Window Sill Climbing

[candy]

Does anyone have a problem with their child climbing onto windowsills to jump off? We had an OT round today to assess our new house but all she could offer for the windows was some reinforced plastic stuff that strengthens the window. I would prefer him being blocked off completely so he can't climb up onto the sills at all. The OT said usually anything you put up they just pull down.

Wondered if this was a concern for anyone else and if anyone had found a successful way to deal with it.

Thanks

[baddad]

Hi Candy -

Not quite sure what you mean here; Is this upstairs windows and you're concerned about him jumping out, or downstairs, and you're concerned about him falling through? If the former, you could try staggering battens (painted to match the frame) over the bottom halves. If the latter, can't really think of anything except the perspex sheets you've mentioned or toughened glass.

Hope you find a solution soon

L&P

BD

[smallworld]

Hi candy,

I read your post as jumping off the sill into the room, probably cos all my kids have done this (have also had em trying to jump out, so now have all windows locked )

The younger two will also jump down the stairs. It's difficult to get around this apart from providing safer places to jump from/on. The obvious one's a trampoline, but you could also try a long jump and see how far the kids can jump (we kept an old cot mattress which is useful for inside jumping)

Mine will jump off from anywhere, the back of the settee seems to be a favourite.

If it's indoor jumping in your case, then I'd definitely suggest safe® places they're allowed to jump from, and reinforce the no jumping from the widow sills.

Take it you're like us and don't have any ornaments left ?!!

 

wac

[candy]

LOL waccoe! No ornaments or plants left whatsoever.

 

Thanks for you replies. What I meant was I'm scared he will fall through an upstairs window by either smashing through it (although they are double glazed) from inside to out or from attempting to climb out. He is non verbal and totally lacks any sense of danger

Baddad what do you mean by staggering battens? That sounds like it might be thing we're after

[Minxygal]

Mine did this too. I suppose their lack of fear played a big part in it. We've had major adaptations to our house and the plastic windows are really good. The only thing that can be a problem is that they scratch easy and after a while they've a tendancy to not look so great. They do the trick though, my son has often thrown things at them and they just bend a little and don't break.

[baddad]

Hi again Candy -

I used to rent a house where Ben's bedroom overlooked a solid pathway. he wasn't a major climber, but did do it enough to cause concern. I fixed some battens across the lower section of the window, close enough together so that he couldn't FALL through, but not so close that it felt like bars in a prison! If your littlun's the determined type, who's likely to try and go through or over the battens, you would probably have to go the whole hog with battens all the way up or external vertical bars, but if his major interest is climbing up and jumping back into the room then lower half battens would be enough to stop him falling backwards out. I put them on the inside 'cos the layout of the house made that the easiest option, and because if he did fall against the battens he'd be pushing onto the fixings rather than pulling against them. You could do it from the outside, but you'd need stronger fixings for that reason. Another consideration is that if they were on the outside, he would still be going through the glass before getting 'caught' by the battens. Internal battens wouldn't stop the window from getting broken, but it would stop him from falling onto the frame.

If you think this might be a long term problem, minxygirls perspex sheets might be a better idea, or even stumping up for toughened glass. In the latter case, you might be able to get some financial help from Family Fund(?) I know they help with safety stuff, 'cos someone I know got help towards replacing an open plan staircase...

Hope that's helpful

BD

[candy]

Thanks all

Baddad the OT was sent from social services and they will pay for the modifications. This is a means tested thing so we might not get funded for everything (although we are low income at the moment).

My son's school harassed soc servs on our behalf because my son recently had a nasty accident related to this jumping (he also broke an arm last year) and the waiting list to see an OT in our area is up to a year if it's not thought of as urgent

[smallworld]

Hi again Candy,

Another idea, you can get window barriers (similar to safety gates) which means you can have windows open (i'd stiil be too scared !)

It might make your house look a bit like a prison, but anything's better than a neighbour coming to your front door telling you that your 2 yr old's stood at an open upstairs window at the back of the house.

olympic standard stair climber to the rescue ! couldn't do that now, it would finish me off.

It might be worth suggesting to OT as an alternative, or addition to perpex.

bye now,

wac

[Tally]

Can you get locks that only allow the window to open a certain amount?

 

If you have sash windows you can get these bolts that screw into the window and only allow a certain amount of movement. They have a key so you can remove them in an emergency.