Furniture Safety

My Target bookcases that I have three of, came with attachments to secure the bookcase to the wall. I never used them. Maybe I was naive. But after I read a story about a woman that lost a young child, I went out and bought protection to secure every tall piece of furniture to the wall.

This woman’s child was quietly playing in her room until it was “time to wake up.” When her parents finally got up, they discovered their child underneath her dresser. They never heard her scream because a drawer was on her neck. She couldn’t scream. 

Little JCrew is usually always accompanied by us while he plays, but there are times we give him freedom to play independently. This kid loves to climb and I know once he transitions out of the crib, there may be nap times or mornings when he gets out of bed to play without supervision.

The funny part to this story is that I ordered WAY too many. There was no picture of the packaging or a description to say that one package had 8 sets. Two pieces on each furniture means one package could secure four pieces of furniture. I ordered 13 packages! Luckily they are cheap. I ordered from Diapers.com and they allowed me to return 10 packages. Whoa! I knew something was wrong when my shipping confirmation said it weighed 10+ pounds. I just had to laugh at my oversight.

It took me one nap time (1.5 hours) to go around the house and secure all the furniture to the wall. I didn’t want to put extra holes in my wall and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to rearrange furniture any time soon. But the price of safety outweighs the holes in the wall.

The product description stated how you can unlock it to move the furniture to clean around it. This was good to know, since I move my furniture when I vacuum and sweep (yeah, right! I should.) I even put it on the furniture that appears heavy. You never know if a 20-30 pound toddler can be just enough weight to tilt a 100-lb chest of drawers. 

I now have the peace of mind that I’ve done what I can to keep my children safe. You have to let kids live a little, but keep them safe at the same time.