Safety issues

[attachmentfeminist]

I live in a house with a broken furnace, so we have to heat our house with kerosene heaters in the middle of the rooms. I have a rather large problem keeping little fingers away from it, and I don't know what to do!

I'm ashamed to say that the only thing that I've been able to do to keep him away from it is a swat on the rear, and I HATE doing that! But when it comes down to a swat on a diapered bottom or a burn on a bare hand, I feel like I don't have a choice and NOTHING seems to work! I need something with an immediate effect, something that will make it stop now. I don't want to ignore it and hope he stops, or count to three, or anything else that could result in him having time to hurt himself badly.

I just want to cry, I'm at such a loss as to what to do. My mom says not to worry about it, but I will never be comfortable with hurting him to prevent him from being hurt. It's wrong on so many levels.

[TeaBag]

What I would do is buy one of those adjustable safety gates. Yes, they are expensive, but it's worth it, IMO. Put it up around the heater, and problem solved. I'm pretty sure you can find one of the adjustable ones at onestepahead.com

Good Luck. I hope you find a solution without having tocontinue to resort to hitting. It obviously doesn't sit well with you.

[mamaduck]

Yes -- I would also try to find a way to either gate the heaters off -- or to put them up high. On what - I don't know. But I wouldn't mess around with this one. The issue of spanking aside, a small child should not have access to a kerosene heater.

[georgia]

i'm not sure what your financial situation is, but many utility companies have programs to ensure customers have safe heat. if you rent---no furnace is something that is completely wrong! a broken furnace in OH would seem like a really big deal to me i've read quite a few stories of how dangerous kerosene heaters are--so i can see why you're worried! please let us know what you figure out!

all the best,