I am NOT a control freak

[miki]

We have some giant windows in our house with horizontal blinds. DD likes to play at the windows and look outside. I always raise the blinds above her reach so she doesn't play with them. The blinds are rather heavy since the window is almost 3 feet wide and more than 5 feet tall. When I raise the blinds, I also put the little rope-thingy that you use to raise and lower out of DD's reach. She loves to play with stuff like that. But I don't want her shaking the rope-thingy around so that she releases the blinds and gets bopped on the head. DH lets her play with it and says I am being a control freak. How is that control-freaky, I ask? Hmmmph.

[amazz]

Um no.. I don't think you are a control freak. I think you are a mom trying to keep her baby safe! And hello those ropes are a choking hazard!!!
Let her suck on a lighter and see if goes control freak on you!! MEN!!!

Angela
EDD 10/15/04
A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on. ~Carl Sandburg

[aguinn]

well, if you are then i am, too!

our blinds are made of cream fabric (the full, "can't see thru them" kind), so i raise our's up in an effort to keep DS from ripping them and getting them all gooky with his saliva-laden little fingers.

besides, the "rope-thingy" could become a strangulation (sp?) hazard if it became wrapped around her neck, somehow.

i'd tell your DH that you'd rather have a happy, playing, safe baby than have to take a trip to the ER because the shade has come crashing down on her head or worse!

;)amy
proud momma to DS

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif One Year & counting...

[lizajane]

please tell DH that all the bbb'ers told you that the rope-thingy is a MAJOR danger to small children and should either be cut off or tied up high so that she can never reach it!!! they are waaaaaaaay scary!!

fwiw, i AM a control freak! LOL! but YOU ARE RIGHT here. those things are a real danger.

[pritchettzoo]

Definitely not. Your DH is telling her it's okay to play with something dangerous. Have you read the horror stories about children (even older than babies) being strangled by blinds? You making the cords off limits (at this age, the only way you can do that is by putting them out of her reach) is smart, not control-freaky.

Anna

[lisams]

I do the exact same thing. It takes a curious little one to hold onto the rope (that gets longer when pulled on), do a few twirlies and have it around their neck in no time flat. Not only that, but if the knot comes undone, the little nubby thing at the end of the rope can come off and is the perfect size to cause choking. Have your DH read the warning in red that is on the underneath of the bottom panel that rests on the windowsill.

You're not a control freak, you're just trying to be safe.
Lisa

[Jeanmick]

Ditto to everything said above!!!! You are NOT a control freak.

[C99]

Is he watching her when she's playing with it? Who has supervisory "control" over your daughter when he lets her play with it?

I agree w/ PPs that it can be a strangulation hazard, but at the same time, I think you need to let your husband be a parent too. I occasionally let Nate play with the blinds cord, while watching him very carefully. He's never bopped himself in the head (heck, *I* can't always lower the blinds) and he mostly likes to see the cause and effect of pulling on the cords. ETA: I never thought about the twirlies thing that another poster mentioned. Maybe I won't let Nate play with the blind cords. I had never thought of that.

[Bethann31]

When I was student teaching in a special education class in MO a hundred years ago, I had a student in class whose current Individual Education Plan (IEP) gave his Present Level of Educational Performance (PLEP) as "vital signs are stable." This child was brought into school every day on a stretcher by his mom. Until a toddler, he had been a perfectly healthy little boy. One day, he played with the blinds and got caught in the "rope thingy." By the time they got him loose, he had been deprived of oxygen long enough to put him in a semi-vegetative state. Now he spent his days having cotton balls with strong scents put under his nose, working on getting a reaction, to show that he still had brain functioning. It was one of the saddest cases I have ever worked with, before or since.

NO, you are NOT overreacting or being a control freak. I didn't just tell that story to scare people, only to remind them that it really is terribly dangerous to leave those ropes hanging.

Beth

Josh 3/90
Mollie 4/92
Jeffrey 12/94
and Katherine 6/03

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030604/3/4/1/-5/.png