Fire place question and AW

Minipenguin

I'm really excited that it's finally getting chillier so hopefully we will get to start lighting fires regularly. So my question: do you have anything in front of your fireplace to keep the little ones out?

I kept telling MH that it will be hot and she won't want to go near it. Yesterday we lit a fire for the first time this season and she was all over it, trying to grab at the screen, etc. Is there something we should get or will we just need to keep an extra close eye on her? I know they have freestanding gates but are they more of a deterrent than the screen is? This is what our fireplace looks like, and yes it is also a shameless AW of my cute baby.

ETA: Had to delete the picture after someone stole Auroraloo's baby. Bitches be cray cray.

jillyjill1026sr

No advice to give, but your baby girl is freakin' adorable!!

Minipenguin

@mamaalysson I'm afraid that we may just not be able to light them very often. It's too bad because I love them and would light one every day all winter if I could. Oh, well...

Cherryblossoms07

Like a pp, we have a free standing screen.  It is not the greatest deterrent but it looks nice and the kids are not too interested in it.  We only burn fires at night when DH and I are there to always keep at least one pair of eyes on the kids and fire. 

I have seen people use those play yards and totally block off the fireplace area with those and they have said that it works really well.

Arnegard

We've lived with a fireplace since having kids and never lit it, ever.

MesmrEwe

While I LOVE the setup that ours has in our basement (it's 2' off the ground with a large hearth), I would still put a stand-alone screen in front of it just as a precaution!!!  KidCo sells a gate setup specifically designed for this job that looks like would work for you.  The important thing is having it far enough outward that you don't need to worry about sticking their little arm through it to reach..

<sigh> I'm also with the PP in that we don't use our fireplace because of the kid factor.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE a good fire in the fireplace when the fall chill starts to fill the air.  I love the scent of burning wood...  But until the kids are old enough that I feel confident in their ability to stay away I don't have any plans on lighting one up any time soon...  Heck, we purchased this house because it also has a formal fire pit and inside a wood stove inset fireplace, do you think we've lit a fire in it yet... nope...  and we've lived here 5 years... 

Minipenguin

Thanks, everyone. I guess we will just have to plan to avoid lighting fires while she's awake. Oh, well, it's not forever.

Mc_Newlywed

We use our fireplace a lot and I didn't want any issues so I purchased a giant gate to put around it.  Yes, I could teach my son not to touch it because it's hot.  But we also have a raised stone hearth (like the picture in this link) and I could envision him jumping off it or bashing his head on it.  So better to be safe....

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006OJIKD0/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

By the way, she's super cute!!!  

shortstuff15

We have 2 gas fireplaces, which are not quite the same, but still get hot enough to burn if you were to touch it.  We actually replaced our wood fireplace with a gas insert last year though, so we did deal with open flame around kids for a while.  We have a free standing screen/gate that goes around the front of the fireplace upstairs (where the wood burning one was).  It keeps the girls away and we kept it when we switched to a gas fireplace because it makes it look better anyway, and still keeps the girls away from the heat.

We just finished reno's in our basement and put a pedestal gas stove downstairs.  We are having them come and connect it this week, so it hasn't been in operation yet, but we'll just teach the kids to stay away.  They know enough from upstairs to not touch the fire, and we've been camping a lot so they know to stay away from fire now.  The switches for the stove and insert are both too high up and can't be reached by the kids anyway, so they are only in use when we are around.

blondegirl22

We have a gas fireplace with a stone hearth around it. We light it almost every morning before DD gets up while we read the paper and have coffee. DD is really cautious around things that are hot though. When she does see it lit, she holds her hand up and says hot. She stays away. Up until this point of lighting it, we have told her it's hot all the time.. So she avoids it. Hope baby to be learns from DD.