My Baby Gate Dilemma - The Best Baby Gates

My Baby Gate Dilemma

photo credit: Brian Sawyer via photopin cc

My daughters are 2 1/2 now, but I still use baby gates. I keep one in between the kitchen and dining room to keep them out of the kitchen, and I keep one in between the living room and the hallway that leads to the upstairs.

There are many reasons for this... First of all, the kitchen has many hazards and even though I've child proofed as best I can, it's just easier to keep them out.

There's two of them and one of me. So we'll keep it like this a little longer... The entrance to the hallway stairs is another obvious given. I don't want them going upstairs by themselves.  Because ; A, they can fall; B, the litter box is upstairs - God forbid they touch that; and C, I just don't want them up there - again two of them and one of me. Best to maintain full control at all times...

If I'm busy doing something downstairs, I don't want to have to worry about the Rugrats sneaking upstairs. The dilemma? I rent a house that is sort of crooked. The foundation is off, so the house is crooked. Is this dangerous? I don't think so. My landlord assured me when I moved in two years ago that he spent thousands to keep the foundation safe. It's just crooked...

Flooring and doorways are uneven, etc., you get the idea. What does this have to do with baby gates, you ask? Well, since the doorways are uneven and crooked, the gates are easy for anyone to take down, including a two year old! Yes, I'm constantly fixing the baby gates and would like to invest in a gate that secures to the wall with screws.

With all of my boys, we used the wooden baby gates and they worked just fine, because we had normal doorways. They were cheap and did the job - kept baby safe. This time around, when I went to purchase my baby gates, the store that I went to was out of the wooden gates. So I bought the plastic baby gates, which were ten dollars more.

Since I didn't feel like hunting all over for the wooden gates, I just bought two of the plastic gates and I really hate them. Hate is a strong word, but I hate these gates. Maybe if my doorways weren't crooked, I wouldn't hate them so much... They have mixed reviews online, so it must be the doorways. It's just easier to get a tighter suction with the wooden gates.  

So I went out and bought the wooden gates when I realized that the plastic gates were useless in my home. I even doubled up at one point, using both the wooden and plastic in the doorways, and would you believe my crafty daughters still managed to take the gates down!! Not only that, but the wooden gates eventually broke from being taken down so many times. Useless....

Only useless because of the doorways though. Because I obviously keep a watchful eye on them at all times, I know when they take a gate down or one of their brothers takes notice and we fix it right away. It's more of a huge nuisance than anything at this point. I can't wait to come up with the money for the secure baby gates, because, really, in my opinion they are the best baby gates. I can't afford them yet, but they will definitely be going on my wish list. This is my dream baby gate...