In November of 2000 there was a massive North American recall of horizontal blinds that presented potential strangulation danger for small children. The problem blinds had long hanging cords that were looped at the bottom, and for some it was the central cords that could be pulled forward and a ...
Michelle (10) and Emily (8) Campbell invited me into their father's wood shop where they had prepared a series of demonstrations to illustrate basic safety precautions for kids working with wood.They walked us through the differences in various types of eye protection, insisted on providing heari...
Making your home safe for young children is a subject that I like to return to every year, as the principles of caution and safety are still the same, but there are constantly new products to help us keep our homes safe for the kids. For last years list, visit child proofing a home.This year we ...
Light switches are not installed with smaller people in mind, even in the kids bedroom. So some creative people in Montreal came up with an invention called Kid Switch. Simply replace the standard face plate with the kid switch plate, and now you can operate the switch at the normal height, or ...
One of the great power tools for kids to work with are the rotary tools, like Wizard or Dremel. You can get vices that will hold the motor fixed, allowing you to either bring the project to the tool, or attach a flexible shaft. The flexible shaft is even easier for a kid to handle than the tool...
Over the years I have had the occasion to teach working with tools to kids as young as 3 years old. At whatever age the secret is to know the individual kids attention span and prepair the work to give them a feeling of completion and success within those limits. Regular sessions of success and...
Gates that swing out towards the street present a serious problem for latches. If you mount the latch on the gate itself, it will not work unless you install it on the street side. Out on that side it is simply not secure. If you mount it on the fence, then the shaft that catches the gate is a...
Yes Wendy, just as you can paint over any other painted walls.
You can paint with an oil based paint directly over the lead based paint (which will certainly be an oil based paint).
If you want to use a latex over it, then you must first use a "super adherent primer", made by most of the paint ...
In 1990 I produced a video for NRCan (National Resources Canada) specifically targeted to grade school children to improve the energy efficiency of the family home. If things look a bit weird in the video it is because the camera was always at the height of the eyes of a grade school kid – you s...
