How to childproof DVD and VCR which are at child height

[naomi01]

Hi everyone,

After much indecision we purchased a low TV stand and used brackets to latch it to the wall, and furniture straps to tie the TV to the stand! That all worked out rather well in the end. The problem is the TV stand has a nice cut out which will nicely fit the DVD and VCR players if we can only work out how to protect them from DS... I had originally thought the "DVD Guard" and "VCR Guard" would be good for this - however they seem to be just plexiglass velcroed on to the players which needs to be unvelcroed each time to put a tape in, and is particularly annoying when we had wanted to stack them. Has anyone come up with any other solutions?

I even tried looking for a single plexiglass shield to cover the entire cutout in the tv stand which I hoped would be less fiddly than the two stacked velcroed guards... no luck. If I had thought of this earlier we might have bought a different stand!

Naomi
DS 12/02/02

[sntm]

naomi,
my DH built some china cabinets and bought plexiglass or acrylic or something for the window portion, i think from Lowe's. They cut it to fit and the edges weren't sharp. Maybe look into that and then affix velcro yourself to it and the stand?


shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03

[naomi01]

I'll try Lowe's!

Thanks,

Naomi
DS 12/02/02

I don't know how wide your TV and stand are.

I have a 32" TV with matching stand and was faced with the same problem. I hit upon a simple solution of using 3 sections from a Superyard XT

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg.../-/B00004RA66/

to create a freestanding fence in front of the TV.

The 3 sections of the fence form a U shape that slides in front of the TV and prevents access to both the front of the DVD and VCR players as well as any access to the wires and plugs in the back. The 3 pieces stand up on their own when formed into a U shape and the baby can't knock them over or move them.

It's ugly, but easily picked up and moved when company comes.

I actually bought a 2nd superfence XT because I found it so useful for babyproofing and wanted the second one to use as a play-pen in my home office.

[naomi01]

The TV stand is actually fairly low (intentionally so DS could watch) and the superyard would come too high up.... thanks for the tip though, I will keep it in mind for other things.
Naomi

Naomi,

I just wanted to add that we have those DVD and VCR guards, and they are basically useless. DD has no problem lifting them up and even somehow manages to press the buttons through the guard. My favorite is when she manages to press the DVD open/close button, and the tray starts sliding out but is then caught by the plexiglass. Argh.

DH and I basically gave up on trying to childproof this stuff (we tried some other things too)--nothing seemed to work...for a while she drove us crazy pressing the buttons, but now she that she's seemed to have mastered all the buttons she doesn't seem quite as interested...and I think she is also **starting** to understand that we don't like it when she messes with it.

Are there doors to the TV stand? Did the baby already figure out how to open the doors to the TV stand?

We bought media stands with glass doors on them, which seem to work for now. I'm wondering if I'll be looking forward to the day when she figures out how to open those doors.

1st time mom to Maya the Mighty b. 3/2003

[naomi01]

There was only a cutout for the DVD and VCR, no doors at all. As per above suggestion (thanks!) we installed a plexiglass door (it is in the playroom and I didn't want DS throwing his blocks at glass) and then locked it with a child lock (like for a dishwasher). SO far it has worked okay (one day he seemed to work out how to open it but he hasn't repeated the skill... thank goodness). If he does it again we will be putting a more serious lock!

Naomi
DS 12/02/02