A few months ago I was walking home from daycare with both kids in the pushchair. I took out number #1 so she could walk up the stairs and into the house, and then turned to take the baby out of the pushchair. #1 immediately turned, and sprinted for the road (as fast as her 2 year old legs would take her). We don’t have a gate currently. Clutching the baby to my chest, I hurried after her as fast as I could without dropping the baby.
She got to the road and I reached her two steps before she went headlong into a car, catching the back of her tee shirt and pulling her back. I took her inside, placed her into her bedroom and shut the door, before sitting on the couch and bursting into tears.
That was one of the worst days of parenting I’ve had so far. Fortunately just a miss, but too close for my comfort.
We currently have no front fence after demolishing our front wall and waiting for the builders to come and construct a new fence for us. I needed something to keep the fiddle-fingers enclosed so that she didn’t run hell-for-leather toward the road and get herself squished.
Lucky for us we have two stands of bamboo down the back of our property, so one afternoon I decided to put it to good use (albeit only temporarily).
Materials
- Bamboo poles
- Old trellis
- 2 balls of string
- 1 old cut up rope
- Handsaw
- Spade
Time to make: about 2 hours
Method:
First I cut three posts, and dug them a foot into the ground and packed them in with clay.
Then I strung the trellis between the two higher posts and tied it on with string. Bearing in mind that this is temporary until we get our fence, I wanted to be able to take it apart, otherwise I would have used screws or nails.
I then cut two horizontal bars and tied them to the other half of the fence with more twine. I then cut several vertical posts and tied them to the horizontal pieces with rope.
I saw some largish holes at the base but I was running out of time before the kids woke up from their nap, so I shoved in some cross-pieces hoping it would visually stop #1 from sneaking out.
I was partially successful. She immediately went to investigate the fence with glee, and tried to fit herself through the holes, claiming, “Hole, mummy”. I had to teach her it was not to climb on or to get through, which works if I’m glaring at her.
I will put some more verticals in during the weekend which ought to stop her a little more!