Moms with small children--is this piece of furniture a bad idea?

[Heidi]

I saw this last night at Crate & Barrel and really love it. Crate & Barrel Pasadena Cabinet (http://www.crateandbarrel.com/itemgroups/4462_1.asp?query=viewall)
We have no children yet, but are expecting our first in March. DH was worried that the glass panels on the bottom might be dangerous when children are around. This piece of furniture would be in our living room, where the TV and sofa are and where kids would spend most of their time. I do recognize that the glass on the lower 2 cabinets will likely be constantly covered with sticky handprints, and that alone may be enough to keep me from buying it :rolleyes:, but do you think it is really dangerous? I've never had to think about child-friendly furniture before!

[MusicMom]

The only danger I can think of is pinched fingers when curious hands lift and lower the doors.

We had a stereo cabinet with glass doors when DS was small and we taught him to stay away from it- just like we taught him to stay away from the oven.

[RunnerKim]

We have a bookcase that looks similar to this - we call it a "barrister" bookcase. It has led to one or two pinched fingers but nothing significant at all. More worried about Lainey banging the doors than anything. We don't get in it all that often and she doesn't pay much attention to it at all (it's in our living living room). Not any worse than the drawers in our kitchen that she's closed on her fingers or the small chest of drawers that she's banged her head on. Things to worry about are if a child can pull a piece of furniture over on themselves (pull all the drawers out, climb on it etc.) I think you'll be able to manage this one fine.

Kim

[Juli B]

I don't think it looks too dangerous. It is hard to tell how thick the glass is from the picture, but it doesn't look like something a little one could break too easily. I think sticky fingerprints will be your bigger problem!

[Escher]

My boys have taken to hammering their blocks on the tv screen. Mercifully, it's held. I'd be worried about the glass breaking in, and scratches to the wood, but I'd bet it's safer to the baby than a standard (and climbable) bookshelf.

[MISSINDI]

We had the same type of bookcase when my stepdaughter was a lot younger now (2-3 years old) and she never went near it. There's always going to be something they're curious about, and it's not always the most obvious thing. Our two-year-old went through a phase of putting DVDs in the DVD player, and not in the right slots, of course. Luckily that's over with. He was also real curious with our gas fireplace, but accidentally touched it one time and felt the heat and that, also, was enough. Good luck!

[rosie_one]

missindi, yes, exactly heh.

You reminded me of the time DS decided that graham crackers would fit very nicely into the vcr slot. Small children just never are predictable. Good thing they're cute!

[MISSINDI]

Originally posted by rosie_one
missindi, yes, exactly heh.

You reminded me of the time DS decided that graham crackers would fit very nicely into the vcr slot. Small children just never are predictable. Good thing they're cute!

Yup -- and YOUR story reminded me of this one. Going back some 7 years, my computer in my home office stopped working all of the sudden. I spent LOTS of time trying to troubleshoot and figure out what was going wrong, called Compaq on the phone, AOL, etc. No one could make it work. Luckily it was still under warranty, so I found a local place that would take a look at it. Dropped it off, and the next day, they called me and told me it was fixed and come on down. I went to go pick it up, and the guy handed me a photo strip (you know, those pics you get for a buck down the shore) of me and a friend of mine. I asked where he got that, and he pointed to my hard drive. My stepdaughter, who was 3 at the time, had shoved it in there. Not happy, but hey, it could have been worse. Had it been a drink or snack, it wouldn't have been so "fixable."

Moving past the DVD player, now our two-year-old has taken to "cooking" with me. He loves to watch the mixer go, and I let him help stir occasionally. He's quick though, as soon as I turn my back, something else is going into the batter that was NOT part of the recipe, which I have to scoop out and salvage. Ah, ya gotta love 'em!

OK, no more hijacking, I promise. ;)

[Jazzmatazz49]

I hate to break this to you, but I had lots more furniture accidents when my boys were teenagers than when they were little...

[Escher]

My nephew, within about 5 seconds of arriving at our front door, toddled over to our compuer, ejected the cd tray, then forcibly ripped the whole tray out.

The efficiency at which he moved was breathtaking. It was if he was programmed to do that from birth.

[Gecko]

Originally posted by rosie_one
missindi, yes, exactly heh.

You reminded me of the time DS decided that graham crackers would fit very nicely into the vcr slot. Small children just never are predictable. Good thing they're cute!

Do you remember the American Express ad where the dad tells his son that the VCR "eats" the tapes and the next time the dad tries to use the machine and pushes the eject button oatmeal comes oozing out? Apparently the little boy thought the machine looked hungry so he shared his breakfast with it. Amex was plugging the extended warrantee or something that you get when using their card to purchase stuff. LOL!

Anyway sorry to hijack the thread. I think the bookcase looks fine. I guess I just kept telling mine as they grew up not to touch things. In the end this made it way easier as we never had to worry about anyone putting stuff out of their reach when we came to visit. Someone did tell me once about brackets that you can purchase to attach bookcases and cabinets to the wall so they don't tumble over, so you might want to consider that.

[jellyben]

It really depends on the child. I have 3 kids, and they each have had items that they are attracted to/determined to destroy. I personally would avoid glass, but that's just me!

[Chefzhat]

You should have no problem. It's really nice - good choice!

Just to reiterate a point made earlier - these tall pieces of furniture should really be anchored to the wall behind it, or the front legs placed on chocks so that that little ones don't pull it over. The weight of the item is inconsequential - if its taller than it is wide then pulling it over is a real possibility.

Just a thought from the neurotic member of the crowd!

[lhall]

Originally posted by Chefzhat
You should have no problem. It's really nice - good choice!

Just to reiterate a point made earlier - these tall pieces of furniture should really be anchored to the wall behind it, or the front legs placed on chocks so that that little ones don't pull it over. The weight of the item is inconsequential - if its taller than it is wide then pulling it over is a real possibility.

Just a thought from the neurotic member of the crowd!

Debie has a good point. The only concern I see is the possibility that your child will/could pull the bookcase over. What you need are some furniture anchors. You will find them in the safety section of the baby store. You use two anchors for each piece of furniture. They attach to back of the piece of furniture and then to the wall. You will have to screw them into the back of your furniture, but it should not be noticable from the front.

Leigh

[Heidi]

Thanks for the input, everyone (and the funny stories, too! :)) The thought of the wall anchors never even crossed my mind, so I'm so glad you mentioned them!

[AnnaSue]

Originally posted by Chefzhat
You should have no problem. It's really nice - good choice!

Just to reiterate a point made earlier - these tall pieces of furniture should really be anchored to the wall behind it, or the front legs placed on chocks so that that little ones don't pull it over. The weight of the item is inconsequential - if its taller than it is wide then pulling it over is a real possibility.

Just a thought from the neurotic member of the crowd!

Not neurotic at all! I wish I had known about those furniture anchors. My son pulled what I thought was a stable dresser over onto himself this morning! Fortunately I was right there and prevented most of the dresser from hitting him, but one of the drawers still got his forehead and left two giant lumps.:( I'm feeling like a terrible mom right now!:(

[lhall]

Annasue,

Don't feel bad, the same thing happened to me. We'd anchored the bookshelves in DD1's room, but not the dresser/changing table. It seemed stable and is wider than it is tall. Well, I had to go buy another set of anchors after she almost pulled the dresser over on herself!

Leigh