My DH is a scientist. He has a TON of books. I plan on teaching my son to respect books but he is recently mobile (rolling to get places) and I can't reason with a 4 month old. :giggle2:
So is there anything I can use to block off or child proof a bookcase so that my son will not destroy all the books?
I should say that moving the books out of the room is not an option. I did mention that I am married to a scientist and to know one you know that they tend to live in libraries (not the public kind either).
Thank you for your help!
Jennifer
4dramamama
02-17-2009, 12:51 PM
Are the bookcases in a room that you can avoid?
What we do is place the touchables within reach and the untouchables out of reach. When they are still very young we refer to those upper books and make sure that the child knows which books are theirs and which are not. That way when they get old enough to reach the higher books they will also have a strong understanding that they cannot handle the upper books.
wimama
02-17-2009, 01:38 PM
You could box up the ones he is not currently referring to and put them somewhere out of reach or on a higher shelf. Put things the baby can touch or books that are not as important on lower shelves.
One word of cation though, bookcases and other tall furniture can be a safety hazard to little ones once they learn how to climb. Be sure to put safety anchors on any tall bookcases. My DS quite easily climbed his book rack to reach books on the top shelf. I don't let him climb it. But when I turn my back, he can climb it quickly. And we had the book rack and his dresser anchored to the wall.
4dramamama
02-17-2009, 01:57 PM
One word of cation though, bookcases and other tall furniture can be a safety hazard to little ones once they learn how to climb. Be sure to put safety anchors on any tall bookcases. My DS quite easily climbed his book rack to reach books on the top shelf. I don't let him climb it. But when I turn my back, he can climb it quickly. And we had the book rack and his dresser anchored to the wall.
Very good point. This will help a lot of people if they heed your warning.
Monzie
02-17-2009, 02:03 PM
I have an English degree and used to work at the library, so we have a similar problem around here. Our den has two full walls of floor-to-ceiling bookcases. I haven't moved all of the books out of my son's reach, but I did move the majority of the stuff on the bottom two shelves. I replaced them with fabric totes for my son's toys. I also made one of them into a special shelf for some of his books. I occasionally catch him wandering around the house with one of my books. (Its pretty funny... He seems to have a fondness for Thoreau because I catch him carrying Walden around a lot.) None of the books within reach are irreplaceable treasures or anything, so I don't freak out about it. I just explain to him that that those are Mommy's books and he needs to be gentle with them. Then I replace the book on the shelf and hand him one of the board books from his area.
3 ladybugs
02-17-2009, 03:03 PM
I have an English degree and used to work at the library, so we have a similar problem around here. Our den has two full walls of floor-to-ceiling bookcases. I haven't moved all of the books out of my son's reach, but I did move the majority of the stuff on the bottom two shelves. I replaced them with fabric totes for my son's toys. I also made one of them into a special shelf for some of his books. I occasionally catch him wandering around the house with one of my books. (Its pretty funny... He seems to have a fondness for Thoreau because I catch him carrying Walden around a lot.) None of the books within reach are irreplaceable treasures or anything, so I don't freak out about it. I just explain to him that that those are Mommy's books and he needs to be gentle with them. Then I replace the book on the shelf and hand him one of the board books from his area.
Doesn't that effect the stability of the shelf?:headscratch:
FairyBeautifulMama
02-17-2009, 03:14 PM
We have the same problem, but its with DVDs and not books. DH has over 300 DVDs (really) and they are on these 8 foot towers on each side of the TV. Our simple solution to keep DS from climbing them and playing with the DVDs was we got one of those baby play yard gates. The ones that make big circles. We have it in front of the TV system so he cant get to them. It also keeps him from pressing buttons on the cable box. You might be able to do that for now.
Ami in Deutschland
02-17-2009, 03:38 PM
My DH is a physician, so we have a ton of books. We've got all the bookshelves anchored to the walls. The book room is generally off-limits, but DS1 doesn't seem that interested in the books in there for some reason. The living room shelf has large books on the bottom two shelves that are very tightly shelved. DS1 basically has to pry out the one book that is smaller first to get to the other ones. That slowed down his exploration of that shelf. Next to the bookshelf, the lower part of the DVD shelf has DS1's books and DVDs. If he gets into DH's books, I redirect him to his own. Upstairs, we cleared the lower two shelves and put DS1's diapers and books on them.
ETA: You could just get glass doors for the bookshelves and add a baby lock.
missdawn25
02-17-2009, 03:51 PM
I have seen babay gates you can make into odd shapes that you could put around the bookcase to make it off limits until your Dc is a littleolder.
mcpforever
02-17-2009, 03:54 PM
Doesn't that effect the stability of the shelf?:headscratch:
This is why you anchor it to the wall and put those heavy wooden blocks and toys on the bottom shelf. :goodvibes:
We have the bottom shelf of our bookcase with those heavy toys, next shelf up is children's board books, next shelf up after that is kid's books, then our stuff.
Monzie
02-17-2009, 04:52 PM
Doesn't that effect the stability of the shelf?:headscratch:
My shelf units are massive, oak, and screwed together. It would take an earthquake to tip them over. If I had regular pressboard units, though, they'd definitely be anchored to the wall before I'd unload the bottom shelves.
3 ladybugs
02-18-2009, 06:55 AM
My shelf units are massive, oak, and screwed together. It would take an earthquake to tip them over. If I had regular pressboard units, though, they'd definitely be anchored to the wall before I'd unload the bottom shelves.
Oh I see. We are planning on putting in built-in's in our living room but have yet to do so. I guess I will just have to put my son in a play pen till I can figure out what to do about the shelving. :headscratch:
