We know that safety gates (”baby gates” to many of us) are a good way to keep small children confined to safe areas. They prevent kids from falling down stairs, having access to fireplaces, etc. - but how do you pick the best possible gate?

HealthDay passes along these tips from the Nemours Foundation:

* Choose a gate that is securely mounted to the door frame with hardware, and that doesn’t leave any openings to pinch little fingers.
* Be careful with gates that use pressure or tension to keep them secured in a doorway. Never place this type of gate in front of stairs, as it may be more easily removed by children. (We ended up throwing away a gate of this type because my two-year-old could ram it hard enough to dislodge it, despite our best efforts to make it super-tight. And if they warp at all, forget it - they’ll never fit right again.)
* Make sure that the bar on pressure gates is on the side away from the child’s access.
* Leave no more than 2 inches at the bottom of the gate to prevent a child from trying to slide underneath. (They will try if they think they can fit, which can result in wedged limbs.)
* Choose a gate that is difficult to climb on or over. (Think of little kids as monkeys - they are always capable of more than we give them credit for!)
* Only use gates that are safety approved and certified, and have no sharp or dangerous parts that could hurt a child.

It doesn’t take much extra time to select a gate that will do the job right. I would never have forgiven myself if we’d had a stairway and had used the pressure-mounted gate my daughter ended up barreling through. Can you imagine? As it was, she only crashed into the kitchen. Whew!

Posted by Sunshine.