Baby-proofing the record collection

DJ_NevilleC

My wife and I are having our first child in September and we're wondering if y'all have any good suggestions for baby proofing a record collection in a fairly tight space? I know Fatback chose to buy a bigger house which we'll do eventually but in the meantime we gotta make do.Photos and/or tips appreciated.

funky16corners

My wife and I are having our first child in September and we're wondering if y'all have any good suggestions for baby proofing a record collection in a fairly tight space? I know Fatback chose to buy a bigger house which we'll do eventually but in the meantime we gotta make do.
Photos and/or tips appreciated.

It's all about careful training. Keep the records in an enclosed space, and when the tot is big enough to understand, make sure he/she knows it's off limits. My two are like a couple of hyenas sometimes, but the one place you will NEVER find them is the record room.


b/w

Congrats.

deathvalley90210

training has worked for me as well. i kept the records off limits until she was old enough to understand what they were and pick out records she wants to listen to. now she knows that they are for listening, not playing with, and that she can't grab them if i'm not around.

Deegreez

Give the baby his or her own record player. An old classroom library one with a built in speaker. Buy a stack of not valuable 45's including some kids records and lullabies and some classic songs that you love. When the baby is an infant you can put on a record while your lady is nursing or changing the baby or playing in the room. It builds cognition that music is there and the baby will respond to feeling comforted and calmed when music plays.
Then when he/she gets older they can learn to use it themselves and feel included but at the same teach them that there is a boundary- your records, their records. They will learn quickly the right way to handle a record and feel a sense of responsibility and independence which all children crave, see w'burg thread.

maocontent

If you have record shelves near the floor or in child's reach keep the records in those areas packed as tight as you can/feel comfortable keeping them so the kid can't pull them out easily. They'll give up after a few tries & move on to something else.

Also cosign on giving your child some value-less records of their own to mess with - if not to teach them to appreciate the music, then just as a decoy.

selperfuge

put the raers up high. that's all i have to say.

well not all. fortunately thats what i did. i trained my kid good to not touch the records.

then his little bastard three year old friend was over at our house and thought it was funny to push lowest shelf expedit'd classic rock and hip hop 12"s all the way into the brick wall backing. scraped a few cover edges but in a way it was worth the lesson learned.

mannybolone

I can only speak from experience but while I kept records off the lowest shelves, my daughter had and has ZERO interest in my records.

She does like my turntable and mixer - something about the spinning platter and all the faders and knobs are more fun for her than boring flat pieces of black vinyl.

LoopDreams

Teach them respect, they get it...they'll know how important your wax is to you.
I created a kids section that they are allowed to use whenever they want. They love going into their albums and having them played, and they already handle vinyl like pro's.

Worry less about you're kids and more about who you hire to look after them in your home...

AKallDay

I don't have babies yet but back when i was a kindergarten teacher i set up a listening booth in a corner of our very big classroom with headphones. it was an extra technics i had and the children were allowed to use it one at a time, during their 'free-play' time before their nap time. when i first brought it in it was because i wanted to share my collecting and dj-ing part of my life with them and so i made it into a lesson. my co-teacher and i talked about the history of records and showed the children how to handle a record and how to use the turntable properly. we also sent a note home to the parents saying that if they still had records would they send just one in to donate to our classroom. the parents actually got really into it and sent in cool stuff so we had a nice little library. i also got childrens records when i could at the thrift and brought in some language records and other assorted stuff for them. it was a very popular activity so much so that we had a sign up sheet for it. and they were very careful with the records and with the turntable. they treated it very delicately. granted they were 4 yrs old and 5 yrs old so this is not babyproofing but agree that if you show them that you trust them and give them 'their own' they will be very respectful.
my main concern for a tiny child would be securing wires and shelves so they don't pull things down onto themselves and get hurt.

skel

LET THE KIDS RUN FREE, MAN





IF THEY F*ck IT UP IT'S THEIR INHERITANCE ON THE LINE

Ex-Boyfriend

Rip to flac and sell.

Fatback

You ain't gonna baby-proof shit.

Channel that curiosity and put they ass to work.





Be fair and let them enjoy the fruits of their labor.

chase

I have lost many a 44 needle to the hands of a three year old.. my two year old, at one time had a thing for ripping the plastic guards off of floppy disks from my s950

only lost a few 45s and a one lp, but you just have to keep the heat up high..

and if you see them playing with stuff they shouldn't, just divert there attention. If you make a big deal, they will REALLY be interested and only do it when your not around.