I'm going to get some curtains made for them this summer to brighten their rooms / dress the windows a bit. They'll be unlined (budget constraints, plus no real need for lining as we'll still use the blinds at night/naps) tab top, hung from simple Ikea pole.

Oooh, that's scary. Do you think if the cord hangs high enough (out of their reach) it's okay? Will go and look at all of ours in the morning.

I have just put up a blackout roller blind in my ds' room in the recess - he has curtains also. With regards to the safety aspect, the plastic cord on our blind is one of the safety ones with a snap fastener that breaks if you pull on it. It happens a lot when I pull the blind up, so please be assured that there are safety features on some. We ordered ours from blinds2go.

Surrounded, tragically the little boy in the latest story stood on a stool to see his friend out the window then got tangled then fell off stool, so just because it is out of their standing reach doesn't mean it is out of their climbing reach. My DS has already realised that he can climb on the bed bear the window, and pile cushions to get even higher up and it's a Venetian blind with slats so he could stick his head in at any point and get caught, plus the cords hence me asking landlord if I can just take the whole blind and fitting out.

It is too harrowing to contemplate and my heart breaks for those poor parents whose children died. Sorry for putting downer on thread but would hate people not to realise the danger and yes, yes to safety blinds. You can't buy them where I live, unfortunately.

You can also get blind rope/tie safety things (sorry for technical term ) from mothercare/John Lewis - you feed the blind cord into it and it rolls up out of harms way
www.toysrus.co.uk/Babies-R-Us/Safety/Home-Safety/Babies-R-Us-Blind-Cord-Wind-Up-2-Pack(0084790)?cm_mmc=Feed--Google%20Base--N%2FA-_-Babies%20%22R%22%20Us%20Blind%20Cord%20Wind%20Up%20-%202%20Pack if you do have blinds with long cords.
We had made to measure black out blind and then my mum also made some black out linings for the tab top curtains in DS's room. Same for DD. Brilliant - can never go overkill on keeping the little darlings from waking with the sunrise!

Hmm - I knew about the cord risk and safety devices but not about a risk with slats. My youngest looks like he is going to be such a daredevil so I'm envisioning all sorts of mayhem.

I guess I'm a bit stuck with having some kind of black out fabric in some form. But really - blackout rollers, sheers for privacy and curtains so it doesn't look harsh... bah.

There is also a lamppost outside our house. Both DCs (3.9 and 9 months) have blackout roller blinds and curtains with blackout linings.

In DD1's room we've got curtains with blackout blinds & have also stuck a gro blackout blind up too. We can then take it with us when we go away & it's the only blackout blind I could find that was black iyswim!

DD2 has started waking earlier so we're off to get another one soon.

well the blinds were put up yesterday & I was worred that they would block light but they don't. I love them. The walls have been painted white & they're naturally light anyhow. I shut them & they are great for the night - thankfully cos there's a whopping street lamp outside the window!!

HOw about shutters?