As much as you might love them, there’s no denying that kids can cause a special kind of wear and tear on everything in your home—including you. When it comes to wallplates, kids can often break them, leave smudgy fingerprints on them, or even experiment with and try to remove them. Keep reading if you’re getting a little fed up with these kinds of issues. This article will tell you about four different features that can make your wall outlet covers kid-proof.
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Durable Material
Durability is key when it comes to kids. You know how easily those plastic plates can crack if you’ve ever had a wallplate broken by an errant toy thrown around the house. If you want something a bit more kid-proof, you need a more durable option. Metal is a great option, as there are still a lot of different colors and choices available to you. Whether it’s chrome, steel, nickel, brass, or bronze, your metal wallplates will stand up to anything your kids can throw.
Brushed Finish
While any metal will be durable, the wrong finish will still show plenty of smudges, smears, and fingerprints. If you want something that won’t become an instant template for your kids’ fingerprint artwork, look for a metal that has a brushed finish. This rougher finish is a bit more sophisticated in its appearance and has the added bonus of concealing smudge marks and even scratches. Of course, you should still clean your wallplates, but from time to time, with this finish, you at least won’t find yourself wiping fingerprints off of them every single day.
Hidden Screws
If you have curious kids who have a way with tools and getting into things, then those easy-to-reach screws on your standard wallplates can be a nightmare. All you have to do is look away for a couple of minutes, and before you know it, your child has the wallplate off, and all the wires behind it exposed. This is a genuine danger to your child, and you must take steps to protect them.
The best thing you can do is look into screwless switch plates for those handy kids. These models have the screws hidden behind a snap-on front plate that takes a great deal of force to remove. So, your child won’t be able to access the screws or remove the wallplate, keeping the plates in place and your child safe.
