How To Protect Your TV And Your Child From Each Other

Two things that don't tend to go terribly well together are nice, shiny eye catching LCD or Plasma TVs, and small children. Fortunately there's a quick and simple way of protecting your TV from inquisitive fingers or randomly hurled toys, and it will only take you a few seconds.

It's quite surprising just how fragile modern TV screens are, and it doesn't take a lot to cause damage which can cost a very great deal to repair - in some cases the same as it costs to buy a new TV. Touching and prodding an LCD or Plasma TV screen can cause damage which impairs the quality of the picture, or can blank out individual pixels or whole sections of pixels so that you end up with a black section of your screen which won't display a picture.

The problem is though that your young child doesn't know this. What they do know is that there is an enticingly colourful thing in the room which looks like a window, and all sorts of wonderful moving pictures are in it, including some of their very special friends from their favourite shows. Touching it is as compelling as sniffing the milk just to make sure it really is off.

But although you may think that the damage caused by your young child's soft and delicate fingers isn't enough to worry you (which it ought to!) then what about their toys?

Crayons scraped across Plasma TV screens, toy cars driven across LCD screens and action figures inadvertently hurled at a TV screen are all excellent ways of making sure that your viewing pleasure in future is, well, not so pleasurable.

Then of course there's those games consoles with handheld controllers which regularly get lobbed at the television screen. Most of us known at least someone who has either broken the TV, broken a light or almost knocked someone out by getting a little over enthusiastic with a games controller. It's easily done.

A TV screen protector is a slightly flexible transparent shield which quickly fits over the front of your television, offering a strong, resilient protective barrier. Because it is transparent it doesn't in any way impair your viewing. In fact once it is fitted into place you won't be able to see it, or even tell that it's on.

The TV protector fits to your TV using Velcro straps, which means that it is fitted in seconds, and can easily be removed should you wish to.

The protector is able to safely protect your television screen from inquisitive fingers, crayons, toys and rapidly flung games controllers. Because the protector is slightly flexible it absorbs and cushions anything thrown at it, so that there are no sharp sudden knocks or rebounds.

It's a simple idea, and very affordable. Especially when compared to either the cost of a new TV, or the cost of paying the excess or additional premium on your home insurance policy.

There are three obvious risks to your child from the television - the risk of electric shock with the electric cables running into it from the wall, the risk of them cracking their head on a sharp corner or edge, and the risk of them holding on to the television for support and it crashing down on top of them.

First of all, make sure that all cables are securely out of sight if at all possible. Many TV cabinets have holes or gaps at the back to allow cables to run through them neatly, and by using cable ties or Velcro ties you can pull cables together into one thick rope which is more easily managed.

Make sure that unused electric sockets are covered using an electric socket cover, but for those sockets which are being used there are electric socket covers in the shape of hinged boxes which fit right over the entire socket and plug, allowing you to plug electric items into the socket and then lock those plugs in place so that children can't get near them.

To guard against bumps and knocks on the corners of your television or any other potentially sharp edge, such as coffee tables, use corner protectors. These come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and effectively work like the packaging you sometimes get with picture frames, turning a sharp corner into a foam curve.

Finally, when it comes to stopping your little one from pulling over the television think about either locking the television to the stand, or making sure that the television is fully wall mounted if it is a flat screen type. You can also get television locks which are like braces that tie your TV set to the wall behind it, completely stopping your child from pulling it over.

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