SolveYourProblem
Home Theater Article Series
I
Want a Fantastic Home Theater Setup
Childproof
Your Home Theater
Technology draws children like moth to a flame.
Kids just cannot resist electronics! Bright lights, mechanical
sounds, and many buttons make a home theater system a magnet
for a toddler’s attentions. Unfortunately, their interest can
lead to action and may systems have been destroyed by a curious
child or one who just felt a DVD player was a great place to
store a peanut butter sandwich. Just as it is important to
childproof every other area of you home, it is also essential
to childproof your home theater, because the potential damage
your child can do to your equipment, and, more importantly
the potential danger your equipment poses to your child, is
significant.
Approach
your home theater from a child‘s perspective. Seriously.
Get down on your hands and knees to take a look. See what you
can access and what your child can see and reach. Those areas
are the places that need to be childproofed first. You probably
know your child well enough to be able to predict what things
he or she will find interesting. It is best not to limit your
childproofing job to only these things, because, as children
grow and develop, their interests change. It is best to assume
anything and everything will interest him, and therefore, just
about anything can constitute something of a threat.
Of course, the
best method of childproofing is to place your child in
a playpen. However, by the age of about one, most
children are able to crawl out of an average-sized playpen,
so you will have to deal with actually protecting your equipment.
You could, perhaps, invest in taller walls for the playpen,
but you child might feel confined, and this will only delay
the inevitable. Although your child may feel comfortable sitting
in the playpen while watching his or her favorite program,
eventually they will want to explore what makes Barney pop
up on the screen.
To
protect your equipment, you may want to purchase a large
screen to place one foot in front of your home theater. The
problem with this idea is that it may obstruct the view or
at least interfere with your viewing pleasure. You may want
to invest in a very large piece of plexiglass to fit tightly
over the entire unit. Another option is to make your home theater
literally on the “high end” and place your panel set on the
upper part of your wall at an angle. You can install high shelves
for your VCR and DVD player, and install your speakers on the
wall. The problem with this idea is that you will have to climb
on chairs and ladders to give your equipment the proper maintenance.
However, the peace of mind knowing that your equipment is far
away from your child might be well worth it.
You
can purchase a wooden home entertainment armoire that opens
and closes. You might want to put a lock on the handle
of the armoire to ensure that your child cannot get to your
equipment when you are not around. This is a very secure way
of storing your home theater, but you may not want to keep
your equipment under lock and key all the time, and as soon
as the cabinet is opened, your child’s curiosity might be aroused.
You can purchase clear,
plastic protectors that prevent you
child from pressing buttons on your VCR or DVD player, but
will still enable you to access through remote control. You
can also find covers for you remote control, lest you child
think that it is a fun toy. Another good idea is to place a
protector on your disk drive to prevent your child from sticking
his or her fingers or other objects inside. These are also
plastic, and they close the unit off completely to prevent
inappropriate access.
With all of the power that you will need for your home theater,
exposed outlets are, of course, a major problem for children.
Make sure that there are no open outlets and that
they are plugged up with plastic plugs, if necessary. For children who
already know how to plug and unplug from circuits, purchase
a snap-on and off plastic power strip protector. It is impossible
for a child to stick his or her fingers inside one of these
covers, but at the same time, there is space to allow wires
to feed through.
Regardless of what exact methods you choose, you really must
take steps to childproof your home theater system if you have
a youngster afoot. The risk to both your home theater investment
and the child are simply too great to ignore.
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SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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