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| Sat, 12-24-2005 - 6:57am |
I have a question. For those who have or who have already passed this age. How long did you gate up parts of your house?
For example, I have part of our downstairs gated off. The kids have a play area about 400 sq ft. It includes our family room and what use to be our dining room. The kitchen and bathroom are excluded. This way, I can do my thing as needed and not worry about them.
Well, Austin just had a recent eval. The OT made mention in it that Austin needed to have full roam of his house as it is a safe environment for him to learn in so that he can try out new skills. I can see her point, but i'm not sure i'm ready to give them all that space. i do let them run about during the day, just not all day. and we go upstairs at times too to play. but austin does not seem to recognize the danger in stairs.
in a perfect world, i could watch them all day long. but i can't. and i don't feel they are ready for that much independence.
is the OT making these comments based on her experience with her own NT child? or am i holding back on this? the boys are 2.5 and 3.5. what do you do in your homes?
valerie

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My girls are both 2, the older one will be 3 in February. We have a baby gate going into our kitchen, a door to keep them out of the laundry room which leads to a bathroom and garage. Door knob covers on all bathrooms, doors that lead outside, furnace room doors, bedrooms doors (furniture) ect. We still have a gate at the bottom of our stairs, and a door going down to the basement which also has a door knob cover on it. There is a gate into our living room downstairs which has a fireplace. The girls have a playroom downstairs that I put TWO baby gates up when they are in there. (That is also where the younger one sleeps...*sigh*.) My girls are very restricted about where they can go in the house. They are allowed in that playroom. Then they can pretty much roam the main floor which consists of one living room and the part of the kitchen that isn't gated off. There is also a formal living room that is gated off because that is where the tree is. The door to the laundry room remains shut, and deadbolts are always done on outside doors in addition to the door knob covers and the regular locks. The only furniture on that floor is an entertainment center and a kitchen table. We don't even have chairs in there.. we need to just move the kitchen table!
My kids get to roam on a regular basis when they go to my Mom's one story house, and several other places. But in our house is just isn't practical or safe. We have put into place every safety device possible at this point, but none of those are going to teach a child not to touch the stove, if they just don't get it. I also have to factor in my kid's seizures...we had one that had a seizure at the top of the stairs once and lost all motor control. It is a very good thing I was just below her on the stairs although I was letting her come down by herself. If I hadn't been there to catch her I'm not sure what would have happened.
My older daughter still sleeps in a crib because she prefers it...the younger one began climbing out so we had to put her on just a mattress. That is why she sleeps in the playroom, it is the only "safe" room in our house with no furniture. She seems to prefer it because when she wakes up she can play for a while and have her alone time... that seems to help with her behavior alot.
My personal opinion is that you are the one that takes cares of them, you will be the one dealing with the results of letting them roam. If you don't feel they are ready them don't do it. I have only had bad results doing something a therapist told me to do when I didn't feel my child was ready for it.
But that's just my opinion, and I tend to be very much on the paranoid side. :)
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