Do You Anchor Furniture?

Yes. We have a lot of things anchored. It only takes a minute to do and can save a life.

If you open the top drawer of a dresser and push on it a little, you will see how easily it can tip forward. Open the top two and they tip very easily. Especially if you have small amounts of clothing in the bottom drawers.

Bedrooms were on second floor. Kids never allowed to play up there alone until they were old enough to know you do not climb on furniture. Nothing ever anchored down! They knew what the word no meant. They knew no climbing on furniture such as couch chairs etc.

Absolutely. We have anchored their bookcases and dressers. While my children know how to treat furniture, their friends may not. I have also seen them stand on a stool to get something off the top. It only takes losing their balance and grabbing it for support for it to tumble. Better safe than sorry.

We have an active boy and a climber. Furniture wasn't anchored by my parents when I was growing up. We anchored our flat screen, and the cubbies and dresser in his room.

We furnished with IKEA which included anchors in the kits.

Best,
F. B.

Never even thought about it.

Yes, I did anchor a few items when my boys were little. I didn't right away when they were just learning to get around, but once they started opening drawers in their dresser and climbing up, I realized that they could injure themselves. I didn't use a kit....I bought plastic plumbing straps, screws and big washers. Screwed one end of the strap to the back of the furniture, and the other to the wall. That was cheap and worked very well.

I also ended up screwing some of the bins the kids constantly dumped out down to the shelf they sat on. They were driving me nuts with the mess. :-)

I do not believe in childproofing my house. Kids can and should learn how to treat furniture, etc. My oldest is a climber, she climbs on the swing set outside or at the climbing cub at the Y. I'm with J. S on this one.

We anchored bookcases, and they're still anchored even though our kids are now old. I never thought to anchor anything else.

I don't, but I probably should now that my daughter is more mobile and because I live in California, where earthquakes can occur without warning.

Yes we anchored everything.

Sad. 😕

My son is 10, and yes, we anchored his furniture.

These GIANT televisions are of particular concern now.

Yes. I worked child care for a lot of years and it's pretty ingrained in us to anchor furniture, use plug covers, don't give kids choke hazards, and more.

Yes, we anchored the large furniture in the living room, and in their bedrooms. Our youngest is 4, and we still have the anchors in place. I recently caught him standing on the middle shelf of the big book shelf in the living room trying to reach something. I was glad that it was still anchored. I lectured the heck out of him, but it's always great to have reinforcements just in case. Kids don't always do what they're told.

I don't remember anchoring anything in our home when our children were young. But the kids weren't mountain-goat types, either. Our furniture is old and pretty sturdy, so I don't worry much about grandbabies climbing onto it. If I had a flat-screen TV, it would most definitely be anchored.

We anchored some furniture, but not all and I wish I had anchored my daughter's dresser. She pulled it over and was lucky that it didn't hurt her too much. She had to be at least 5 or 6 when she did it too, so it was surprising.

I have always known any furniture with draws can be pulled down on you when you use the drawers as steps, as small children do. I just never relaxed until they understand you can climb a tree, you can climb a wall but you never ever climb furniture! That way they were safe at grandma's house, aunt with no kids, where ever the child is. Anchoring just teaches the kid that it is safe to climb furniture, which is isn't.

I do a few things. Like my son's bookcase, and the TV in his room.
I was aware of this issue. Only because my brother went to the funeral of his coworkers 2 year old little girl. The little girl accidentally ran up against a large TV with a ride-on toy. The TV was jarred, and fell over on top of her, killing her. If it hadn't been for that, I don't know if I would have even thought to anchor furniture.

We didn't anchor bedroom dressers, but being in earthquake country, any taller furniture in our house (bookcases, china cabinets, etc) is anchored. For the most part, I have always been pretty vigilant about training my kids not to use furniture as a playground. For one, it's a safety issue, and for another, it ruins the furniture. They will encounter furniture wherever they go, not just in our house, and I can't be sure that if I allowed them to climb on furniture at our house, that they wouldn't make the same mistake at someone else's house where the furniture wasn't anchored. It's better to train them to only open one drawer at a time, and never to stand in the drawers. That way, if they're at grandma's house or over at the babysitter's house, I don't have to worry. I really didn't baby proof much of anything in our home, because I'd rather just train them from the start not to do dangerous things, and not to allow myself to feel complacent about safety, ever.

anything that was over 3 feet got anchored. Especially bookshelves or dressers that could look like ladders. They are still anchored. I did look at the picture and it probably would have been a borderline thing for me whether to anchor it or not. But honestly I probably would not have. It really just doesn't look like it had a chance to tip. But after you tell me it did I believe it could.

I read that article just now. How sad !!! :-( I am sad to say I did NOT anchor any furniture when my daughter was little, she is 11 now. I had heard a "little" about anchoring furniture but nothing really major. Wow, if I ever have another I will for sure be anchoring furniture down. This is just terrible.