WSM and kids


 
Al G-NJ

Al G-NJ

TVWBB Member
Hi all! Just put together my WSM 18, and looking forward to a first smoke later this week.

Question for the parents/grandparents out there, and apologies if this has been addressed already: I have a very active 16-month old who likes to run around the backyard. What precautions should I be taking other than obviously keeping her well away from the smoker? Is there some kind of insulated cover I can buy that’s safer to touch? Or am I doing all my long cooks overnight? Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
She's old enough to learn that HOT hurts. I told my grandson that the cooker is hot, put my hand as close as I could handle the heat and had him try to get his hand close to mine. He got close enough to feel the heat and moved away and stayed away. A length of flexible slat fencing is what I used to keep the dog away.
 
There are insulated covers made to fit the WSM. But the purpose of those is to make the cooker work better in cold and windy weather.

The issue with kids isn't so much getting burned by a touch of the cooker's metal. It really is the possibility of knocking the vertical, high center of gravity, cooker over. Which results in hot metal, charcoal, boiling water and food yard sale-ing over your deck and over the kid.

So some kind of barrier. Or putting the WSM on a cart that would resist tipping.

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Rolling Cart for WSM

IMG_2577 by Steve Wright, on Flickr Have been an avid smoker and lurk on this site often. Decided to sign up and become legit to share my cart project. Got tired of moving everything by hand and searching for a spot to set something down so this cart was born Get one of these from Harbor...
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A few things come to mind. One of those foldable PVC garden fences that you could make into a corral.
A metal dog cage, just remove the top.
I agree with Lew. Teach the kids what's right or wrong and they'll get the hang of it. (y)

Tim
 
Thank you all for the advice! I truly appreciate it. This is such a great community.

We’re definitely going to start with some instruction today, and I’ll look into all these ideas, as well.
 
I really like the idea of a cart, get the WSM in that, angle it in a way that keeps it away from her while also starting the learning process. When my kids were young we lived in a house with a wood stove in the living room, it really worried my wife, but we started using it when my youngest was right around your daughters age. She is also my most active daughter. She never, nor did the older two, ever get close to the fire, I think talking to them and being able to feel the heat was enough.
 
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