Play Pens

I looked after my grandson when my daughter first went back to work, and I can remember saying to him 'would you mind going into the playpen, dear, because granny needs to go to the loo?' ...he walked into the playpen and shut the door behind him..it was so sweet! With so many people now having log burners my daughter has bought a black fireguard; it's identical to the playpen that she has, but in matt black. A manufacturer that knows their market! We've always had one of those rucksacks for toddlers that you can hold on to. Someone said to me the other day 'will he let you use it?' and I thought, of course he will; he's three and he does as he's told, certanly when it's about safety. I never used to let anyone take my children anywhere when they were little, because I would see them with their own children running on way ahead of them by a busy road. I suppose when our children were small house had less electrical things in them that were dangerous. Little girls are also far more sensible than boys, who, from the minute thay can crawl just look for danger!

I've heard wrist straps criticised as they can wrench the wrist if they fall over suddenly, say. Have you had any problems?

We have one and now that he is older it is used to protect him from the tv, since its a big tv which cannot be secured down. I think its great kept him safe and was a great place to store the toys in the evening. We also use reins/wrist strap.

My daughter and I were discussing playpens the other day - her mother in law had asked her if she was going to get one. I had two children, 2 years and 8 months apart and it never occurred to me to have a playpen - in fact I can't remember any of my friends having them either. It certainly was never a problem for me - but to be honest, I can't remember how I actually did cope!

With each new grandchild I have presented the mother with a set of reins and I expect to see them used, a child unharnessed is unthinkable.
I used to use a smaller set to harness my child into highchair and pushchair now they seem to be integrated, I find my granddaughter is able to extricate herself from the highchair .. well done modern designers.

Quite agree that they were a brilliant idea for keeping the baby safe when you need to do something - or visit the loo! - and that the important thing is to start them in it before they are even sitting up, just for short times, so that they are totally used to it.

Also found it very useful for a young puppy from time to time!

And when did reins for toddlers go out of fashion? So useful for stopping them from making a bid for freedom onto a busy road ....

I had the 'lobster pot' variety and it was a godsend. One was advised not to leave a child in one longer then half an hour and I certainly didn't. We lived in New York at the time and had a patio not a garden. So this meant the baby could play outside in comfort. Also great for going upstairs to the loo or answering the door etc.

You do need to start when they are young enough to just accept it. Once they get a taste for running the legs off Mum or Gran they are less likely to put up with a barrier.

I don't know how modern mums can do without a playpen. To hear some people condemn them, you'd think we put them into it and then went out on the ran-dan. On the contrary, we got the work done faster, they were safe from danger, we were in sight and sound of them all the time (except for those trips to the loo) and had more time to concentrate on them when we were finished.

One factor may be smaller family size - when you also had a 3-yr old and a 5-yr old, as I did, you needed to have baby safe to be available for sudden emergencies with the others. I still remember a tragic case where a mother was bathing a (not tiny) baby when an older toddler needed her urgent attention. She returned after a very short time to find the baby drowned.

I also can't understand why playpens are not used any more. I have an amusing photo of me in the playpen making a cane lampshade and my eldest at about 10 months looking on from the outside!! This fantastic piece of equipment gave me peace from the outside as well as the in. This is one example of how looking after grandchildren now is much more stressful than it was for our grandparents.

mine takes it as a personal insult if you put her in the playpen. She frowns at me, lifts her arms and says "up" Even though they have a downstairs cloakroom it is the only way I feel comfortable leaving while going to the loo.

Today's Mums seem to regard playpens as awful cages! But they are young and fit enough to carry that heavy baby upstairs every time they want to go to the loo....

Wooden folding playpens did not have a floor and my son used to stand up and walk with it. My grandchildren have a Babydan metal playpen with a fabric floor. Great place to store all the toys when child goes to bed.

Oh, how I remember our wooden playpen! My eldest son used to resort to going in it because his little bro hated it so much he wouldn't go in it and would interfere with whatever older bro was doing otherwise.
Once, when my eldest boy was toddling, I left him asleep inside the playpen in the living room while I got on in the kitchen. Suddenly there was a loud wail. DS had woken up, found himself in the playpen, unhooked the sides where they folded and folded the pen enough to hoist it onto his shoulders. How he got it through the door I shall never know but the wail was because he'd got stuck at the bend in the hall!

I have no idea what happened to playpens but they were brilliant, especially when needing to answer 'the call of nature'! When my grandchildren were small we bought one of those travel cots....the kind with mesh sides and used that. Worked just as well. Funny thing is you can buy playpens for puppies!