Are vertical blinds a good choice for a child’s bedroom?

If you’re preparing for a new arrival, redecorating your child’s bedroom, or just can’t get the surprisingly legible marker pen graffiti saying “boobs” off of your kid’s current window dressings, you might be wondering what type of blinds to pick for a child’s bedroom.

A good starting point is knowing what to consider when choosing blinds for a child’s room; with blinds and child safety obviously being near to the top of the list.

However, there are a whole range of other things to take into account too, which means that some types of window blinds are a better choice for children than others, and for reasons you might not even have thought about.

So, are vertical blinds a good choice for a child’s room, and are vertical blinds child-safe? Yes they’re safe, but also, they might not be the best possible pick for a kid’s room for other reasons. Read on to find out the pros and cons of vertical blinds for children’s rooms.

What are vertical blinds?

Vertical blinds are the type of window blinds that have vertical slats or louvres, in contrast to most other types of blinds which have either horizontal slats, or are made of one piece of material that opens and closes by rolling up and down rather than from side to side.

Vertical blinds give you a lot of options in terms of how much light they admit or occlude, because as well as being able to open and close them fully like you would any other type of blind, you can also tilt the slats so that they provide full coverage across the window, or at an angle of your choosing to filter light or prevent glare without blocking out the sun entirely.

Are vertical blinds easy to keep clean?

One of the key considerations when choosing blinds for a child’s room is whether or not a brief encounter with a packet of Crayola is going to herald the early demise of your latest purchase.

So, are vertical blinds easy to keep clean? There are a couple of elements to this. One advantage of vertical blinds when it comes to keeping them clean is that they don’t tend to get as dusty as horizontal blinds, as the slats don’t attract a build-up of dust. This means they tend to need just the occasional dusting or go-over with a vacuum cleaner, and perhaps the occasional spot-cleaning as needed.

Additionally, vertical blinds can be found in various different fabric types, some of which are more hardwearing (and can stand up to more vigorous cleaning) than others.

If you suspect your vertical blinds are likely to need a comprehensive cleaning at some point (a.k.a. if you know you’ll live to regret letting your kid finish their bowl of baked beans in their room sooner rather than later), picking vertical blinds that are made of PVC and so that can be immersed in water to wash – and in some cases, that can even be put through the washing machine – is wise.

Do vertical blinds let in light?

That depends! If your main stipulation when choosing blinds for a child’s room is standing a fighting chance of keeping little Timmy in bed past dawn, this is probably one of your chief concerns.

To block out as much external light as possible with vertical blinds when they’re fully closed, you need to pick a blackout option. Bear in mind that vertical blinds will not completely block out 100% of the light, there will always be a certain amount of light leakage around the edges of the blind, but choosing a blackout fabric will help to significantly reduce the amount of external light. Blackout vertical blinds are not hard to come by and so if you have decided on vertical blinds for a child’s room, it won’t cause you endless hassle sourcing them.

But you do need to look specifically for vertical blackout blinds and not just assume your fabric choice will keep the sun out sufficiently to avoid your 5am toddler siren going off all summer long.

Are vertical blinds child-safe?

All blinds offered for sale (legally, anyway) in the UK are or most certainly should be child safe, assuming you fit them in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions; which of course you do, because you’re not one of those DIY types who thinks that needing to follow instructions is a personal affront to your intelligence. Are you.

Correctly fitted vertical blinds are safe for children, and have safety devices in place to ensure your child could not hang themselves on the blind’s cord, and you can also choose vertical blinds for children that have an even more child-friendly alternative called a “mono command,” which involves no visible cords at all.

A better question than “are vertical blinds safe for children” might be “are vertical blinds safe from children,” as there’s more danger of your kiddo mullering your blinds than there is of anything they can do in this respect resulting in harm to said child themselves.

Vertical blinds comprise of a lot of individual parts compared to many other types of blinds (such as all of the slats, the bottom chain, the controls, and the hanging hooks at the top and so on) that could get damaged beyond the point of economical repair if your child pulled them down or really pulled them around, which brings me onto my final answer…

Are vertical blinds a good choice for a child’s room?

Vertical blinds are child-safe, available in blackout options, and will last for years or even decades if treated properly. This latter is perhaps the crux of my answer, as they are not the types of blinds that will stand up to a whole lot of involvement in games of hide and seek or bedroom mountaineering.

Vertical blinds are not one of the most common types of blinds chosen for children’s rooms.

There is no specific disadvantage of using vertical blinds for a child’s room as long as the grown adults are the only ones that can reach and operate the blinds, and that young children can’t interfere with and potentially damage the blind’s slats or mechanism.

However, unless your windows are really high, the chances of your child being able to reach and so, pull around the bottom of vertical blinds when they reach that awkward age between “tall enough to be a peril” and “old enough to display a reasonable amount of both fine motor skills and common sense,” is a potential issue.

What are the best blinds for a child’s bedroom?

You will tend to find that blackout roller blinds are the most popular choice of blinds for children’s rooms, not least because they’re available in a wide range of colours and styles, including funky prints like star-patterned glow in the dark window blinds.

Vertical blinds are not fragile per se (and will look good and last for years or even decades when handled correctly) but there is less chance of younger children damaging roller blinds, as roller blinds don‘t have individual slats nor a chain connecting them all together, neither of which make for good toys!