Is it unreasonable to ask a child care provider to install a baby gate at stairs? My son is 2 and wears kafo leg braces that leave him straight legged. Will be going 2 half days a week and are the only day care kids.

Reply

It is not unreasonable, but if she is only keeping your kids (part-time at that) she may not see it as financially or esthetically worth it.

Reply

If your kids are the only kids, I'd talk to her about it and then PROVIDE a gate for her. I don't think your request is unreasonable, but I do agree with the PP.

Reply

I went on amazon and they had these pretty, free standing, expandable, safety gates.

If you bought one of those and gave it to her to use with your kids, I think she'd do it in a heartbeat.

No holes in her walls or cost to her family. Peace of mind for you. Win-Win.

Reply

I have a pressure mounted gate...ones that do not secure to the wall are not safe for use at the top of stairs. Otherwise i would just let her use the one i have.

Reply

So the kids are kept upstairs? OK.

Then maybe offer her a one time bonus (deposit on patching/painting) to install one??

If she is planning on getting a license and keeping more kids she'd have to get one, but with her just keeping a couple kids.... it is more like asking a personal favor. KWIM??

Reply

The playroom is upstairs, main living area ie kitchen dining etc is downstairs. So they'd be up and down all day. She is not licensed and won't be because in NS it is legal to operate without one. And here unless you are a large facility it does not pay to license. In any case, she says she will not be taking more kids but her ad is still up saying she will do any hours, planned or drop in.

I have just stopped doing home day care myself and i feel that it is a moral obligation to be prepared safety-wise for any age group of kids you may have. Leg braces or not, a 2 year old shouldn't be at the top of stairs without some sort of barrier.

Every time i have brought up the stairs with her she seems to think i am saying that my son is heavy to carry up and down. While i do feel bad about that, i don't think i should have to pay for repairing her wall and providing a gate to keep my son safe...which is in effect what i am paying her for in the first place.

I came here for an answer, i guess i already had it...i really hate having to even bring this up with the provider because it should just be a given. How unfortunate.

Reply

And i think it would be different if i had approached her for childcare when she wasn't doing it. But i responded to an ad. So her providing a safe environment should not be considered a "favour" to me. I am paying her to keep my kids safe and that is what i expect. I only cared, unlicensed, for 3 kids. You can bet my house was safe and not because the parents provided it. I did not want something bad to happen which would place me liable.

Reply

You may want to look for another provider. Having an open staircase is not safe. If she's refusing to barricade the stairs, she is really opening herself up to a major liability and lawsuit.

Reply

Should she have one? Yes. If she isn't licensed can you force her to get one? Probably not. Honestly, I would talk to her about your concerns. I think you have a valid concern regardless of your child's braces, just because of the age. If she isn't perceptive to the safety issues, then maybe it isn't the right place for your child because you don't know what other safety issues there might be.

Reply

I had this gate and it is not a good gate to use. It is very easy to knock it over and small children can easily move it. I ended up removing the leg stands and wedging the gate between furniture to keep it upright and in place. Also it's not as tall as other baby gates and my 2 yo could easily scale over it. It also doesn't gave a "gate" for you to walk through so you either have to remove the gate or go over it. We would go over it until my DH hit the top of it one day by accident when going over it and he tripped and obliterated the gate. Beautiful gate, but not so good for children (if i remember correctly i think this is a pet gate ??)

We had it up for about 3 weeks before my DH broke it and ended up getting a hardware mounted one instead with a gate that opens.

Im in CA and here a gate at both the top and bottom of the stairs is required as a requirement of licensing, If this isn't required of your provider either by licensing or because your provider is licence-exempt then you can ask this of her but she may refuse and she would still be within her right.

I see it as common sense for safety and liability reasons however she way not like having to make holes in her wall. If this is the case then I personally would find another provider.

PS I had a hard time finding a gate for my stairs because pressure mounted safety gates don't stay on well if you have one side of the stairs that is wall with railing on the other side. I had to find one that could go either way (pressure or hardware mounted) and one side is pressure mounted and the other side is clamped on with thick plastic straps. What happens is that the gate can be easy to knock down if you use only pressure mounted because the pressure tends to push the railing out ... think \__| .... so it may slip on the railing side. Well, that's the problem we had anyway.

This is what I ended up getting for my stairs ...
Summer Infant Walk Thru Gate


We got something similar to these to strap the gate on the railing side ...
Stairway Gate Installation Kit

Reply

I feel like you are annoyed by even having to ask- if that is the case I think it would be best for you to find a different provider. If your children haven't started care and your all ready annoyed it probably just isn't a good fit -kwim? It is partially on you to make sure the things that are important to you are important to the provider you choose (and I agree a gate at the top of stair would be one for me). As a PP stated- you can't really demand she put a gate in. I would simply ask: I noticed you don't have a gate at the top of your stairs - are you planning on installing one? If she says yes- all set, if she says no then it's on you to move on IMO...

Reply

I realize I'm late responding to this one, but I was going to pretty much respond how Familycare71 did in the part of hers I bolded above except I would have used the word "fully" instead of "partially". It's unclear if your children have started care there or not(seems they have though), but since the baby gate is such a concern, a make or break deal at that, I would have definitely got my ducks in a row with regard to her policies on baby gates and such as that before signing a contract, agreeing to bring children for childcare, or anything- And with that being said, imo, you can't really say too much now at this time in the game much less a demand. Hindsight is 20/20...So, maybe just for future reference.

Reply

^^^^ This is the post I responded to. Two kids, eight hours a week. Private home. No other clients. No info about a provider posting an ad looking for clients...... Sorry for the misunderstanding.

^^^ If I had that information before I'd ask why you chose her as your provider?

My opinion on the rest:

Yes, she should have installed one before advertising to keep kids. She should have met minimum safety standards even without a licence.

Yes, these concerns should have been discussed and agreed to prior to signing a contract and beginning care.

In your shoes, from today, I'd ask her to install gates at the top and bottom of the stairs if she wants to continue keeping the kids. I'd be looking for back-up care as we speak.

Reply

MarinaVanessa,

I grabbed the wrong photo.. This one is also only knee high. The taller one would probably push over, too, then..

I don't have stairs... Makes life easier...

Reply

I'm a little surprised that since you were a provider and know how this works that you didn't ask about it at the interview. It's always best to clarify all important items before you start care. If I had a young child and there were stairs involved it's probably one of the 1st points I would have brought up when I noticed there wasn't a gate.

Reply

Was thinking the same thing.

Reply