S10.E03: Safety First

[eributterfly]

No, the back to school haircut was the bob.  I think she got the pixie right before Halloween, and that episode is next week.  I just hope that they are letting the poor child's hair grow.  The Christmas photos showed Zoey with her hair cut even shorter than Will's.  Personally, I don't think it is flattering at all as Zoey has a round face and people with this shaped face are always told to wear their hair longer.

Jen has posted pics of Will and Zoey on her Instagram and I hate to say it but I think it's horrible and I know you don't talk about kids, but I'm directing it towards the parents in this instance. It almost edgy which is IMO not appropriate for a 4 year old.

[ZoloftBlob]

During the building of the home, having children was already in the works so they knew the kids would be upstairs and they would be down. The difference IMO, is that an average sized person can run up the stairs if there would be a fire in the kitchen to get the kids it would take Jen and and Bill awhile to get up and back down again. The Roloffs master was downstairs and the kids were up but 3 of the four are average size a major difference when dealing with safety. I'm average and I wouldn't feel comfortable with my kids that young being on a different floor.

 

Whereas my parents always felt we were safer on the second floor because if someone was going to break into the house, they weren't likely to go upstairs to the kids bedrooms. Again, the house is to code and its perfectly legal for average height people to have their children on different floors.

 

Show me Matt Roloff alone in his origanal two story house getting 7 year old Jeremy and Zach, 4 year old Molly, and 1 year old Jacob out of the second floor bedrooms they were in by himself. Its a fair arguement... hell Matt Roloff is the lovely safety first guy who used to proudly display a video oif himself running a Mule at full speed with his eight year old  son on the roof swinging.

 

I do understand your point, however unless we as a people are willing to commit to "Little people with certain physical problems aren't allowed to have their children on seperate floors because we have the right to decide what is and isn't safe" then little people have the same rights as average height people to raise their kids in whatever reasonably safe environment they want. And if we are going to commit to the idea that there should be a law, then that law would apply to not just Jen and Bill but Matt "I can barely walk" Roloff as well.

 

For the record, I suspect Matt would not take such a law well.

Edited February 2, 2016 by ZoloftBlob

[Absolom]

I thought Jen and Bill moved into an upstairs bedroom when they brought Will home.  Did they move back downstairs at some point?

[RemoteControlFreak]

I also thought that the fire lesson scared Zoey and that's why she was saying that she wanted to sleep with Jen and Bill that night.

I remember when the house was being inspected in preparation for adoption. The inspector said that the doors in the upstairs hallway weren't safe. She wanted them to put a lock on them that would be out of a child's reach. Bill said he wasn't going to do it, because in the event of a fire, he and Jen wouldn't be able to reach the lock either. It's a dilemma. What if the kids go out one of those doors when an adult isn't around? They could fall off of the balcony.

They can put in a child-proof lock that's impossible for kids to open but placed lower so Jen and Bill can reach it.  

[Foghorn Leghorn]

They can put in a child-proof lock that's impossible for kids to open but placed lower so Jen and Bill can reach it.  

Yes we have those locks installed at our gyms in the child care rooms. 

[gunderda]

The only thing that was a tiny bit worrisome for me was the baby gates at the top and bottom of the stairs in the event of a fire.   But maybe they aren't closed overnight.  I wouldn't think those would be super easy for kids to open by themselves. But maybe they are?

I'm guessing they're maybe for the dogs but seems kinda odd they would have them at the bottom AND top of the stairs. 

[Almost 3000]

The only thing that was a tiny bit worrisome for me was the baby gates at the top and bottom of the stairs in the event of a fire.   But maybe they aren't closed overnight.  I wouldn't think those would be super easy for kids to open by themselves. But maybe they are?

I'm guessing they're maybe for the dogs but seems kinda odd they would have them at the bottom AND top of the stairs. 

You're suppose to put safety gates at the top and bottom of the stairs. The top seems oblivious but the bottom is so that kids can't climb up and fall back down even if they don't reach the top.

[mbutterfly]

You're suppose to put safety gates at the top and bottom of the stairs. The top seems oblivious but the bottom is so that kids can't climb up and fall back down even if they don't reach the top.

That's what we did. I thought it was generally done. 

[gunderda]

Yea that makes sense.  I was thinking they were at an age where they were pretty safe around stairs but I guess with short limbs they are more at a risk of falling accidentally. 

 

But could they open them easily if they needed to get downstairs due to a fire? 

[Absolom]

I think most people are done with the baby gates by age 2.  My daughter has already retired them for a 16 month old.  She was able to open them or climb over them herself two or three months ago. 

[Foghorn Leghorn]

I think the gates may not be needed so much for safety but as ways to control the kids so Jen and Bill don't have to chase them up and down stairs which is risky for everyone.  I think at least the gates can keep them on the same floor with them.  The gate was open on Zoey's birthday when Zoey decided to run away from Jen and head back to her bedroom.  Jen had a struggle stopping her and turning her around on the steps and as the kids get bigger and stronger and even less responsive to the word NO, after all Zoey is 6 inches taller now and that much stronger.   

Edited February 4, 2016 by Foghorn Leghorn

[BitterApple]

I think the gates are more for containment than anything else. From what I've seen on the show, the kids listen when they want to. If Jen tells Will not to go upstairs, there's a 50/50 chance he won't do so. The gates take that option out of the equation.

[gunderda]

Zoey did hit Jen during the stair incident and didn't get punished for it.

Probably because they were trying to leave the house and were in a hurry.

[ZoloftBlob]

Zoey did hit Jen during the stair incident and didn't get punished for it.

 

So I guess my question is, does that mean Jen is not competant to be a parent?

 

Are parents allowed to make mistakes or is it "one and done" - Jen missed that one opportunity, so she's a bad parent who shouldn't have children?

[Absolom]

My issue with the gates and kids of the age of Will and Zoey is that they really don't contain the kids.  They are both old enough to figure out how to open the gates and they are both now large enough to scale them if they had a wish to do so.  My granddaughter was smaller than Zoey was during filming when she figured out how to go over the gate. Climbing the gate on the stairs is more dangerous than climbing the stairs. 

[Absolom]

I wondered if the gates were more for the dogs than the children.  I seem to remember gates to keep the dogs confined at one point. 

[Foghorn Leghorn]

I wondered if the gates were more for the dogs than the children.  I seem to remember gates to keep the dogs confined at one point. 

 

I have a gate across the stairs for my dogs to contain them and prevent falls on the stairs.    

[Foghorn Leghorn]

I don't think that the gates are for the dogs. They lived in the house with the dogs before they adopted the children. They didn't put up gates until they adopted Will.

 

Oh that's right!  I remember the child proofing episode when the guys were drilling holes into Jen's beautiful wood island and Bill commented about how she would freak out although it was necessary. 

[ZoloftBlob]

And along with wrangling a toddler, they realized the gates were also handy for the dogs? And kept them?

 

Or maybe they just haven't bothered to removed the gates? Or are nervous parents and leave the gates up? I mean, I think I said it earlier, if they legitmely keep the gates to help control the kids... then isn't that a good idea if there's a genuine concern one of the kids will flip out and start a full scale assault on the stairwell?

 

eta - and if the gates were actually installed with screws, they just might not have removed them yet because it sounds like it would be a job to uninstall them....

Edited February 4, 2016 by ZoloftBlob

[CousinAmy]

I think the parents should make the best decisions based on their knowledge of their own children.

[walnutqueen]

CousinAmy, on 05 Feb 2016 - 12:45 PM, said:

I think the parents should make the best decisions based on their knowledge of their own children.

 

I think the parents DO make the best decisions based on their knowledge of their own children.  ;-)

[RedheadZombie]

My mom spotted the little vest that Maggie was wearing and identified it as a stress-reducing item. Anyone notice? I wonder if she wears it when the camera crew is around. I think the dogs are pretty mellow.

[Honey]

Yeah I noticed that she was wearing a thunder vest.

[leighroda]

We have baby gates at my house, and the youngest person here will be 30 next week... They are for the dogs. We currently have 4 dogs that don't play well (my sister and I had 2 dogs and when our mom passed away last year we got her 2 dogs too) so my moms dogs are on the first floor and the other 2 have free reign of the top 2 floors (yes my house is 3 stories, but it's skinny like a town house so not glamorous, in fact it's a pain to have to go up/down 2 flights of steps to do anything...lol)... Anyway all of that to say is who know why they have the baby gates.

[RedheadZombie]

We have baby gates at my house, and the youngest person here will be 30 next week... They are for the dogs. We currently have 4 dogs that don't play well (my sister and I had 2 dogs and when our mom passed away last year we got her 2 dogs too) so my moms dogs are on the first floor and the other 2 have free reign of the top 2 floors (yes my house is 3 stories, but it's skinny like a town house so not glamorous, in fact it's a pain to have to go up/down 2 flights of steps to do anything...lol)... Anyway all of that to say is who know why they have the baby gates.

I had a similar system. My Am Staff puppy was a little too rambunctious with my cats. During the day she reigned over the main floor while the cats were baby gated upstairs, then she was baby gated with my cousin in her bedroom at night, and cats reigned the entire house over night.

[RedheadZombie]

Yeah, I definitely see Will in the LIttle People Olympics.  I doubt he'd be able to compete with normal sized people but I can see him doing well competing with kids of his stature.

 

I think Will would qualify for the Paralympics, if he were interested. There's a "short stature" disability qualification.

[Snow8585]

I would agree with these posts but I wonder if Jen and Bill would go along with it. Somehow I can't see them at the Special Olympics but hope springs eternal.