How Do You Keep A Climber Off The Dining Room Table? - Page 2

[MamieCole]

Wow! Who knew that so many babes were half monkey like mine?! 

Originally Posted by Asiago 

A new climber here too... 16 months and climbing everything, even the 'side' edge on the outside of the stair case! It is unnerving to say the least. I don't want to limit his development but at the same time I must watch for his safety. Not an easy balance

This is me too. I find that the more he practices climbing something, the better he learns how to balance and climb w/out falling. The dining table is so high though, which is out of my current comfort zone.

Originally Posted by intime0 

We have the same here.  We have this really wide staircase that normal baby gates wont even fit in.  So we piled chairs up there.  Well, she figured out how to climb the  chairs.  LOL.  I mean, you just have to laugh, right?  she'll also climb the outside stairs liek someone else mentioned.  I have older daughters and sometimes I'll just have one of them follow her up and down the stairs, so at least she can climb but it feels safer.  I dont know how many times this week i've sat on the middle step while she climbed up and I'd put her down. Up and down.  Over and over. LOL

Yep. I took him off the dining table about 20 times yesterday. 

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy 

Show them how to climb down (or make sure they already know how!) and make sure the table legs are sturdy. That's my best solution... my DS likes to walk along the top edge of the couch (right near the window) and it gives me panic attacks but in a whole year of doing that multiple times a day, he has only fallen once (and that was kind of my fault!) so he is way steadier than I give him credit for! He used to climb on his little table but after it nearly broke he has stopped because he gets that it's not stable. He still climbs on our dining table (which is pretty sturdy) every once in a while but for the most part he stays off of it... for a while I was just taking him off a million times a day... I found for him that taking him off without saying a word worked best -- I'd just pick him up & put him on the floor -- because otherwise he kind of liked the attention and us saying "Don't climb on the table" lol...

Ooohh...I'm gonna try this starting today and see if it helps. Thanks!
 

Originally Posted by HollyBearsMom 

If you absolutely can not move the chairs then flip them onto to the top of table, like we used to do in school, flipping the chairs onto the desk. Then you can take them down when its time to use the table.

 Thank you for the suggestion, but if I tried this, he'd pull the first chair down onto his head by the time I put the fourth chair on the table. 
 

Originally Posted by lalemma 

Our 16-month-old is also a crazed climber Spidertoddler. There is no way that repeating the "don't climb there" message is getting through to him. He has heard it probably 10x a day for months, from both parents. It's essentially our only rule, the only time he hears a firm "No!" and is removed from the situation. Otherwise we're redirecting hippies. But we might as well not have a "no death-defying feats in the house!" rule for all he pays attention to it.

I don't have any advice for you, OP, only commiseration! This one has really stumped us! We've adopted a policy of "this too shall pass", and we take him outside as much as possible. That's all we've got.

I think you are probably right. 

Originally Posted by insidevoice 

I take him off the table and redirect him to the  climber we have inside.  I take him off the computer desk, and redirect him to the climber. I take him off the kitchen counter and redirect him to the climber.  Yesterday, I found him on top of the fridge, and I realized this is a battle I am unlikely to win,    but I took him down and redirected him to the climber and slide. He is my third child, and the only one redirection has not worked with. 

At least I know who I can send up to clean out the gutters on the house in a few years.

Wow! He's a pro! The fridge? I don't even wanna ask how he did that, as I am afraid that my little guy will read my mind and try it himself. LOL

And I like your positive spin on it regarding the gutters...

Thanks for all the advice and commiseration, everyone!

I'm wondering if it is indeed just a stage, or it he's going to be a climber forever. Only time will tell I suppose. 

[~Demeter~]

I allowed the climbing... it became unsafe for me to continue to tell her NOT to climb so I tried to show her how to do it safely. If I felt uncomfortable with something she was climbing I stood beside her and held my breath, lol. More often than not she knew her limits and wouldn't push them. One of my older boys was also a climber and was constantly redirected from climbing and he didn't know his limits, was often hurt in the process of sneakily climbing because of it.

[happysmileylady]

To answer the question in the title, I keep the kitchen gated off.  We have a wide doorway so we had to spend big bucks for the gate, but that was our only option.  I got pg when she was just a year old, as she started climbing, and there simply wasn't a way to be able to be consistant about physically removing her every single time she was up on something (which was like every other minute.)

 

Originally Posted by Minalas 

When my DD started climbing tables, I took here off the table, told here 'No climbing on tables.' and set her on the ground. If I caught her in the process of climbing the table, I did the same. I did that about ten times and then the messege had sunk in.
I use the strategy almost always, if I have to forbid her something and while it takes some repetition to get the rule established, my DD respects the rules reliably.

This made me giggle.  Because my dd is 28 months, has been climbing for 18 months now and I have certainly done exactly this more than 10 times in those 18 months.  It simply doesn't work for my dd.

I have tried every stategy, redirection, firmly saying no, removing her from the situation, spanking, yelling, letting her climb some to take away the novelty, providing an indoor or alternative climbing object, NOTHING works.  She pushes her climber over to the door or windows and climbs up on top of it to use it as a stepping stool to get to higher ground.  At any given moment, you could find her halfway up the stairway banister, on the halfwall between the kitchen and family room, on top of the piano or standing on her slide reaching into DH's stuff on the top shelf of the coat rack.  My day is a constant litany of "get down from there, please don't climb up here, come off of there, here climb this instead, get down, come here, stay off that, the couch isn't a jungle gym, get off the arm of the chair," etc etc etc

When does this stage END?

 

[HollyBearsMom]

 Thank you for the suggestion, but if I tried this, he'd pull the first chair down onto his head by the time I put the fourth chair on the table. 

Ouch!!  Though thats kind of a natural consequence, eh?   LOL!!!

[insidevoice]

Oh- as for how he got on the fridge... 

He has learned to defeat the safety latches on the cupboards.  He opened one and took out the big stock put turning it upside down, climbed that to get to the counter.  The microwave is on the counter next to the fridge, so it was up on the microwave then to the top of the fridge. 

I have now double babygated my kitchen- one on top of the other.  

[lalemma]

That's amazing. As scary as these things are, I am kind of impressed by the gumption of these kids!

I halfway wonder if this climbing thing is genetic. My mama-in-law was just telling me that my husband, as a little one, was also an outer-edge-of-stairs climber. And my parents used to claim that I was half goat. Maybe we've passed it on to our kid.

[insidevoice]

He's the first of them to be a super-climber.  The other kids did normal kid climbing stuff, but he is downright scary.  My brother was the same way when he was young (jumping off 20 and 30 foot cliffs because he could as he was older!) so maybe there is some genetic component. 

[Madalyn]

My chairs spent a good few months shut up in the back room haha. The interest has seemed to wear off now. I keep our table pushed against the wall. Two of the chairs are 'trapped' behind there and we pull the whole set up out if we have company. The other two chairs he could technically still climb in but like I said the interest seems to be gone now. He'll occasionally climb on the table if DH is sitting there with his laptop but the rest of the time he's fine with them. Now if only I could figure out a way to get him to stop climbing my entertainment system I'd be happy lol. 

[D_McG]

My DD was a climber. I just pulled her off whatever she climbed on over and over and over until she got it. It took a while and drove me insane. but not as insane as kids climbing on the furniture

[prothyraia]

Originally Posted by lalemma 
For those with wide spaces to block off, we were able to solve that particular problem with the North States play yard. It's ugly plastic, but it's relatively affordable (I think ours was about 60 bucks on Amazon) and we've been able to zig-zag it across the room and tuck the ends behind furniture. (If there's no furniture to be had, a friend of ours velcro'd hers to the wall with industrial velcro.)

We have this as well, and it's great.  (well, relatively cheap and functional, at least)
 

[allisonrose]

My solution when DS1 climbed on top of the table: I bungee-corded my chairs together tightly so they couldn't be pulled out.

[MamieCole]

It looks like the new has sort of worn off for him...*hopefully*

Over the last few days, he hasn't tried climbing on top of the table very often. When I've seen him attempt to climb from the chair onto the table, I say "Sit please." and he's been sitting. I say "Sit please." when he tries to stand in the bath, so figured I might as well try it w/the table issue. Seems to be more effective than removing him. When I take him off, he just seems determined to get back up there as quickly as possible. 

Though I'm sure now that I've posted this he'll be back up there in no time. 

[seasiren]

Originally Posted by carmel23 

Having something they can climb is very useful (little tikes slide, etc.)

Yes, I've got one of these little 16 month old climbers too. Its been a struggle for us being new parents and all, but we are still just taking him off the table when he climbs on it, letting him sit in the chair with feet forward, and teaching him to get down on his own. Also the slide.... is a very good idea.  We have one in our playroom and he is so into it. Distraction also works to some degree. Right now bubbles are a good one.  Oh and pushing those darn chairs in! We got rid of all the chairs he could move easily. The heavier the chair the better. I do let him climb in a few cupboards and slides at the park as much as possible.

[nomadsindiansaints]

You mean there are toddlers out there that AREN'T climbers?  Who knew?!?

Both of mine are monkeys.  I found DD *in* the kitchen cabinets more than once (she's mellowed out nicely as she gets older, fwiw), and DS was climbing before he was walking.  At 12 months he climbed on furniture until he was hanging half on and half off the mantle (with DP playing spotter) and he plays the kitchen table and counters game many many times a day.

I'm 75% stay-at-arms-length and just go with it, and 25% redirection, plop on floor, or pop him into the Boba.  And YES, we spend a lot of time outside.