Do you let your toddler climb on the coffee table? - Page 2

[ChristyMarie]

No. Wooden furniture is off limits. He can stand on the family room couch - he can walk all over it. But not the living room furniture. He gets it.

We also have a kangaroo climber. what about getting something like that and redirecting each time? "Can't climb on the coffee table but you CAN climb on this. Yay!" Over and over and over and over again....

[_betsy_]

We don't let her climb/sit/stand on the coffee table, because it's not an appropriate place to sit or stand. She has plenty of opportunities to climb, and isn't much of a climber, I guess.

We don't sit on the table, we sit on chairs or the floor. She gets it and hasn't tried to climb the table in a long time (She's 23 months).

But at the ILs, everyone seems to sit on the coffee table (Which makes me crazy, but whatever) so she wants to sit there, too. We try to kleep her off, and the older kids/adults get that we don't want her to sit there and they try to remember not to sit on it, but old habits die hard.

[mamazee]

I didn't have a problem with my daughter climbing just about anything. My house was well babyproofed and she was constantly climbing things. IMO that's part of life with children. Kids climb.

[littlelessons]

nope. In our house feet and bottoms do not belong on the tables.

[textbookcase]

Yes, dd2 is a crazy climber. We can't keep her off of the coffee table.

[chfriend]

At 4 and 7 they mostly don't, but as toddlers....absolutely. We moved the coffee table to the attic for a while and used an old trunk so nobody got hurt.

[Smalls181]

We got rid of ours when DD was a baby. At the time it was because it took up too much space and collected too much clutter. But now that she is 29 months, I am glad we dont have one. Its just one less thing for me to worry about.

[ShwarmaQueen]

We try to keep DD off of it as much as possible, but occasionally she'll sit on the end.

[KatWrangler]

No. No climbing on furniture or the kitchen pantry shelves.:

[eirual]

Yup, it's okay here. No more dangerous than anything they'd find at the park. It's sturdy wood. Fancy glass would be a different ball game, obviously.

[tallulahma]

does anyone mind sharing *why* not?

I cannot even think of one thing.

Im not talking about safety with glass- I get that. I also understand not wanting them to do it at others houses.

But if the furniture is sturdy wood, whats the problem?

[rubyeta]

we let dd climb on most furniture, we just limit it to places that we dont put food. since we dont really eat in the living room, the coffee table is fair game! She is also a great jumper, and jumps onto the couch from the coffee table I just hope she doesn't get hurt, but she sure does have a blast!

[rockportmama]

Originally Posted by junomama

it doesn't seem like it hurts anything for him to just sit on top of the coffee table and play with his toys there.

Yeah, your ds can probably tell that you really don't mind. I think that your boundaries are the best boundaries. But I also agree with the PP who said not to cave -- clear the change with DH and tell lo "We've decided you may climb onto the coffee table and sit, but no standing or climbing bookcase. Also, climbing on coffee tables is only allowed at home."

Then, as another PP suggested, teach lo how to climb down feet first. We also used sign, and taught DS the different signs for no climb, climb, sit, stand, etc. These are still useful at 2.5 -- especially in public. The other thing I did was yell "Careful!" in a certain tone right before DS fell. This happened enough times when I couldn't reach him in time that soon when I said careful he stopped where he was, and re-evaluated the situation. Sometimes he would stop and climb down, other times he would resume climbing up! I respected his decisions and just stayed very close.

Only you can know what works best for your family!

[GuildJenn]

My son was a climber. We replaced the coffee table with a long ottoman during that time, and now he may continue to climb on the ottoman - but not the coffee table.

[NiteNicole]

We moved the coffee table to storage. My dd has already had stitches (from climbing), she's fearless, she has ZERO caution and we have hardwood floors.

[prothyraia]

We let our son climb on the coffee table (and end tables, and the back of the couch, and most of our furniture...)

Then we got a new one that wasn't safe for him to climb on, and for awhile he was good about it and for awhile we had to put it away and now he's good about it again.

"Feet on the floor" 300 times a day was not a hill I was willing to fight for.

[baileyandmikey]

no climbing or jumping on ANY of our furniture, we allow climbing out side and have a playset out side to allow for all of that. we also enrolled the kids in gymnastics so that helps. i like to keep my furniture nice for as long as I can... plain and simple. although my ds will sleep on the top part of the couch...

[D_McG]

Originally Posted by tallulahma

does anyone mind sharing *why* not?

I cannot even think of one thing.

Im not talking about safety with glass- I get that. I also understand not wanting them to do it at others houses.

But if the furniture is sturdy wood, whats the problem?

Our table is sturdy wood. But it's a table. You don't climb on tables. What's not to get?

[nextcommercial]

As long as they don't think that ALL coffee tables are for them to climb on, I don't mind a bit. But, I wouldn't want my kids to act like they act at home, at someone elses house.

So, if my child couldn't have one set of rules at home, and another when visiting, then, no. I wouldn't allow it.

OR, if I had a nice coffee table that I didn't want to be scratched or damaged.

Otherwise, I'd say "have at it!"

[Justmee]

Well we only just got a coffee table and it hasn't come up yet. I think the girls are past the climbing on things stage. I'll see with the baby. My instinct is I wouldn't allow it, but the table we have we inherrited from the IL. It's really more of an end table and not so steady, I'd be afraid it would fall on him. If I had a typical wood coffee table with 4 sturdy legs I'd probably allow it.