B,

Succulent baby boy playing with an Opuntia sulfurea - I like what you do for the cause. Can we see a picture of him juggling it?

I can't suggest what to do, having not been in that particular situation myself (but I do know about downsizing!) but if you do get a shelf, I would get some L brackets and fasten it to the wall so that there's (almost) no way of it coming down on him when he's using it as a lift-myself-up device.

Other than Berlin Walling the plant room, I don't know what else to do.

been dealing with a bit of this myself, most of my plants dont come in the house alot, i have a small greenhouse goin up so they will all have a home this winter. I did build small shelves in the windows, not sure if your windows will allow that.
Another thought would be converting wood and glass curio cabinets into little glass greenhouses inside, they look amazing if done right and converting them is a breeze, just look for ones with the most glass, and glass shelves, add long fluro bulbs down the wood frame in the corners and you have it. either way getting them out of reach would be the goal and up seemed to be the answer for me.

Definatly do bolt any shelves down, or to the wall, even if just with drywall anchors.

any chance you can build a greenhouse? or a heated coldframe against the house maybe? i would say thats your best bet,

Get a greenhouse! Thats where my c&s lived when I had rug rats. I had to heat it in winter but it was just a small parrafin (kerosene ?) heater.

Gosh, a greenhouse. I think she lives in Nova Scotia, a place where they can forget what the sun looks like. I hear that they so rarely see shadows that kids run home when they see their own shadow, howling that somebody is following them. Her kid could get to middle age and still not see a sunny day. You have to heat greenhouses day and night if you want temps above 4C/40F.

My solution was to put plants with stout spines that don't come off (like glochids), or don't blind (like the terminal spine on Agaves) in the front. Mammillarias are good. They may touch them (mine did), but they learn quickly to avoid the pain.

You can get play ('exercise') spaces for smaller pets at a pet store - I've seen them at Petsmart and at Tractor Supply. They are segmented panels - I've seen plastic mesh in a wood frame and all wire ones, but all of them are hinged panels that open out when straight to 8 - 12 feet, depending on the size you get. WAY back in the day, when our children were young, we got a children's play space that had ratcheted hinges that made the most incredible racket when moved. DH used it to quarantine his media cabinet from the children. At Christmas, we used it to keep the tree safe from the kids, but not the cat! If your space needing protection from the baby is longer than one set, get two sets. I've also used it to close off an open ended kitchen when cooking stuff that really didn't need kid's help... String craft bells along the inside, so that when the boy touches and possibly tries to get over the barrier, it rings and you know about it and can remind him he's NOT allowed on the other side. I'd also take one of your poky ones and gently show him on his finger just HOW poky it is, and remind him that it hurts and he doesn't REALLY want to touch it. Treat it like a hot stove - educate him as well as protect them from each other!

Thanks for the responses everyone
Jeff,
No Opuntias here (well, at least not indoors. If he discovers the fragilis outside next summer, I'll have plenty to share...) .And that's a good idea about the brackets, thanks.

grabmebymyhandle,
Good idea about the curio cabinets, though I am reluctant to start using supplementary lighting, having resisted this far already...that could seriously increase my plant collecting.....

grabmebymyhandle and Greenlarry
I would love a greenhouse, but in this climate it would be very expensive to heat all winter, there are very few winterized greenhouses in this area, and most are commercial enterprises. I also have a very small yard...I do use a small greenhouse in spring and fall to extend the season. When I win the lottery, that's Number One on the list...

Dzitmoidonc
I live in Nova Scotia, not Nunavut!! The climate here is much nicer than you seem to believe. My family is all very pale skinned and we need sunscreen all year round! This past summer was long and hot, it was great. Winters are longish, fairly cold, and wet, however last winter we only had to shovel the driveway twice all winter....they are predicting a bad one this year...yay...
The pokier plants will definitely be out of reach!

minflick
That's a great idea, I didn't think to look at pet stores. Thanks, will be checking those fences out for sure!! He'll learn quickly not to touch them, the neighbour boys did!

Cheers,
Breton

Less sun in nova scotia than England, I doubt it. And you shouldn't need to heat it during the day as even on a cold day it was warm in my greenhouse in winter, and it was just sheet covering, not panes!

On a somewhat related note, here's a webpage detailing one Nova Scotian man's quest for an all season greenhouse. A bit more effort financially and time wise than I can get into now, plus I don't have a good sunny site to situate such a structure...

http://cactus.biology.dal.ca/paulC/greenhouse/index.html

Greenlarry,
Sheet covering wouldn't last a month here with the wind we get...I've had anchored plastic greenhouses rotated 180 degress and flipped...now THAT is a depressing mess...

Breton, thats exactly what happened to my greenhouse! So i got another. Following winter same scenario, g'house lifted and thrown down the garden, c&s turned to mush!

I just never did anything special with my plants, they were just always there. Neither of my boys really messed with them or paid them any attention that I ever noticed. I had cacti with spines, leafy tropicals, succulents, even bad poisonous ones like Euphorbias. We did have a low fence around the wood stove, though. When my older son was about ten he went to the grocery with me and bought a Haworthia for himself. I was truly shocked! I didn't know he cared! Well, he did care for it sometimes. Now, occasionally something would get attacked during the rubber band fights, and occasionally there was damage, but that was when they were older teens roughhousing. I would just not stress about it, and see what develops. I think it kind of depends on the kid, and your expectations, and the situation what they are likely to do. You will grow along with your son, and you will find you are always working things out between the both of you, plants and everything else.

Breton, I was exaggerating a bit. I grew up northwest of NS a couple hundred miles.
My main point was that although you really think it out when a baby is in the house, some things can be allowed to slide. I remember when ours arrived, and we did the same things. My wife was looking into padding for the exposed brick, I was imagining a rambunctious child hurling herself at the spines. Instead, we got a child with mild curiosity about plants who learned not to touch.

The first child, you gingerly try to not disturb it when you change diaper. It takes you 10 minutes the first time, you wrench your back trying to keep the kid on an even plane. By the time they are ready to graduate from diapers (yes, that day will come), you are grabbing the rascal by one leg, hoisting it up, sliding that diaper under the kid and finishing in about a minute and a half.

Like the other posters have indicated, you should think about the problem of kids + plants, but don't obsess. Enjoy both.

aseedisapromise,
Thanks for the response. I hope my little guy learns to enjoy plants along with me.

Dzitmoidonc,
I realized you were exaggerating, I didn't mean to sound as serious in my reply as it now appears I did...
I'm not obsessing about it yet. We'll manage. And I will continue to enjoy mu plants, and hopefully he will enjoy them too. Maybe he'll be one of those kids who tells his teacher excitedly that the Conophytums are blooming.... Meanwhile, Grandma is growling slightly about the 113 plants she had to take in from her sunroom today.

happy growing,
B

As for me, I had a little baby boy, many moons ago, (he is in college now,) and never had a problem with him going after my plants, which, more often than not, did include spiny cacti back then. I never left my child unsupervised at that age, nor would anyone else, so it was never an issue. He never really showed interest in them.

Christopher