Do not listen to the people who told you to "accept" the fact that your piano will be ruined! It is up to us as parents to teach our kids right from wrong so when your child is a guest in someone's home they treat their home with respect as well. The piano shouldn't be a problem in the toy room, just tell your son that it is NOT a toy and is not be touched. If he is too young to understand this you will have to teach him through actions. Every time he goes to the piano simply state "no" and take him away. If you have to do it 100 times then so be it, but eventually he will learn that the piano is off limits and you are not backing down on your word. If we teach our children to respect the items in our own homes, they will be respectful in other peoples homes as well. Best wishes!

I second lillielechic's post! Kids can understand quite a lot before they are able to communicate back to us. They just need our instruction and patience.

I echo what the others have said! People are surprised when they come to our house with some of the non-babyproofing we've done (some furniture and decorations). It took work on our part as parents to teach him not to touch the things but he knows it now (19 months old). We have friends who are amazed but there's nothing amazing about it. Just a dedication that I'm not going to give up every inch of my small house to the large footprint of baby things.

Yep. My theory is always...hey, if it were a hot stove I wouldn't give in and let him touch it, so why not just convince myself it's a hot stove? That gives me the fortitude I need to be consistent with the "no." Helps when you have other kids over to play, too. Sometimes I have a harder time being consistent with other kids.

I remember not too long ago there was a post about baby proofing a fireplace. I was going to post "Telling a kid no a few times work's pretty well too" I was afraid it would start an uproar since no one else had mentioned it. I'm glad to see the comments here. I just kept telling my son no and to keep away from it until I didn't have to tell him anymore. And he hasn't bothered it. Doesn't even go near it.

First mistake is the "playroom" idea. Make it a "family room" and, sure, have toys in there, but use it for more than a toy garage. Teach him what is okay to touch and to have respect for his surroundings. His playdate's parents will appreciate it.

Tell him the rule, that it's not a toy. And then give him supervised opportunities to play the piano with you. I think this will help to remove a lot of the temptation. And make sure you're consistent about saying "no" and redirecting if he does try to run his car along it. Don't freak out and get mad, just say "The piano is not a toy, you can't put your car on it, but you CAN run you car over here on the table".

This was our version of "babyproofing", worked great. But you have to be 100% consistent.

I agree with Holiday. So long as the mentality isn’t “everything in here is mine, so I can destroy,” you should be fine.

One thing I would do is observe the “traffic pattern” in the room, and get it so that the piano area isn’t a busy area. So don’t put the road rug right in front of it or put it in the line of fire of ride-ons. Set up a reading area, table, easel, or toy storage in front of it to buffer and ideally set a calmer mood.

We have nice furniture in our living room / my daughter’s play area that are doing fine. My parents have an heirloom piano in their living room, which was also the predominant play space that survived my brother, me, and our children. Things probably have a few scratches, but nothing worse than adults do to it.

I am glad to see these posts. I don't think there is much more to say. It will take a lot of re-directing depending on your child's temperament; but everyone in the house will be happier when everyone uses toys, pianos, and furniture as they are intended to be used. The idea of giving an alternative is useful and important: you can't drive your car on the piano; but you can drive it on the floor. Tell them where they CAN do what they are trying to do goes a long way. We used "not for Billy" as we were re-directing our child from the stereo equipments and cds.

While I agree that consistent rules do a great job of setting boundaries, there are usually a couple of bumps along the way and it's not foolproof. My 3 year old on a whim wondered what one of his metal toys would do to one of our chairs with wooden arms and made several deep scratches while I was changing his little brother's diaper. We trained him out of running toys on walls/windows/break-ables/etc at a young age, but curiosity can certainly outweigh impulse control at this age, no matter how good your parenting skills are.

I agree with teaching your child to respect your valuables, but what do you do when someone else's children come over to play, and they aren't taught the same things? That's the problem I encounter a lot.

I agree with most of the comments above. We got lucky and have a kid that will mostly listen if we tell her to leave something alone, but I know this is different for everyone. I hardly have to babyproof exept when guests come over.
Also, I grew up with a grand piano and don't recall making any damage. Unfortunately, I can't tell you how my mother did it.
If you still feel the need to do something, at least when playdates happen, I went to one recently where the parents took a large piece of cardboard that was taller than their kid could reach and wrapped their wall of bookcases to create a barrier. On the cardboard, the kid was allowed to draw all over it. It seemed a fun way of tackling the problem.

I agree with most of the comments above. But kids are kids and toddlers are (really, really) toddlers, if you get my drift. Even the best behaved, best trained little kid will occasionally do something inexplicable when your back is turned for a moment. If this piano is really precious to you, I would find some way of protecting it, even if it is an ugly black cover, in addition to teaching your child to respect it.

Thanks so much everyone for the feedback! It's nice to hear so many people talk about teaching our son to be careful around the piano as opposed to just cover it. Right now, we have been taking him away from the piano if he bangs a toy on it, telling him no and distracting him with something else, but I like the idea of showing him what he could do with the toy he was already using. The room we are using as his playroom is actually an addition off of our main living room and my husband refers to it as a "multi-purpose" room. It's one of the few places with carpet so we thought it would be good for him to crawl around/play in, etc but it's still not a room that he can necessarily do anything in. I completely agree that it's important to teach him what is off limits for when he visits other people's homes. I have experienced what happens when people don't teach their kids that valuable lesson and it's very frustrating! Thanks again!!!