Climbing

[Natalie's Mama]

DD is only 17 months old so I'm not expecting huge things but I'm at the end of my rope with her climbing. She is up on the coffee table, the kitchen table or the window boxes 10-20 times every day. My concern is mostly that while she can get up, she can't get down and she likes to dance which often includes wild arm swinging that knocks her over. Adorable on the floor, heart attack inducing on the table. I've tried teaching her how to get down but she's not getting it yet. I've tried letting her crawl around on the table or window to explore, redirection is not working at all for this and I can't get rid of any of those things. Every time I pull her down from whichever thing she's got up on I sit down and tell her that it is dangerous to be up there and she could get hurt. She nods very solemnly then waits for my back to be turned before getting up again.
Any ideas?

[simple life]

I have a climber, a crazy, bold climber. I don't know how you have handled her climbing up until now. For us what helped with the heart attack feeling, was that from very, very early on we just let him do his thing. If he was going to climb on something we made sure that it was safe, like not going to tip and that he had a way down, even if it was building a little step. We have never been able to find a way to make him NOT climb. We just took the approach of letting him learn his own boundries and limits.

Now, if you dont' want her on these places, maybe block access to the room. You could take out the tables you dont' want her climbing on (we actually put our table in storage, just wasn't worth the trouble). If you dont' mind her climbing, maybe provide her something to climb down on, like a step stool.

You could also allow her up there but maybe not let her dance. That way she gets her climbing need met, but you don't have to worry about her falling. Maybe say something like 'we only dance on the floor, if you'd like to dance we can figure a way for you to get down safely'.

I have more, but baby is screaming, must go!

[mamakay]

I like figuring out what things aren't so dangerous to climb on, and directing the kid that way. Or figuring out ways to make the favorite climbing areas safe (by moving away sharp pointy objects nearby, putting pillows down, etc).
If I had the money and the space, I'd get a few indoor toddler climbing structures and hope those satiated the urge.

But I think they're going to climb. It's what they do, and it's an important developmental stage. They won't still be doing it at 6 (and I have a 6 yo in addition to a toddler, so I know. lol.)

Our primary job is just to make sure they don't kill or seriously injure themselves while climbing. Keeping them from breaking stuff is a bonus.

But, in my opinion and experience, they're going to climb. They're wired to. And even if it is possible to discipline them into not doing it, it wouldn't be right to do so.
So I endorse primarily just making it safe, and secondarily protecting household stuff from damage.
JMO.

[Anastasiya]

Originally Posted by mamakay

They won't still be doing it at 6 (and I have a 6 yo in addition to a toddler, so I know. lol.)

I highly disagree. I know several 6, 7 and even 8 year old "climbers".

[mi_amor]

Looking for tips for my budding climber.

[mamakay]

Originally Posted by Sancta

I highly disagree. I know several 6, 7 and even 8 year old "climbers".

Ok, if you can't keep your 6, 7, or 8 yo from inappropriate climbing, THAT's a discipline issue.

[ssh]

Two things that worked for us were redirecting to safer things to climb on and removing unsafe things. So if my DD used a kitchen chair to climb on a counter or kitchen table I'd put that chair in the laundry room. Some days we had no chairs left by the end of the day, but it didn't take long for her to understand I wasn't going to let her climb dangerous places. We had several pieces of furniture that were safe to climb on and I made a point of taking her to parks that had climbing equipment very often.

[sgmom]

My 14 month old will move her toys so she can climb up onto higher things. I guess I'm a bit lucky in that she knows how to "climb backwards" to get down, but the PP is right. Kids will climb, and the more we do to try to stop them, the more they're going to want to do it (like with anything else).

I chose my battles. If she's on carpet, and not too high off the floor, I let her climb and watch her incase she falls. Climbing on hardwood is not allowed, and our kitchen chairs lay on their backs when we're not using them (although she's QUICK to climb up onto them if we get up for even a second).

Over the last month I've REALLY noticed her sense of balance change, and now she's very cautious about where she places her feet and the stability and height of what she's climbing on. Sometimes I might even lightly "shake" the object that she's climbing and say "Dangerous" instead of telling her to get down, and she'll climb down all on her own.

If it's dangerous to climb onto, I would just redirect to a safer climbing surface. But I really wouldn't worry about it too much. Kids will climb, and they're not really going to learn anything if we're after them all the time to get down.

[sapphire_chan]

Well, after 30 or 50 times up and down the staircase or ladder, Lina does a bit less climbing on other stuff. Maybe the first time she climbs on something on a given day you pull out a ladder or head to a building with stairs and help her go up and down and up and down for an hour or so? It'd probably also make for a great nap.

The only thing I've found that works as a distraction from climbing is dancing around in my arms with lots and lots of being tipped upside down and lots of lifting up. And then I put her back down on the floor away from the original climbing object and near something interesting, like a cat.

[bugginsmom]

My ds was a climber and I just made sure he had lots of safe places to climb, redirecting him from unsafe places. I used to take every cushion and pillow in the house and make huge mountains in our family room for him to climb. He would squeal in delight as he climbed. Also lots of park playground climbing time. At five years old, he still *loves* to climb, but it is limited to the park, our wood pile, rock walls, or these really cool huge climbing rocks they have at our nature center. Good luck!

[nj's_mom]

OMGosh that's too funny- my sixteen month old is a climbing maniac as well as her name is Natalie! Not much advice here- I'm just constantly on watch. My LO is obsessed with this antique kind of highchair we have, it's not for little babies, there is no safety belt- but at least five times a day she manages to climb up in it (very well, I might add) and sits looking super proud of herself. Originally I was saying "no no! no climbing!" and taking her down right away but this really only frustrated her. So I compromised- I give her a chance - but as soon as she climbs up there, I walk over and tell her "wow, I'm so proud of you for being such a great climber! I think it's really neat you can get yourself all the way up there! But this chair is too high, and it's dangerous, so unfortunately I'm going to have to get you down." and I bring her down, and put the highchair down so that she can't climb so high. It seems to aggravate her much less, and that works for me.