Parents of multiple young children, your help is needed!

[Sian1989]

Hi,

Just a quick introduction, my name is Sian and I am a final year design student at Loughborough University. A large part of the final year consists of a major design project. The idea for my design is based around stairgates and this is where your help is required.

My initial thoughts, after observing a family friend with 3 children under 3 years, is that a stairgate is very fiddly when you've got your hands ful, whether that be with children, washing, bags etc. One that requires no hands to open would be very helpful in this situation. At the moment, the design is in very early stages and I need to gain a little bit of an insight into users needs.

Is this something that you feel would be helpful?

Do you find that you have to make more trips up and down the stairs as you cannot operate the stair gate without leaving a hand free?

Would it be something that you would pay for?

What is important to you when choosing a stairgate?

Is there anything would change about your current stairgate?

I would appreciate as much help and input as possible, any comments are helpful!

Many thanks in advance,

Sian

Hi Sian, when my twins were born I had a 2yr old and a 3yr old as well so know about having my hands full. My twins are now 8 months and at the lovely crawl everywhere stage.

Not sure if you do a search but there was someone with a similar idea at one point, they had chosen a gate that with a touch of button would operate like a turnstile, I seem to recall it got a very negative response.

Is this something that you feel would be helpful?

possibly but I would want to see it in action first.

Do you find that you have to make more trips up and down the stairs as you cannot operate the stair gate without leaving a hand free?

not really, for instance if moving the twins I only carry one at a time on my stairs for safety. I only have gates upstairs at present, they can be opened with one finger so even if my arms are full with washing not really a issue.

Would it be something that you would pay for?

possibly, I would have to really be impressed though as my gates are fine already

What is important to you when choosing a stairgate?

That it fits properly and is secure, that it is difficult to climb and cannot be opened by the said child I wish to contain.

Is there anything would change about your current stairgate?

I now have the dilemma that should I place a gate at the bottom of my stairs I restrict access to my 2yr old and 4yr old who are used to going upstairs especially to the bathroom or ther room to play, now if you could design one that enabled them access but kept the twins safe I would pay a small ransom.

Good luck

Thank you so much for your help =]
If you could point other friends in the direction of my post I'd really appreciate it!

Hello,

Just a quick update, I am now developing my stair gate concept and would be very much appreciative if you could fill in my questionnaire below. It won't take more than a few minutes and it would benefit me greatly in the next stage of my project.

Many thanks

Sian

FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=mjj7c0fwknuv5pl847866

sian... that link just brings me to an 'incorrect page' error message.

try using the hyperlink function: no space link address space link name no space

In my case although i'd have loved a gate that required no hands i doubt it's possible to design one like that that kids can't open themselves.

Like insanity i found that when ds2 was crawling i would have liked a gate at the bottom of the stairs but unfortunately this meant my, at the time 4 and 3 year old, elder children couldn't get up and down the stairs which was a nuisance so we went without.

mjj7c0fwknuv5pl847866

nope, still says it's an incorrect survey link

Copy and paste this? It just worked for me...

FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=mjj7c0fwknuv5pl847866

The issue is with MN, a space is being put between p?sid= and mjj7c0fwknuv5pl847866

If you could remove this when posting the link to your browser it should work.

Sorry for all the hassle!

Your help is much appreciated :)

Done

survey here if anyone else is interested.

Thank you very much! :)