It was around the time that my first-born learned how to pull himself up on things that I gave up having a coffee table in my household. As the years went by, I watched my friends fall victim to the same living-room-attack where furniture mysteriously would disappear to be put in storage until little ones were well past the stage where they could fall and loose a tooth on it.
If you have more than one child, you may as well just sell your coffee and end tables and buy something updated when they are all in elementary school.
The perfect coffee table would be a round one like the one in this photo from Cymax’s coffee tables page, put with super invisible bumpers that help bounce kids off them rather than into them. I wonder who will manufacture that? Maybe I should trademark it.
In all seriousness, if you’re going to have a coffee table with new walkers in the house (it IS a useful piece of furniture for little ones to pull themselves up on and walk around) check out these tips on Childproofing Your Home including coffee table safety. I much prefer rounded or oval tables so avoid those sharp corners. One day, when my living room is ready to look like a grown-up lives there again, that’s the kind I’ll be getting!
We opted for the padded square ottoman as a replacement (an affordable one, in case those teethers did damage to it) and it has been a great substitute. We bought a wooden tray to put in the middle of it for when we want to put a cup down. 🙂
We too opted for a padded square ottoman. We put the dreaded sharp corner coffee table in our “adult” sitting room, but it will be gone before we move into our next house! We do still have the end tables though, but kiddo never tried to pull up on those so we figured we were safe. I must say though, my parents have an oval coffee table and the girl still found a way to hurt herself!
I have one, but I shoved it off against a wall.
Oh coffee tables..I’ve almost forgotten what they are!!
we have a coffee table. and an end table. corners and all;) the kids leave it alone for the most part. They used it to pull to standing and to “cruise”. sure, they have fallen into it once or twice but nothing serious. They hit their heads on the dining room table more as they tried to walk under it when they were too tall, lol.
Are u serious!!! I’m 6 months pregnant and haven’t even thought about my living room furniture!! Thank goodness i already have a padded ottoman as a coffee table! I guess i will have to take a second look at my living room and eliminate a whole bunch of stuff! Any other pointers would be great!