Is a 4ft fence safe enough?

[Aubergina]

We have a 4ft fence separating our back garden from the one behind and there's a difference in height, meaning that a fall could be quite dangerous, We would rather not increase the height of the fence as it would disrupt our nice view, but I'm worried about safety. Although I know 4ft is the recommended minimum height for pool fences etc so perhaps I'm overthinking it?

DS is 2 and hasn't shown much interest in climbing so far but I know that could change. Would cat spikes help? The blunt ones obviously, I wouldn't want him to be able to cut himself. Or will education and supervision be enough? Although I do need the garden to be safe enough to leave him unattended for short periods.

Bump

Plant a row of spikes bushes along the fence to deter

Are you wanting to keep your child in or others out?

I never had any problems with the children climbing any fences, whether 3 foot or 6 foot, but I can't vouch for your child!!

plant pyracantha or brambles if you want to stop climbing.
or add a bit of trellis on top of the fence.

You're overthinking it, it's fine

We have a 4 foot fence, though without the drop, so worst case scenario would be DS massing around in next doors garden. He's never tried to clime it, at 2 he wouldn't have managed it anyway he's now 4 and probably could but isn't outside alone for long enough to. I'm thinking that by the time he's old enough to go out by himself, he'll be old enough to know not to climb it. Though he also has a 6foot climbing fraim, so could do more damage falling off that then the fence. They go from small and delicate to surprisingly robust quite quickly.

Only one of mine was a climber, and he was climbing before he was walking - as soon as he could crawl, he essentially crawled vertically as much as horizontally, and I was retrieving him from above my head height hourly by ten months old. Before he turned one I remember putting him down on the ground on a beautiful August day (near a tree...) to help his then four year old brother whod fallen off his bike and he shimmied up the tree before I even saw, literally in a matter of seconds. At preschool I was called in because he climbed the two meter high garden fence to retrieve another kid's football - he wasn't interested in football but was very helpful and they caught him coming back in ...

If you have a climber it makes no difference whether a fence is four feet or eight feet, so raising the fence probably won't help except by giving you an extra second to get to him...

If he's 2 already and has no language delay then you can teach him about danger, and reinforce daily. Toddlers are of course wildly unpredictable so you do need to have half an eye on him outside most of the time.

As suggested by others, I'd definitely consider putting a border of quite bushy, dense plants in front of the fence to create a barrier. Make sure you do your homework first and avoid ones with berries or sharp spikes ...you don't want to replace the fear of your child climbing with the fear of them poisoning themselves! There are plenty of really colourful plants that'll suit

Spikes on top of the fence to deter your child?
Surely there a recipe for disaster?
😲

*that's

Thanks, these messages are reassuring

We have these ones and they do stop next door's kids from climbing over the fence

www.primrose.co.uk/fence-and-wall-spikes-black-cat-repellent-security-spikes-pestbye-p-82412.html