Jumping all over couch!

[francie024]

My DD is 16 months old and just grew tall enough to climb on top of the couch by herself. She is tickled by this and jumps all over it. This afternoon she fell off and hurt herself. No bumps or bruises...I think it mainly just scared her.

Will you please give me your experiences with this issue? I've tried keeping her off, and she is relentless. I've tried talking to her, saying "no" and not letting her crawl up, but I have other things to do besides guarding the couch!!! Getting hurt did not teach her as she only climbed back up a few minutes later.

Should I get a kid sized couch? Will that even make a difference?? Please tell me about your experiences.

[MoonWillow]

I moved this to GD because its not really a SAHP issue.

[LuxPerpetua]

I have a gymnast myself. Climbs and jumps on (and off) of everything. I just let her do it. I think because we started early on letting her jump on the bed or sofa or climb on things, she's much more adept at staying safe than other kids who haven't had this option. At that age I just put some flat pillows on the floor in case of falls (or stayed nearby) or pulled the cushions off and put them on the floor. Now to be fair, dd did break her foot last summer by taking a flying leap off the couch (but the leap was intentional; she just landed funny). I still let her take flying leaps, though, because I think it's important.

[nighten]

We got an indoor trampoline (this one) to help satisfy her need to jump. She flies high on that thing but it is safe. She knows to hold onto the handles, and she does.

But our jumping bean is three years old now, and still will jump on the dang couch if given half a chance.

We are adamant about not jumping on the furniture for two reasons:

1. I do not want her to think it is remotely okay to go to someone else's house and jump on their couches or furniture (she totally would too).

2. She fell while jumping off our couch once, hit her head on the wooden chest we use as a coffee table (making the loudest CRACK I've ever heard in the process), and literally broke the wood on the chest. Cracked it down the middle. With her head. Scared the living daylights out of me. She ended up being okay but it was very scary. She really could've broken her neck. That was when we got really diligent about not allowing any jumping on furniture.

She's also not allowed to jump on beds because ours is a pillowtop (really tall) and hers is a wool mattress on slats (like a futon: very unstable when it comes to jumping).

So jumping on the furniture is not allowed. She can jump on the floor or trampoline, but not the couch or beds. She has to be constantly reminded of the rule though, so we try to encourage those alternatives plus putting cushions on the floor, making forts, playing with big cardboard boxes, etc., so she has a good distraction and safer alternative to furniture jumping, but is still being physical when playing indoors.

[countrygirl28]

I'm not a mama yet, but I have to say my parents let my 3 siblings and me jump all over the couch and we loved it! I have such fond memories of playing our game of "can't touch the floor" where we climbed all over everything to avoid touching the floor. My mom's theory was that her house and furniture where ours to play on or in while we were kids. As soon as my youngest sister turned 18 and moved out, mom basically gutted half the house and bought all new furniture to reclaim her house! At any rate, you're more concerned about the safety aspect. We were all VERY active kids inside, outside, at extracurricular activites...we were into everything. All 4 of us escaped childhood without major injuries. I did have a brother who had to get stitches 2 times from jumping on a bed and hitting his head on a bookcase. It was an odd coincidence because both incidents occurred about 2 months apart from jumping on the same bed and falling into the same bookcase. His cuts were only about 4 cm apart. It was strange! All that to say, I vote for letting her jump. Obviously, just keep an eye on her like you do and in all likelihood, she won't get seriously hurt. Who knows, maybe you have a budding champion jumper on your hands. My brother and I both made it to the state level in track and field for jumping when were in high school. We joke that it's because mom let us jump all over the place!

[francie024]

thanks

Thanks for your replies! I still have not made up my mind about what to do. I still need to talk with DH about it. The trampoline option sounds good. I want to let her be a kid, but at the same time, I have a friend who's little sister wound up with permanent brain damage from head trauma. She is 25, but has the mind of a 9 year old.

I guess it will also depend on how stubborn she is. I bet I wind up taking the cushions off tomorrow.

Thanks again!

[staceychev]

We have an indoor trampoline, too. It's great for redirects: "We don't jump on furniture in our family. Where do you go if you want to jump?" And she'll head right for the trampoline.