How Did We Survive?

LPN1974, LPN · Apr 6, 2006

We didn't have all that when I was little either.

I don't have a baby, but I do have a dog, and I wanted a gate to keep him contained in one part of the house while I was away at work.

I bought a plastic mesh gate to start with and he just chewed right thru that.

I bought a second gate, that had metal mesh, but he tore that one up, too.

Now I have a much stronger gate, it is made out of stronger metal bars, no wood on it at all. It has a middle section that swings like a real gate.

The other two, I had to take it down or climb over it if I wanted to get thru.

He has this one scratched up but so far he hasn't been able to destroy it.

Just thought I'd give you my 2 cents worth on gates.

CoolhandHutch, MSN, RN · Apr 6, 2006

I used to ride standing on the console between my parents in the car....then when my dad bought that green 1978 station wagon OH BOY, all kids in the very back for a picnic!

You're right. It's amazing we survived.

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · Apr 6, 2006

Its funny. I had a baby not too long ago and am starting to think about safety proofing stuff and worrying about the kid messing w/ the rottweiler, (not the rottweiler messing w/ the kid, lol, she is pretty old) Back in the 70's when I learned to walk there weren't any corner protectors that were stuck on furnature, gates at the tops of steps, etc. Actually, DH has a scar above his left eye from falling into an end table with a corner on it as a child. But I do remember the skull and cross bones stickers that were put on chemicals. They were later changed to the Mr. Yuck stickers. I mentioned to my dh that we should get some rugs to put over our hardwood floors so it doesn't hurt so much when dd falls learning to walk. He looked at me like I was crazy and told me the house he grew up in had hardwood floors and he turned out ok. Think of the old playgrounds we used to play in. There was gravel on the ground below the monkey bars, jungle gyms and swings! Merry go rounds were wooden and we got splinters. No plastic covers on the metal chains on the swings. We did not wear helmets when biking. I can go on. (But I don't want to bore you!) HOW did we survive?

TazziRN, RN · Apr 6, 2006

*giggle* Kind of off topic, but when I had my baby two years ago both grandmas visited me in the hospital at the same time one day. This is my mom's first grandchild, my MIL's third but the other two were teens. When the baby needed a diaper change both of them jumped up to share the task, so I handed them a diaper and a package of baby wipes. They both looked at the wipes, at me, and said "What's this?"

P_RN, ADN, RN · Apr 6, 2006

My kids have scars all over. My son has one on his knee where he tripped over an outside faucet and the threads on the bibb cut his knee in 3 parallel lines, he also fell from a rack the was for 50 gallon barrels and a chin scar from hitting the coffee table.

My daughter has a chin scar from a sliding board that wasn't curved at the end.

Now I have a huge scar and a stiff dip joint on my left index finger from cutting a rubber ball to make an eyeball for 8th grade science class. I was scared to show my folks so I managed it with band aids and popsicle sticks. How on earth DID we survive?

One suggestion about a baby gate is we had a screen door with lucite in the bottom panel to separate the critters from Mama's bedroom. It looks great and like it was part of the house plans already.

April1rn · Apr 6, 2006

I was thinking about this not long ago because a friend of mine is pregnant. I told her don't read all the baby books or you will just drive yourself insane...lol. When I had my son, I read them all and man I had every safety device you could buy. Locks on doors, toilets, appliances, cabinets; corner bumpers, socket plugs, baby gates....it was crazy. My Mom hated coming to my house because she could never figure out how to open my cabinets...lol.

I can remember riding on my father's lap in the car when we drove out to the lake as a kid. Remember many bicycle wrecks that I survived with no helmut. Even got bit by a couple of dogs, lived through that too. You would be amazed how resiliant children are....lol. Don't know what kind of dog you have that you want to seperate it from the baby, but the best thing I did was had hubby bring home blanket that baby was wrapped in at hospital and let my dog sleep with it (I was in hospital for 3 days due to C-Section). So when we brought my son home he just thought he was wonderful. My dog is one year older than my son. Son is now 9 and there the best of friends. If you feel you need a gate, and you know better than anyone, just make sure it is one that opens easily; it's a big pain stepping over them. Good luck and congrats!!!!!:balloons:

Jolie, BSN · Apr 6, 2006

When my oldest was about a year old, we were in the peds office for a check-up. The ped was asking questions about developmental milestones and house hold safety, and specifically asked if we had a baby gate at both the top and bottom of the stairs. Then he started to chuckle, and said that he didn't know why in the world he bothered to ask that question. He said he'd never cared for a child who had been seriously hurt by a tumble down the stairs, but knew of a few parents in his practice who had broken bones tripping over the darn things :).

gr8rnpjt, RN · Apr 6, 2006

I used to ride standing on the console between my parents in the car....then when my dad bought that green 1978 station wagon OH BOY, all kids in the very back for a picnic!
You're right. It's amazing we survived.

That is so funny! When I was growing up we had one of those Volkswagen campers. My brother would sit in the front with my mom and I remember him always standing on the front seat. He actually fell asleep in that position before. He never fell over and we never had an accident, thank God! I don't know how we survived!

melanie1126 · Apr 6, 2006

I used to ride standing on the console between my parents in the car....then when my dad bought that green 1978 station wagon OH BOY, all kids in the very back for a picnic!
You're right. It's amazing we survived.

I remember lying on the ledge between the back seat and the rear glass. My brother & I would also play "bridge" - we'd have our heads on the back seat and our feet on the headrest of the front seats, suspending ourselves over the backseat. I can also remember riding in the back of a pickup truck. Yikes! :uhoh21:

MissJoRN, RN · Apr 6, 2006

My mom brags that I never got into anything I wasn't supposed to... all she had to do was say NO, so why bother childproofing? I seriously wonder though if I was ever let out of that playpen?? They didn't child proof the house, just the kids! Can't wait to see her babysitting style!?

Now I'm obsessed with getting the best corificeat for extended rearfacing, etc (life as a peds nurse has taught me to see the world as trauma waiting to happen) and my dad is rolling his eyes because my cousin still makes her 18 mos olds sit in corificeats! "Aren't they too old for that? Stupid laws" Dad, at least she lets her kids face forward... wait till you see my car, LOL. But of course we didn't have seatbelts! And pop-out seats in the floor of the station wagon! And nobody thought twice about letting us ride in the back of the pick-up, or even in the trailer with the horses, LOL.

I miss "real" playground equipment, though. OK I get replacing the asphalt with rubber chips, etc... but taking away the monkey bars and sliding boards that were actually fun! Poor kids.

I think some of the childproofing stuff is good to have but so is good, common sense parenting. I once admitted a 4 y/o child for accidental ingestion of "some kind of pink pills" at 12:30 at night. Same kid had been brought to the ER earlier that night for another accidental ingestion. Maybe cabinet latches would have helped, but I think what that kid really needed was supervision and positive attention prior to a reasonable bedtime!

babynurselsa, RN · Apr 6, 2006

Well kids are funny. You can lock up, gate up everything and sometimes they will still find a way.

Plug covers are always a good idea. You would be suprised at the number of things that will fit in that little opening. You can find these at the Dollar store.

We just practice a lot of closed doors around here.

I keep all of my cleaners etc in a high cabinet in the laundry room or under the sink with a cabinet lock. Last week little man just took the soap bottle OFF THE BACK OF THE RUG SHAMPOOER and took a swig.

We gated the stairs but he had a sixth sense any time you left it open even for a second. He could understand anything said that meant going upstairs and beat a path to the gate to make sure he got to go up too.

Lock up what you gotta, remember that you gotta go to the bathroom sometime and baby is just waiting you out to get into/onto something.