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Hi all.
Although my children have grown up and now have children of their own I now have a grandchild that has moved in with us. When bringing up my kids safety was not as it is today, for me it is the fireplace that has become the biggest issue. I have a wood burning stove which is obviously very dangerous for a 2 year old running around and playing.
I have looked at advise from various sources, NHS, Rospa and others but the advise for safety around a fireplace is very limited to just 'put a fire guard around it' and 'install a carbon monoxide detector'. I am after advise on other things that could pose a danger to my Grand daughter, for example, inhaling particles, the stone hearth etc. I found an article which is very good as it is more specific regarding <a href=" removed link " target="_blank" rel="noopener">childproofing my fireplace.
What else do I need to know? Do I just stop using the fire to completely eliminate and risk or am I worrying too much?
hi,
if stove is too much of a risk, you can consider removing it.
some info here:
https://toddleabout.co.uk/parenting/everything-you-need-to-know-about-log-burner-safety-with-kids/
Hi,
When my little one was small, I didn't have a fire place, but I did have a TV mounted on the wall at quite a low height and I was worried about what my child might do to it.
It might seem a bit drastic, but I got a second hand play pen (the kind that is made of 6 or 8 walls and you can configure them how you like)
It was something like this but with less sections (mine had 8)
Anyway I made a barrier out of 4 or 5 sections and attached them to the wall either side of the TV. We lived like that for 2-3 years! (Somehow the TV still got smashed though, bit of a mystery... long story...)
The more sections you have though, the more flexible the middle section will become and my daughter soon learned how to push the barrier and 'flex' it towards the TV. We then had to start filling it with objects to prevent this.. it was a constant battle. Of course, it's not a perfect solution and definitely not ideal!
Also in this case, hot fireplace and plastic barrier... maybe not. (Although the idea is to have a big gap between the fireplace/tv and the barrier). If there are proper fireguards available then I suspect they'd do a better job.
Probably best to not use the stove as well if that's at all an option. I'm no expert, but I'd wager that whether or not there may be harmful particles/gases will be dependent on your own stove, exactly what you burn in it, and how air-tight the installation is. There are a lot of factors and a Carbon Monoxide detector might not be a bad idea anyway (I have one even without a fireplace...)
But if it's an option, I think I'd consider just trying to use it mainly on an evening after she's asleep.
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