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All stairs are hazardous for young children meaning less than 2 1/2 - 3 years old. Many children in the USA don’t actually have any stairs in their lives, in which case, they have no experience going up and down them.
That silly HGTV show “House Hunters” has couple after couple where one or both of the people have never had to use stairs, ever! They panic at the idea of their 6-year old having to use stairs to get to their bedroom! Ludicrous!
I suspect that your listing mentions the stairs to the terrace, so people like the HGTV-everything-must-be-granite kind of people would not choose your home with an 18 mo old.
At 18 months, children are very mobile. They have no common sense. [That is not distributed until they are older.] They can’t walk over cords without tripping. They get hurt on sharp table corners, especially ones that are table height. They are still in diapers and have to be changed on something that doesn’t allow them to tumble [center of the bed is often the chosen spot.] Many are still putting anything they can into their mouths. They are eating solid foods, but it often needs to be prepared for them [i,.e. they can’t use a knife to cut their meat or vegetables.] Some mothers are still nursing them in combination with those solid foods. They have no ability to assess risk at all. And they are filled with wonder, absorb information at a rate that is extraordinary, and can often be found laughing just because. Or crying, just because.
Haha so true. When we built a new house someone actually asked me why we didn’t get granite bench tops!!
Eer about $5000 and I’m more than happy with my laminex brushed stainless steel look tops!
Yes a bit complicated but not expensive for the dangerous type!
With the cheap fully removable type there’s nothing drilled/screwed into the wall. It’s just got these 4 rubber knobs that screw into the wall tight so it’s wedged in. Feels secure but anyone with kids knows the force they can put on things. So this child stood right in the middle of the gate, pushed it forward which made the whole gate come free of the wall. The gate fell flat on the stair with her laying flat on it and they both slid (head first) down the full flight of stairs.
Well, there’s a photo of the stairs. I don’t think I specifically mention stairs to the terrace. Then again, you can’t fly to it, nor is there an elevator to it.
I must be missing something. What’s special about granite?
Thanks for the vivid description. My contact with small children is very limited, though I find them charming in small doses, and I remember almost nothing myself from when I was a small child. My earliest memory is having a conversation with my mother when I was 7.
And your words irresistibly recall to mind Wordsworth’s great Ode, particularly the lines that begin with
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
I think I mentioned in another thread that I like Wordsworth.
It’s beautiful and nearly indestructible. It was/is very popular in high end homes but now middle class buyers want it and the truly rich are moving to different surfaces. When I had my kitchen re-done in 2010 granite was already starting to be “out of style.” But I got it anyway because I love natural materials and the idea that I have something millions of years old in my house. It’s great to be able to get what you want and not have to worry about trends or styles.
When you read a review on Air from a guest mentioning stairs and especially the EXACT number of stairs to a listing, review is always from an American guest
My husband and I still quote one particular episode of House Hunters where the couple finds this incredible house on the water, but there are 3 steps in the middle of this ginormous deck that goes out to the boat. The wife kept saying, over and over “those three steps! What if my children fell on them?” It was truly one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard. They rejected that house and got some crappy little place inland because of the 3 steps.
On the subject of granite - I keep hearing that it has “gone out of style” but yet I’m not entirely clear on what the new stylish thing is. Marble and other very similar rocks that come in slabs seem to be it, but it’s still rock, as opposed to wood, laminate, Corian or stainless steel. I’ve seen concrete, but it hasn’t caught on. For about 2 nanoseconds I considered getting glass, but it costs about 2-3x as much as granite and isn’t as durable (though it can be lit up from underneath, which is cool). There are also things like recycled glass, crushed and put into a matrix, but I didn’t like the look.
We recently installed granite in the Airbnb bathrooms, and I think it looks nice and clean, as well as being durable. It was a huge improvement over the 1980’s cultured marble and ugly faucet.
So true! There are stairs up to our rental and over the years I must have gone up and down them gazillions of times but even so, I don’t know how many there are. If a guests asked, I’d have to go and count
Contractors and home improvement suppliers depend on convincing us that styles are changing. My granite counter will last forever if I use a little common sense in caring for it. No one will ever sell me another counter. So it’s critical that we feel like we need a new counter or bath vanity or bathroom tile.
I’m late to the party but why not just add a little bit more information. I used to lift my room as being family friendly until I noticed that at least one guest didn’t watch their child appropriately which then of course creates a safety issue since I have a pool. So I decided that it’s not really worth the hassle and I changed it so it does not say any longer that it’s family-friendly. Besides it’s a small cozy room with a full size bed. That’s not very family-friendly LOL and I really don’t want to have to explain to another parent that it’s not enough for them to just tell the kid to behave they have to watch them every minute that the kid is not in the room. So no more kids for me.
I’m following up on this thread, because it’s on topic. I just got a request for a couple with a 4 1/2 year old son. The writer appears to be an Indian lady.
Here’s the quote (I hope these people don’t google this message). I’ve generally got a policy against small children, but am considering whether to make an exception in this case. The message is civilized and coherent, at least. Thoughts?
I am coming to Mumbai with my husband, xxxxx, who is originally from France, and our 4.5 year old son. The system wouldn’t allow me to add my son to the booking. Our son is very well behaved and can easily share the bed with us. We hope that you will agree to host us. Actually we are Airbnb hosts in Toronto as well (I am doing the booking from a different account than the one where we manage our listings because I had some credit to use on this one), so we will treat your home like ours.
Everyone parent thinks their child is a well behaved little darling - doesn’t mean they are
It is up to you to decide, but I would maybe write back and remind them of the stairs, that your accommodation is not design to be child friendly and that they would need to bring any special equipment they might need, which would need to be kept in their room.
Also remind them that the child will be counted as an additional guest and would need to be paid for.
If they confirm they are happy on this basis, you can decide whether you want to host them.
By the way have you checked out their listing and their reviews?
I’ve got a limit of 2 people for my listing. I obviously don’t want to raise it. Is it even possible to selectively say 2 people and one child is (possibly) allowed, but not 3 adults. If this isn’t gracefully possible, that might be enough reason to decline. If there are problems, I don’t want Airbnb saying that I was only supposed to have 2 registered guests.
ADDENDUM: I don’t see a way of selectively allowing additional children but not adults.
She didn’t provide the listing, and there is no active listing associated with the account she is posting from. And she mentions another account which is associated with the listing, but does not link to it.Though the account she is posting from has 3 guest reviews from 2016, presumably from a deactivated listing.
