pulling seforim off the shelves - what's your solution?

greeneyes

Mon, May 05 2008, 11:40 am

My 10 1/2 month old DD's latest game is pulling the seforim off the bottom two shelves of the bookshelf, plopping them down on the floor around her, ripping pages in the process.

We went into 2 different stores that sell babyproofing things, in search of some sort of contraption that would prevent her from pulling the books out, but we didn't find anything of the sort.

I'm sure there are lots of other babies out there who like to pull books off the shelves. Has your baby done this? What's your solution?

GetReal

Mon, May 05 2008, 11:43 am

My DS is just starting to pull books of the shelves. My mother is telling me to either tightly pack the books on the bottom shelves, or clear them and put baby books and toys there. I'm not sure what to do because we really don't have enough shelves to clear so many of them. Tightly packing - I think a dtermined kid will eventually get them out anyway. I'm open to any other ideas.

pinktichel

Mon, May 05 2008, 11:44 am

The only thing I have found that works, is to make sure the books are packed as tight as they can be on the shelf (to the point that even Dh has a hard time getting out the sefer he needs!)

DD has finally given up trying! LOL

pinktichel

Mon, May 05 2008, 11:47 am

GetReal wrote:

We must have posted at the same time! I actually pack the shelves real tight and push the seforim back. I put Dd's (18 mnths) books in front, on a shelf she can easily access. She pulls those down instead. As I said, she gave up pulling on the seforim.

justanothermother

Mon, May 05 2008, 11:56 am

We tried packing the books tightly and DD ended up ripping the spines on some. We gave up and designated the bottom shelves for toys. Overflow of books & sfarim ended up here and there all over the place till we finally bought a book cabinet with doors.

Twizzlers

Mon, May 05 2008, 12:03 pm

we cleared out the bottom shelf and stored toys there instead. dunno what we'll do when he's tall enough for the next shelf though

greenfire

Mon, May 05 2008, 1:57 pm

I say make them kiddie shelves ... not worth torn sefarim - I had that too ...

otherwise get doors for the bottom ... What

mummy-bh

Mon, May 05 2008, 2:34 pm

catonmylap wrote:

We have the tallest, heaviest seforim packed tightly on the bottom shelf.

That's what we do too.

I have the cutest picture of one of my sons aged around one year, poring over a gemora!

TwinsMommy

Mon, May 05 2008, 2:35 pm

2 of our bookshelves, we cleared out the bottom 2 shelves and put stuffed animals there.

The other 2, we kept our seforim there but put the playpens in front of the bookshelves. They can't move the playpens, but Abba or I can easily move them for a second to get whatever book we need.

Now when we put them IN the playpens to leave the room for a minute to move laundry or go to the bathroom, we have to remember to move the playpens away from the bookshelves! Otherwise they (mostly he) reaches above the playpen for the third shelf and gets THOSE seforim.

mama-star

Mon, May 05 2008, 2:39 pm

I distract my kids to another activity right away when they start with that!

once on shabbos, when my little guy started pulling a gemara off the shelf, a guest gave us a brocha that he should be pulling gemaras off the bookshelf his whole life! Very Happy

mimivan

Mon, May 05 2008, 3:22 pm

mama-star wrote:

I feel really ambivalent about stopping him from pulling books off the shelf precisely for that reason!

As long as he doesn't throw or otherwise damage the books, I let him leaf through them because I think it has a good effect on Yossi..

But today he pulled a chair all the way over the bookshelf and started pulling them down! Arggh!

I guess I have to just watch him so he doesn't do it. I've tried asking him which book he wants (he's 20 months and communicates somewhat) but he can't decide...just likes to pull them down!

challi

Mon, May 05 2008, 3:33 pm

all our bookcases have the last two shelves empty exactly 4 this reason. If I put anything there its toys, or kids books. I hope someday to get book cases with doors there, thoguh and then I can officaially baby proof it.

greeneyes

Tue, May 06 2008, 2:39 pm

Thanks so much everyone for your help!

I tried packing them in really tight (don't know why I didn't think of that sooner LOL

), and so far that has been working out nicely. Yay!!!

manhattanmom

Tue, May 06 2008, 2:54 pm

First we put toys there, then we cleared them completely because we didn't want him playing in (climbing up) the bookcase. He still goes there, checks to see if we put anything there, and that's all.

Another note: Buy child safety latches to connect your bookcases to the wall so they won't c"v fall over onto children.

MrsLeo

Tue, May 06 2008, 2:59 pm

I have the same problem with my 11 month old daughter but the thing is that the books are of all shapes and sizes and they arent just stacked neatly so some are laying on top so instead of moving all the seforim back into boxes (noone ever uses them anyways) I just got my daughter a play yard gate which is 6 gates connected to keep her inside and she knows that she belongs there with her toys. So now she doesnt get into the seforim or the wires under the table or the kitchen cabinets or anywhere else that she's not supposed to be. The only thing is that now she learned to climb up on things. She climbed up on her toy box so I just took that out and now she climbs up on the gate so I have to make sure she doesnt climb too high up and hurt herself.

Helani

Tue, May 06 2008, 5:22 pm

doors on all bookshelves. Doors with locks on craft supplies and all other stuff I don't want my older ones to get into. I have couple of open shelves for kids' books and toys.