Protecting/Child Proofing My Home Theater Advice

[PUsokrJosh305]

I just became a parent not too long ago and our baby just started crawling. At first she seemed to have avoided the home theater, But now that she is used to crawling, she has started wondering over to the area where the Home Theater (TV, TV Stand, Speakers, etc) are. My TV is directly on the stand. The stand looks like this:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Woven-Pat...-Oak/979013941

I was wondering what some of you have done to help protect not only your child from getting hurt but also protecting/child proofing your home theater equipment? Trying to get on this as quick as I can so our child doesn't get hurt and I'm not re-spending money on things. Thanks!

[roar]

Congrats on the kid, keeping the kid safe is certainly the priority, what part is unsafe about that stand?

You wouldn't want them to pull anything down on themself, is the TV stand sitting on a piece of fabric they could grab on to and pull? Anything else top heavy sitting on it they could pullout themselves? Are the speakers bookshelf speakers sitting on the stands where they could pull the speaker wire and get the speaker to fall on them? How about electrocute themself, pretty standard outlet covers should be in place with a new kid who is mobile, including covering up ports on power pars... Poison themself or choke on something, keep remotes out of reach so they can't get at batteries, make sure the knobs on your AVR can't be pulled off... other than those types of things though I don't recall doing anything special for my kids beyond I found a stern "don't touch" worked well when they started towards things we didn't want them to touch.

[Vinyl]

Wall mounted all TVs with this Mount. Speakers mounted on the walls. Biggest issue was constantly picking up dvds from the floor.

[chip75]

You can get ties for your speakers to attach them to the walls, perhaps think of wall mounting the TV.

I'd also consider a child guard to go around the unit to safeguard things.

You'll probably be seeing dangers everywhere, especially bookcases and other furniture. I'm sure there are plenty of YouTube videos out there to give you nightmares/ideas.

[weberrygt]

You could put up a 'fence' around things that you don't want your little crawler to go near. I don't know what they are called, and I never had to use them, but I have seen people put up these plastic gates around such areas (theater, kitchen area, stuff like that). They can be moved / reshaped as needed. And as silly as it sounds, get down on the floor and crawl around and test things that the baby might try to get their hands on. You don't always see it from their perspective, until you are seeing it from their perspective. Best of luck!

[Fors*]

I simply stayed diligent with my kids. I had my new born son the same month I set up my HT....he is 14 now. I almost had to train him like "a dog". I would watch him and raise my voice when he got near it. Takes time, patience and repetition for them to eventually understand. It probably worked 90% of the time, but I know there were times my son ventured over (once found out he turned my sub off and it took me 3 weeks before I figured it out, LOL).

Kids will be kids....you just have to guide them with care and remaining steadfast. They will eventually understand to generally stay away or look to you for your OK.

Or you could always tell them to go ahead and have fun playing with all of the equipment......because we all know kids will always do the exact opposite of what they are told, LOL!

[rdodolak]

It's very hard unless you use a baby gate like this:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/14894742

If they can touch it expect things to happen.

[bhampton]

I recently upgraded my audio sources and set a volume limit at -10dB.
I know in the past sometimes I would get a little carried away with the volume.

Wall mount TV seems like a great idea and secure cables.

I still have a lot of the outlet covers. Don't forget the kitchen and bathrooms and all stairs.

[PUsokrJosh305]

Thanks to all of you! I appreciate all of your responses. My kid is already starting to pull herself up so my wife told me it is probably best to wall mount the TV. I'm a bit on the scared side because I love how my LG C9 is on the TV stand.

I know that if I get a good Wall Mount and install it properly, it will be fine but it's still a bit nerve wracking. I will have people helping me mount it though.

My big issue will be getting new and longer 4K HDMI cables. I'm a Monoprice fan so I will probably be going with them. I'm curious to know from you guys what length is the longest length of cable I can get till I start seeing signal issues? I'm thinking I will be getting 10 ft or 15 ft 4K HDMI Cables.

I know I will also be getting a cable wall tracker so I can hide my cables going down the wall. Anyone recommend a good one of those?

[chip75]

Just make sure the cables are Certified, test them first as well with some 4K discs. I think it's around 30 feet before you might want to spend a bit more, but Monoprice should have some decent options.

[Blu Lemmy]

Originally Posted by Fors*

I simply stayed diligent with my kids. I had my new born son the same month I set up my HT....he is 14 now. I almost had to train him like "a dog". I would watch him and raise my voice when he got near it. Takes time, patience and repetition for them to eventually understand. It probably worked 90% of the time, but I know there were times my son ventured over (once found out he turned my sub off and it took me 3 weeks before I figured it out, LOL).

Kids will be kids....you just have to guide them with care and remaining steadfast. They will eventually understand to generally stay away or look to you for your OK.

Or you could always tell them to go ahead and have fun playing with all of the equipment......because we all know kids will always do the exact opposite of what they are told, LOL!

What this guy said.
Just be firm but fair, I've not a mark on any of my HT equipment. Although both my kids are older now so not an issue.

We have friends who clearly let their toddlers touch the TV screen...the mind boggles...

[PUsokrJosh305]

I wanted to say thanks to all of you and your suggestions. We got the wall mount and cables needed to reach the TV. We just mounted it this past weekend. It's slightly higher than I thought it would be, but it still looks good. Very hard to get used to though, especially when watching movies in scope aspect ratio (looks smaller).

I will say though that I love how the borders of OLEDs disappear when the room is totally dark. It looks like the movie is being projected on the wall. It's awesome!

[prisha500]

amazing experince.