Your children are your most precious asset, so protecting them comes naturally, but you can’t remember to babyproof everything by yourself. Your living room isn’t supposed to be a scary place, so making sure it is safe and secure will help ease your mind and let you enjoy family time even more.
Here are some tips and tricks to help you get your television, stand and entire entertainment center ready so the little explorers in your life won’t have cords to pull on or precious heirlooms to knock over.
Tips For Baby and Child Proofing Your TV/TV Stand:
It is estimated that between 2013 and 2015, there were almost 12,000 injuries related to televisions falling over, and within those injuries, more than 60% happened to children under the age of 5 years old, with the majority being children aged 2 to 3 years old. Here are some ways you can help keep your child safe from common dangers that could occur near your television:
- Mount Your TV On Wall: Mounting your TV on the wall puts it out of reach of little grasping hands, and since it’s not in their line of sight, it is far less likely to even be something that strikes their interest when walking or crawling around the living room.
There are many mounting options available, from wall mounts to TV stands with cantilever mounts built in. Either way, having the TV on out of reach will make it so your child won’t be interested in grabbing your television. - Have The Right TV Stand: If you can’t mount your TV, make sure the furniture you have your TV on is designed to hold a TV’s weight. Many pieces of furniture are not made to hold the weight of a television and tipping is very possible on these pieces. TV stands with built-in mounts are fantastic for keeping your coffee table where it belongs and the TV out of reach of little ones.
- Organise And Hide All Cords: Cords pose more than the threat of tripping. As you know, children love grabbing hold of things and are very curious, so leaving cords out for them to discover means that they could pull it and the television down from its perch, causing major injury.
Getting wrapped up in the cords or getting electrocuted are also possibilities, so keeping these hazards out of the reach of your little ones is very important. You can wrap cords in small coils and secure them with zip ties or rubber bands, making them less easy to grab and play with. Store them behind the TV and secure them so they are hard to see and harder to reach, and thus, not a distraction. Consider using cord covers and routing channels to hide wires completely. - Hide Other Components: If you have a video game console or media box, you’ll want to protect these as well as protect your child from them. While they may not be as big or heavy as a television, an XBOX falling from the top of a TV stand onto your child is still a very bad scenario you will want to avoid at all costs. By hiding these inside your TV stand or credenza, you can make sure your child is safe as well as your expensive electronics.
- Protect Your Child From Sharp Edges: Your TV stand probably is a rectangle or square so make sure those edges are properly baby proofed as sharp edges can cause a lot of damage if fallen upon or collided with. You can buy adhesive foam or make your own edging from pool noodles.
- Clear Off Clutter: Make sure that from the eye-line of your child, there aren’t a lot of fun and interesting things for them to grab and play with that are heavy, sharp or otherwise dangerous. Children are naturally curious and will want to touch, grab, yank, taste, and throw objects. Put your more valuable, breakable and not-for-children items away from their view and out of reach.
Your child probably watches the TV and loves what they see on it, so they will be naturally interested in it and want to interact. If you follow the above tips, you can help make sure your television and entertainment center are safe for your child to be around and give yourself peace of mind while you enjoy family and TV time.
Safe And Stylish TV Stands For Your Family
At MMT Furniture Designs, we have TV stands for every size family and our stands are designed to fit into your home seamlessly. Style and function are at the heart of every piece we create.
We have a vast selection of TV cabinets, stylish glass TV stands and sleek cantilever TV stands that will complement any space you place them in. Browse our fantastic selection of TV stands and mounts in our online store and start entertaining today with a distinct piece from MMT Furniture Designs.