Maintaining Your Home Office Power Grid with Children

How do you keep small children from unplugging electrical cords? Especially cords attached to a PC in the middle of a 4-hour data backup? Wyatt makes a b-line for the vacuum cord whenever we plug it in, so the myriad of computer cables look naturally attractive to little hands.

Outlet inserts keep small objects out of unused outlets. Placing large furniture in front of outlets works great in the living room, but many of my office outlets are in places where large furniture simply can't go. Fortunately, Safety 1st makes some plastic outlet encasements designed to cover both outlets and the power cords connected to them.

Most outlet encasements aren't designed to easily accommodate grounded three-prong plugs common to most PC devices. Safety 1st makes a larger square model with two interlocking pieces which accommodate one grounded plug or one AC adapter easily, but generally waste the other outlet.

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For outlet protection combined with the convenience of powering multiple devices, use a power strip cover in combination with the outlet cover. This is another Safety 1st solution, with wall-mounting brackets for convenient placement. The surge protector cover extends to enclose longer power strips, but I haven't found a cover wide enough to enclose a surge protector with two rows of outlets. The surge protector cover also won't enclose AC adapters commonly associated with things like routers, Pocket PCs, and other small electronic peripherals.

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• Choosing a Child Safe Desk
• Ergonomics, Chairs, and Children
• Protecting Your Computer Desktop from Children
• Children and Computer Parts Don't Mix
• Reducing Wires Eliminates Child Temptations
• Consumer Electronics Child Safety
• Keeping Watch on Children From Your Office
• Childproof Your Trash
• Hidden Costs in Childproofing a Home Office
• Create a Child Friendly YES Environment