toddler/speakers revisited

[snoozeboy]

Dear all

My 1 year old has just developed a talent for swinging on my old school, "wooden-box" type speakers.

My fronts are on fairly sturdy Mission stands, rears are higher up and more top heavy on Gale Arc 160 stands.

I've read the earlier post
Speaker Advice - Young Children
and found some helpful tips there, but I'm wondering if there's anything else I can do.

For the rears, it looks as though I'm stuck with ditching the stands and wall mounting. For the fronts, any ideas regarding sticking the bottom of the stands to a wooden floor via sticky pads, blu-tack?

Or am I just getting desperate?

Maybe I should resign myself the fact that I'm a dad and buy a lightweight satellite/sub rig to use for the next few years. Problem is, when I browse these type rigs I inevitably end up looking at new cabinet setups.

[Mark.Yudkin]

You need to educate your wife. She has to jump up and move your child away from all equipment (speakers, TV, etc) as soon as he gets too close, with a firm "don't touch" (no violence!).

We had 3 children (the youngest is now 17) and no problems other than their liking to turn volume controls and flick switches, which was solved by glass doors on the hifi cabinet. There were also 1500 LPs in open shelving in easy reach.

[BlueWizard]

I think the solution is not to modify your speakers but to modify your kids. It also doesn't hurt to keep a close eye on them. I mean you can teach your dog to scratch at the door when he needs to go outside, you can train your cat to use the litter box, certainly your 1 year old is as smart as a cat or a dog.

Teach him, with consequences and the rest of your family's cooperation, that these speakers are off-limits.

Again cooperation is important. Your wife may not be concerned about your speakers, but you can bet she is johnny on the spot when her possessions are threatened. You need to be willing to assist to train your kids not to mess with her stuff, and she needs to be willing to assist in protecting your stuff. Just remind her that a huge chunk of money goes out the window if these speakers are damaged, money that will therefore subsequently not be available for her to buy shoes.

And that is what this is about, training your kids. Kids can't grow up on autopilot. They need limits and boundaries. They need to learn to respect, but by extension, they also need to be respected.

Also, keep in mind, that should he take a similar liking to your TV, he might very well pull it over on himself. There is a minor element of protecting your equipment, but there is a greater element of protecting your kids. How heavy are these speakers, and how much is it going to hurt if he pulls one down on his head? Or the TV. Or any other similar heavy objects in your house that you haven't thought about ... free standing bookshelves, lamps, small tables, etc... ad infinitum.

If your stands are filled with sand or lead shot, it is unlikely that he can tip them over, but that doesn't mean he can't drag the speaker off on top of himself.

So, again, it's best to train early and train hard, and hold a consistent front against the onslaught of youthful exuberance, keeping in mind that the youthful exuberance isn't going to stop for another 18 years... or so.

Steve/bluewizard

[snoozeboy]

Thanks for your replies.

However, without getting into a discussion on parenting, I should point out that the toddler is one-year-old. At that age, they don't understand right from wrong. They just like to swing on things as they find their feet.

Regarding the dog analogy, I've had a dog and it shat on the floor several times before it learnt to scratch at the door. That's a lot of speakers ;-)

I suppose there's a balance between keeping a watchful eye and not turning the house into a deathtrap.

I'll do the discipline thing, but in the farrly short meantime until she starts to understand, I'm going to bolt everything down - the speakers are bolted to the stands and stands will be bolted to 600x600x20 MDF (or maybe something prettier) as per the previous thread. The 50", 50kg plasma is bolted to the wall (but that was for aesthetics as well as safety) ;-)

Thanks again for your replies - I have a way forward in my head and that's exactly what I was looking for.

[MumboJumbo]

I suppose a barbed wire perimetre is going a little to far.

I would also like to say that don't think you cannot educate a 1year old. They really can learn a lot at that age.. Mine is now two years old but I remember just how amazed at how quick at one he was learning things.. Although I would perhaps not want to risk any damage to the child from a falling speaker.

[Mark.Yudkin]

However, without getting into a discussion on parenting, I should point out that the toddler is one-year-old. At that age, they don't understand right from wrong. They just like to swing on things as they find their feet.

As I said, we had 3 children, a CRT TV, a pair of ESL-63s, 1500 LPs, as well as plants, etc. 1 year olds are are lot more intelligent than you're giving credit, and they learn a lot faster than we can.

[blue max 2]

Keep them out of the room unless supervised. I guard mine under pain of death, but don't have floorstanders any more. I'm building a cabinet to house three centre channel speakers horizontally, so that may be an option, albeit an expensive one

It's a shame speakers are in some ways incredibly fragile. Knocking my old B&W 603 floorstanders over onto carpet always meant they needed repairs (to the cabinet, not the speakers themselves).

I'll leave the child psychology to others

Graham

[BlueWizard]

Actually, I was going to suggest the idea of enlarging the base on the stand and bolting things down, but wasn't sure how receptive you or your wife would be to the idea. Still, if you are OK with it, it is a nice way to child-proof that aspect of your house.

Still, you need to teach you child. I have a nephew who has a one year old son, and they can be bundles of energy and faster than superman on meth, but they can, do, and must learn.

This also applies to the suggestion of simply keeping them out of the room if unsupervised. If that is all you do, you aren't really teaching them anything. Certainly do that, but when you are in the room with them, continue to re-enforce the idea that these speakers (and other electronic equipment) are off limits. There actually have been several children injured by pulling TV's over on themselves.

Even if you child-proof your speakers, you still want to teach the kids that these are expensive objects that are off limits to sticky dirty cone poking fingers. It would set a very bad precedent if you let your child swing on your speaker simply because you thought they were child-proof.

Good luck ... you're going to need it .