I realize that this post is about a baby gate, but it's not often something so simple just blows me away with its usefulness.
The First Years Hands Free Gate has revolutionized our traffic flow with Adam. Toddlers don't get "no," and they don't get "stop," so we've resorted to becoming a gated community. When we were shopping for ways to create our walled garden, after exhausting our usual resources, we were still left without something to span the big entryway from our hall to the den.
Enter The First Years Hands Free Gate. By itself, it doesn't span the gap, but it does with its two extensions.
When you first get it out of the package, it looks like it's not going to work at all, because unlike some other baby gateage, it installs under high tension. It's hard to explain in words, but think of it, instead of coming like a "U", more like a "V" (except, of course, that the bottom is wider than a point... you see I told you this would be hard to explain...) You place the whole gate under tension, and it bends itself to the point where the swinging part is latched in place.
Here's the best part... it takes about 75-80 pounds of pressure to operate the footswitch for the gate... something Mommy and Daddy have no problem doing, but something Adam won't be able to do for years. We have the key, and it is us!
Going through the gate is like second nature for us now... even hands full isn't a problem, just step and knee through. And, since it's just held in place by pressure, if we needed to take it down, there'd be no holes in the wall or anything. Genius.
Many baby products try hard, and get it wrong. This one gets it right. Highly recommended, and a must for anyone with small creatures to contain.
1 comment:
We had a couple of gates like this when our two were small. Loved them!! The top of our stairs with those two half walls was a challenge because you couldn't use the pressure ones. We got a gate that was like a roll of canvas and it worked nicely there, although we did have to screw it into the wall. Glad you found something that works so nicely.
Sally :)
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