General Asylum

Probably not necessary...

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In Reply to: RE: Any suggestions on how to shield my speakers from my toddler? posted by ppopp on March 27, 2008 at 16:34:58

The Gene Rubin article is SPOT-ON. We have 10-month old and 3-year old boys, and I have exposed both to music listening (on my main system) since the day they came home with us. Our 3-year old is a typical curious little boy (thank God!) who has gotten into more than his share of things around the house but has never even left a fingerprint on my gear. At this age, children are rapidly exploring the world around them and at the same time beginning to assert some autonomy and independence. They very much want to emulate adult behaviors (non-US inmates please forgive my Colonial spelling!), and will usually do so-with or without adult supervision and this is when our equipment is placed at risk.

Here is what I have done (which seems effective thus far):
First, as I mentioned, we listen to music frequently with our boys because it brings us great pleasure and enjoyment and we want to share this experience with them, and because the positive impact on brain/intellectual development is well-documented. At about age 2, our oldest began to become fascinated with the equipment itself. Trying to dissuade a 2 year old who is persistently fascinated by something is an exercise in futility, and will only lead to familial dischord. The alternative is to embrace their curiosity and provide an age/developmentally-appropriate outlet. I did this by showing him the equipment, allowing him to press a few buttons, and clearly infoming him of what he WAS NOT allowed to do. He did VERY well with this for a few months, steadily learning how to use the equipment and not break it. By age 2.5 he fully understood that tubes are too hot to touch (and different from a light bulb), could identify many electronic components such as resistors and capacitors (there are few things cuter IMO than hearing a 2-year old say "capacitor"), and was gaining an understanding of safety/shock hazards. He also began developing his own musical preferences during this time. At that point, I set up a living-room system consisting of slightly older mid-fi gear that had been unused for a while to serve as a "practice" system, and taught him how to power up the reciever and CD player, select "CD" as the input, and how to load, play and seek tracks on the CD player. At the same time, I set clear limits: must ask permission first, no rough-housing near the equipment, and no handling of equipment or CDs without first washing hands. Believe it or not, he had mastered all of this within about a week to 10 days and for the past six months has used this equipment daily with minimal supervision, and no damage at all. Needless to say, I am EXTREMELY proud of how well he has done with this (and awestruck at how "smart" 3-year olds can be!). He also learned during this time how to power up the TV and play his favorite "Elmo" DVD approprately.

The best part of all of this is the fact that I get to share a favorite activity with my beloved little boys, and am having the time of my life doing so! What could possibly be better?

Speakers are one component that may warrant additional care however. First, stand-mounted types can be an obvious hazard if knocked off the stand-damage to the speaker as well as injury to the child are highly likely. Good education can reduce this risk significantly, but toddlers can easily get carried-away when playing leading to accidents-I think some additional precautions would be very prudent, simply for the sake of safety. Also, dust caps and soft-dome tweeters are simply irresistable to little poking fingers. One solution is to choose speakers designed without a dust cap and with protective grilles over the tweeters. I have been a Monitor Audio fan for a long time, and now that I have the boys I really appreciate their robust construction (grille over the tweeter and solid aluminium phase plugs rather than paper/plastic dust caps). I think your idea of using playyard/pet fencing would probably work pretty well; some coloration of the sound might occur (reflection/defraction), but is probably negligable in the "real world".

Whatever you end up doing, I would strongly recommend involving your child in the process. The fun and enjoyment you are both going to experience as a result WILL bring you closer and lead to unparalleled joy! (and the first time your child successfully plays a CD all by him/herself will be a VERY proud moment for you as a parent!)

Do not give this or any other hobby up simply because you now have a young child-INVOLVE the child and you will both have a GREAT time!

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