Desperately need help child-proofing! Having a really hard time

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Gelly

Gelly

Gelly
Joined
Sep 10, 2019
Messages
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Location
New York
We've had our bunny Remy for 3 years and up until we had our son 18 months ago, it's been a breeze. He was a spoiled fluff. However, since my son was born, Remy has had to be in his pen a lot more for his own safety. For the past few months, my son has been shaking the cage, banging on it, trying to crawl in, throwing things inside. We've been doing our best and have successfully prevented any harm to Remy. I give them heavily supervised time together and make sure Remy is protected. I really hoped my boy would understand being gentle at this point but it seems every day he gets more rambunctious. Side point, we have a small important. There aren't many places to keep Remy. We've moved him to our bedroom but the space is very tights and it's only a matter of time before my toddler make it his priority to get to him.

Sooo, I really need help. How do I make a secure space for Remy (ideally in the family room because I want Remy to be with us)! I'm at a loss and very stressed.
 
Gelly said:
For the past few months, my son has been shaking the cage, banging on it, trying to crawl in, throwing things inside.

Sooo, I really need help. How do I make a secure space for Remy (ideally in the family room because I want Remy to be with us)! I'm at a loss and very stressed.
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Having raised 3 energetic, strong-willed boys, I understand how... active.... they can be. So perhaps you'll allow some grandmotherly insight. It isn't a matter of changing Remy's space, but it is a matter of training your son to not do those things. It takes extreme consistency to teach a young child, but there's no reason that an 18 month can't be taught to not shake the cage, etc. When a firm "no" is given to a child, many will test that command. When they repeat that action after they were told "no" -- there must be consequences. Not lectures, not yelling, but a calm firm response that makes it clear that no means no. The key is absolute consistency. I've seen parents say no to a child 3 times or 10 times or more before finally responding with consequences. All this does is teach the child that "no" can be ignored 3 times or 10 times or more. If the consequences come after the first "no" is ignored, and always come after the first "no," the child will quickly come to understand that no does indeed mean no. This also makes parenting infinitely less stressful because it prevents the parent from getting irritated by the constant nagging that the child learns when consequences don't come until after 'x' amount of infractions.

This needs to apply to all training of the child, not just in regards to the rabbit's cage/area. There is a great, classic book that is a fantastic resource for new parents. I knew it simply as "The Strong-Willed Child," but a new edition has since come out. Here it is. It was transformative for me as a new mother back in the day. It made such sense to me and truly helped us to raise our boys.
 
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Just for fun (& to show we had little ones with rabbits) here are a couple pics of my youngest. First is when I was building a replacement rabbit cage -- he's sitting inside on the upper level of the cage with a stuffed rabbit. The 2nd is after we moved to AZ. He's 2 years old (his brother's legs are beside him 😉 ). Now he's in his 20s. 😋
 

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Blue eyes said:
Having raised 3 energetic, strong-willed boys, I understand how... active.... they can be. So perhaps you'll allow some grandmotherly insight. It isn't a matter of changing Remy's space, but it is a matter of training your son to not do those things. It takes extreme consistency to teach a young child, but there's no reason that an 18 month can't be taught to not shake the cage, etc. When a firm "no" is given to a child, many will test that command. When they repeat that action after they were told "no" -- there must be consequences. Not lectures, not yelling, but a calm firm response that makes it clear that no means no. The key is absolute consistency. I've seen parents say no to a child 3 times or 10 times or more before finally responding with consequences. All this does is teach the child that "no" can be ignored 3 times or 10 times or more. If the consequences come after the first "no" is ignored, and always come after the first "no," the child will quickly come to understand that no does indeed mean no. This also makes parenting infinitely less stressful because it prevents the parent from getting irritated by the constant nagging that the child learns when consequences don't come until after 'x' amount of infractions.

This needs to apply to all training of the child, not just in regards to the rabbit's cage/area. There is a great, classic book that is a fantastic resource for new parents. I knew it simply as "The Strong-Willed Child," but a new edition has since come out. Here it is. It was transformative for me as a new mother back in the day. It made such sense to me and truly helped us to raise our boys.
Click to expand...
Wow this is great advice. When he tests my no, it is so frustrating and it seems like he does it more and more. Sometimes it's difficult to find a balance because every parenting "guru" these days seems to promote "gentle parenting" which in my case manifests as a free for all. I was actually told by a friend to read that book and now that 2 people have mentioned it, I must get it.
 
If you're good at diy(or want to hire a carpenter to build it), what about something like this?

bun-pen-jpg.61108


Or if you want it more open, you can use 1/2" hardware mesh instead of plexiglass. You can make it as tall as you need, and it will be sturdy and secure. Or if you don't want to build anything, maybe some sort of heavy duty paneling like used for a dog run, or a large 2 story rabbit hutch with an enclosed run part on the bottom level.
 
Blue eyes said:
Just for fun (& to show we had little ones with rabbits) here are a couple pics of my youngest. First is when I was building a replacement rabbit cage -- he's sitting inside on the upper level of the cage with a stuffed rabbit. The 2nd is after we moved to AZ. He's 2 years old (his brother's legs are beside him 😉 ). Now he's in his 20s. 😋
Click to expand...
That is very sweet.
 
JBun said:
If you're good at diy(or want to hire a carpenter to build it), what about something like this?

bun-pen-jpg.61108


Or if you want it more open, you can use 1/2" hardware mesh instead of plexiglass. You can make it as tall as you need, and it will be sturdy and secure. Or if you don't want to build anything, maybe some sort of heavy duty paneling like used for a dog run, or a large 2 story rabbit hutch with an enclosed run part on the bottom level.
Click to expand...
😱😱 omgosh that’s awesome. They have a little bed!!!
 
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