Window treatment safety

[drhnp]

Call me paranoid but I worry about DS pulling on window blinds and curtains. What if the whole thing fell on him. Are drapes strangulation hazard?? I took all window treatments off our windows. I am sad to transform my house this way though. Any comments.

[ilovetivo]

bump - i'm thinking about that now too

[alkagift]

Honestly I don't think you have to strip your windows bare to make things safe. I don't see how ordinary draperies could be hazardous. There are things you can do, though.

Most of the hazards involve the cords. If you have transverse draperies (you pull on a cord and they open down the center or on one side) they have cord tie-down pulleys that fasten to the floor or to the bottom of your wall that you can use to keep the cords taught. Here's a pic of one (the long thing):
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/26853.jpg

For blinds, I installed a small cleat at the top of the window frame to wrap the cord around. You can also get "tie downs" for blinds that allow you to screw a thing to the window sill that keeps your blinds from moving up and down. Here's a link to the Levelor safety site: http://www.levelor.com/levolor/consu...d/safety.jhtml

You can remove the blinds and check to see that they are firmly attached to the walls with good screws and anchors (in wallboard). A child shouldn't be able to pull them down. I've had my son play with the bottom of the blinds to try to see outside, but he's never pulled on them. Maybe someone else has a comment about that, but I've not experienced that as a problem at all.

Here's a website where you can get free info on blind safety for kids:
http://www.windowcoverings.org/

Allison
Mommy to Matthew Clayton, who is TWO!