Working in the shop with a toddler?

[gtae07]

Anyone have some ideas on how to safely get work done in the shop while watching a toddler?

My son is 15 months old and has been walking since 10 months, so he's pretty good at it and moves very fast. He gets into everything and is utterly fascinated by everything mechanical or electrical. Naturally, I want to encourage this fascination. I also want to be able to get work done on my airplane in longer stretches than the hour or two he's asleep. Don't really want to ask my wife to watch him for hours more because she already takes care of him full-time when I'm at work. I used to put him in the stroller and park him in that while I worked, but now he's a little more active than he was at 5 months and won't take to being restrained like that.

Now, I wouldn't be doing anything loud or smelly or dangerous--no welding, no painting, no chemicals beyond soap and water. Mostly I'd just be drilling holes, deburring parts, fitting things together, etc.

My best current thought is to park a pack-n-play out of reach of anything he could grab, and just put him in that and play some music for him. But at the rate he's going he may be able to get out of it in a couple months.

Any other suggestions?

 

[csi123]

Pack-n-play worked well in our case. There are also "super yard" type of fence that gives them more room to play.

But if I can choose again I would park whatever I was doing and just spend more time with my kids. Projects can wait, kids wouldnt.

 

[chamoisfive]

. . . . . . .
But if I can choose again I would park whatever I was doing and just spend more time with my kids. Projects can wait, kids wouldnt.

Ditto. You'll never get the missed time back with your kids. The projects will always be there.

 

[amalik]

My daughter who is 18 months is similar to your son. They wont stay in a pack n play at that age.

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[mrjaw14]

agree with the posts above. They won't stay in the pack n play, and spend time playing with them. You'll just get frustrated trying to keep them out of trouble. I'm in a similar boat, but sometimes things just have to get done some times. In that case, explain to your wife that you have to do XYZ, that you must do it then because of work. She'll understand if it's something that has to get done. Other projects...well, lets just say I have a 3 year old and am behind somewhat on what I want to get done lol

 

[Blk88GT]

I just setup a part of the shop for my daughter. Brought in her playhouse, a bunch of toys, bikes, whatever. She loves being in the shop with me. She's 5 now and still comes out to collect my garbage, bring lunch or hammer nails into wood scraps.

Spend the time with your kid while you can.

 

[LXCam]

I know this isn't what you want to hear but, ya might as well just forgo any real shop time over the next couple of years. My son grew up his entire walking life wanting to be with dad outside. Probably the only time it scared me was a couple minutes of inattentive ness on my part when he was a tad over 2 and I found the little monkey at the top of my extension ladder propped up against to house. That was the last time I tried getting any work done until he was maybe 4.

But if you find a way let us know, I'll use it on my grandson.

 

[sberry]

My first would stay in a toy car he couldn't really escape in for quite a while. Now they are big enough to run loose and destroy the threaded fitting collection.

 

[LS1-IROC]

I gave up. Now when I want to get work done on the hotrod I just take a vacation day from work while my wife takes care of them. There is an occasional Saturday or Sunday morning I will get up early (4am) to get stuff done as well.

 

[tjdux]

Ive been struggling with this as well. I have a 3 and 4 year old. Thankfully my other half helped a lot so i could get stuff done.

Some nights she hangs with them and i do my thing and vise versa.

It really is only a couple years and then they can be outside and stay mostly safe with much less supervision.

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[Cudajas]

Ditto. You'll never get the missed time back with your kids. The projects will always be there.

This x2.

I know you have probably heard this at thousand times, but I will say it again...you blink and he will be grown up! Enjoy the time you have with him now.

Play with him and enjoy what you doing with him.

In time he will be old enough to help you in the shop, you still may not get any work done, but it will be truly fun!

My kids are 10 and 17...it truly does seem like yesterday that they were 18 month old.

I still only take a hour or so a night once the little guy goes to be to work on my car.

Jason

 

[Blue XJ]

I gave up. Now when I want to get work done on the hotrod I just take a vacation day from work while my wife takes care of them. There is an occasional Saturday or Sunday morning I will get up early (4am) to get stuff done as well.

Your lucky, my kids are up by 6 everyday, even getting up at 4 wouldn't give me much time to get anything done.

Mine are usually both in bed by 8:30, that gives me the rest of the 'evening' to hit the garage, but unless it's something pressing that needs to be done that minute, I'd rather hang out with them chasing each other around outside.

 

[Kaizen]

The play crib will work for a little while. Eventually he'll start yelling and you'll want to finish what you are doing.....kids.....
If you and the mother are both there i'd either wait till he was in bed or have 2 nights a week where you can go do your thing. Course another 2 she gets to go do hers.
good luck.

 

[GCncsuHD]

Obviously I'm with the others, raising them is paramount to any projects you may have. If it has to be done, do it after they go to bed or plan accordingly.

But I feel that including them in what you are doing is a great way to raise them. My kids are always out in the shop working with me. They are 2 and 3, and another on the way. They have their own little workbench with toy tools, (I'm already began their collection of real tools), and ride on toys. They follow me all over, and watch what I'm doing and repeat on their toy cars.

I keep as much of the sharp, small, dangerous stuff in cabinets or up out of reach, but otherwise they have pretty much free reign while I am working. If it's anything dangerous, I wait until they go to bed to do it.

Pack and plays won't last long, at 15-16 months my son was already scaling them.

Many times if I need just a few minutes to get something done I'll put them inside the car to play while I do it, of course with the keys out and nothing in reach. I've pretty much lost all feeling in the back of my head from hitting it when they blow the horn.

These two were taken yesterday:
2017-05-30_12-40-48 by Garrett, on Flickr
2017-05-30_12-41-29 by Garrett, on Flickr


These were the easy days:
IMAG1058 by Garrett, on Flickr

IMAG0344 by Garrett, on Flickr

 

[ForceFed70]

4yo and a 6yo myself. I know what you're going through.

I built a small mezzanine in my shop. The kids LOVED it. What was going to be my "light storage area" turned into "kids play area". It'll get used for storage someday.

 

[BgBmBoo]

I have to admit I am enjoying this thread. I have a 22 month old and these guys are spot on. Might as well give up the notion of doing any real work with a toddler around. Even if you can capture their attention for a while I guarantee they will get bored the moment you start to concentrate on something.

My only real suggestion is to invest in a few good LED shop lights and do your garage work after bedtime.

 

[PassnThru]

Man is this crew slipping - you've all missed the most obvious solution to the problem.


Duct Tape.

 

[isb cornbinder]

My daughter was born in 1984 and my son was born in 1986. At that time I was trying to build up an International pickup truck. I worked the night shift and I was Mister Mom for 14 years on dayshift. My wife would get home around 4pm and she would take over and I went to bed to sleep for a midnight start at my full time job. We enrolled each one of the kids into pre-school at about 4 and then into Kindergarten at 5. Kindergarten and preschool were half day events. Grade one was a treat because it was all day.
We made it work. My wife's mother would often step in and give me a much needed break. For the most part, being Mister Mom was a full time event. It ws the best time of my life.
Building the truck took six months longer than the original plan. I had to get in an hour or two when the circumstances allowed. The truck was a 1953 IHC 3/4 ton. I converted it to Diesel and 4X4.
My wife was able to go back to school and complete a degree and apply for a manager's job. I did not how tired I was until I was able to go to dayshift.
The cost of living and paying off a mortgage in the Vancouver, BC area has been high for decades. We had the house paid off before we tried for kids.
Both kids spent lots of time in the shop with me. My daughter is a mechanic and my son works with a large company in their service maintenance department.

 

[cvairwerks]

I had about 15-20 sections of SuperYard fencing to contain my oldest while I was in the hangar or yard working. Tossed a section of old commercial carpet on the concrete and put him and his toys in the fence and let him go. When he got a little older, I added a combo TV/VCR/DVD player for the times he got cranky or needed a nap.

You also need to work on one of these:http://www.pedalplanekits.com/models.html for him.

 

[Cruzan80]

I have a 3.5 yo, and he has been in the shop with me for most of the time, since about 2 onwards. He knows he needs shoes, and sometimes has to leave, when daddy is running certain tools (bench grinder, etc), but otherwise is content to fix his toys. He has a power wheels he "wrenches on", and will happily hammer nails into plywood or other fun things. Starting to build his toolbox and shadowbox it, since he keeps stealing my stuff...

 

[maxpower_hd]

Man is this crew slipping - you've all missed the most obvious solution to the problem.


Duct Tape.

I was going to say to build a Velcro wall. LOL

 

[red61cj5]

big *** hamster ball

 

[Fastfish]

I put my small son in a back pack (the kid holding kind) during many hours of bench work.
It worked good for a while.

 

[22george]

I was working when the kids and grandkids were little. Now I am retired. My great grandsons are 3-1/2 and 1-1/2. They love "helping" Papa in the pole barn. When they do I stop and play with them. Like others have said. They grow up too fast. You can't get that time back. The fun is in doing the projects. The projects will still be there when the little ones aren't.

 

[tthornto]

The pack n Play is good until they get big enough to climb out of it. To help keep them busy while in the there i put 100 Ball pit type balls in the pack n play with them and a Little tykes plastic basketball hoop right next to it. It was enough fun that the neighbors (older 8-13yo) kids wanted to play too. While they were playing together I could do whatever I needed cause i had free short term babysitters. I just had to plan on picking up at least half of the balls when they were done.

 

[6768rogues]

When our kids were young, I spent time with them while they were awake and did my chores when they were napping or after they went to bed. Now they are both in their 30s and I am glad I spent the time with them. Now I spend time with my grandchildren.

 

[JohnnyK8]

No advice here other than this.

If the little Jasper grabs a really long screw driver just make sure he doesn't jam it in an outlet. Mine jammed it in the ground post hole. He just kept saying" Daddy it's stuck.". When I looked over I almost had a stroke.

Careful...keep them on a leash or better yet. Go play with them and enjoy the little ones.

Now he's 14 and is a great help in the shop....14 already!!!!

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[JCQuick]

I have lots of story of how I have seen this handled over many years one of my favorites was a couple I knew that did paint and body work. They would put the toddler in a 55 gal drum. the kid seemed to enjoy him self.
My votes for the pack and play or something like that.

I have many storys of kids around a shop. back in the 70's/ 80's me and a friend had a shop where we did VW work every Saturday we would have to watch the kids I had 2 he had 3. So I have many tales some good and a few not but they all survived

 

[D rock]

I had a kill switch wired to my plugs in my shop. This way if I was in there and didn't see my son, I could kill the plugs and not worry, because if I heard the saw I knew it would be too late...

Also, speaking of saws I got into the habit of always leaving my chop saws locked in the down position anytime I was away from them, even a step away. It would PO folks that would try to work with me, but my shop and my tools...get over it.

 

[McFarmer]

Best thing I did was fill an old tool box with all the old **** I had and didn't use. Set it on the floor and they could use anything they wanted.

Didn't take long though before they saw mine were a lot shinier than theirs.

 

[bczygan]

I'm serious:

 

[Jackfre]

My Grandson is almost 6 and we have had him part of every M-F since he was new. We did a total remodel of the house and built the shop over this period. I built him a little work bench and put the small plastic tools on it. When he was smaller I had some folding wire fence where I could contain him for a while, but he demanded my attention, so I wouldn't really get much done and even when he is contained I'm watching him so close I'm not getting much done. From a safety standpoint I have to watch out for myself probably more than him. He is a distraction when in the shop and I like all my fingers. It is worth a great deal when he come out to the shop and says, "Papa, let's build something." Anyway, when he is out there, he wins and we do what he wants. Life is good!

 

[rayra]

some sort of corral / play area is in order. bigger than a crib but same idea. You can't leave him loose. If he's loose you can't even take your eyes off him for more than a few seconds, in a garage / shop environment.

 

[fireeqpsrv]

I have a 3 year old and unless I am on the lathe or one of the saws I try to include her some how.

But had to watch it I turned around and she was attempting to "fix" her little bike


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[DCarr2]

My dad had me in his shop for as long as I can remember... Got me interested in a bunch of different stuff.

Since I am an uncle, I plan to do the same with rugrat. (nephew)

 

[isb cornbinder]

One of the helper tools I used so I could be in the shop whilst the kids were having an afternoon nap was a Fisher Price baby monitor. After we were not using the Fisher Price monitor at home, I took it to work and hid the listening end in the foreman's office. The speaker end was in my toolbox. Yes there are some juicy stories.

 

[fastolds]

My almost-5 year old daughter loves to spend garage time with me. Lately, I've been getting her a pair of safety glasses and let her help me.

I put a radiator in my mom's Buick last week and that 1.5 hour job only took a little under 3 with her help!

 

[tstaude]

Yep, projects can wait.

I have a 5 yo, a 3 yo and a 10 month old. I don't even try to work on anything unless the youngest is either sleeping or at grandma's.
I very carefully clock out my work on Saturday's to align with nap time