oh help PLEASE what do i do with a 1 year old who has learnt to climb on the sofa???

[FrannyandZooey]

help major disaster here
i can't leave the room
well in fact i can't turn my back
he can't even stand - there's no way he's safe on the sofa
he then climbs on the window sill! about 3 foot up
help help help help help
he is fast
and CROSS when i take him down
it's a nightmare

[FrannyandZooey]

sorry he can stand
he can't WALK
or stand alone
he is going to fall
i am very scared

[FrannyandZooey]

PLEASE HELP NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

[moondog]

Move sofa from window

[FrannyandZooey]

he will then fall off back of sofa

[SomeoneElseHasTheNameTrinity]

teach him to climb back down off windowsill onto couch and then off couch ontp floor backwards

the same as you do when they learn to crawl up the stairs

and breathe
you have done this before
you've done this before

[SomeoneElseHasTheNameTrinity]

and I meant
you have done this before
you'll be ok

[moondog]

I generally found you can't leave a 1 year old alone anyway.

Whichi s why a playpen was an essential in my house.

[duchesse]

I had one like this. He'd had stitches by age 1, and glue and steristrips by age 2. He climbed everything in sight. You have yourself a climber. Only vigilance worked for us. I couldn't leave my son alone for a moment until he was about 6. Sorry, that doesn't really help, does it?

Erm, playpen, for when you're out of the room? Although mine could climb out of those too...

[FrannyandZooey]

i haven't done this before - i can't remember what happened with ds1 - he was older i think
he's only 13 months trinity, he isn't going to learn how to get down safely
i don't teach 13 month olds how to climb down stairs safely, i put up a stairgate

during typing this msg hecLimbEd up 3 times

[FrannyandZooey]

he will scream hIs head off in a playpem
i am fucked
god

shit
arse
doom
things were Just Getting a BIT eAsier
sorry he is helping type now

[duchesse]

Franny- of course you can teach a 1 yr old to climb up and down stairs safely! My husband taught all of ours at about 6 months. It was essential because we couldn't fit stairgates.

[moondog]

Let him scream for a bit.
It won't kill him.
Safer than sofa window combo when needs must.

[duchesse]

He may scream in a playpen but he won't be on the window sill...

[PavlovtheForgetfulCat]

We had a climber. She could climb on top of the fireguard before she could walk. Luckily we never used the fire.

I don't think we found anything that worked. I am sorry to say. DD also had a glued eye before she was 18 months because of it.

[moondog]

You need to reserve some super interesting toys only for the playpen.Then he will asosciate it with good things and tolerate it for short stretches.

[PavlovtheForgetfulCat]

Yes, I would suggest a play pen. It is not ideal and I would not suggest if for all children. But for the instances when you need to leave him for a split second, to be able to turn your back for those moments when he will climb the window sill and you cannot risk it, the playpen is ideal. Its not to suggest he lives in it. But its perfect for safety.

We did not do it with DD, I was rather stubborn about wanting to use one, but this time if DS to be is a climber we will use one.

[bamboobutton]

move the sofa and put cushions on the floor.

ds was climbing at 10 months(ish) a few tumbles off the sofa later he learnt to slide his legs off first .

[HeadFairy]

Have you got room to have the sofa elsewhere, against a wall?

FWIW I have a climber, he was walking at 10 months and worked out how to climb on to the kitchen work tops by the time he was 13 months old, he'd open a cupboard and stand on the shelf to reach up and haul himself up commando style I had to hide all the knives (he could still get all the drawers open, I had locks EVERYWHERE!) I did successfully manage to teach him to come down the stairs safely by about 14 or 15 months. We'd certainly got rid of the stair gates by then because once he was working he was incensed by them.

Another thought is, if you can get the sofa away from the window, is it possible to scatter cushions or something similar around the sofa so if he falls he won't do too much damage.

He will eventually get bored of it, ds did. He then moved on to dragging a chair across the room and standing on it at the sash window (we were in a flat, two floors up ) Cue me dashing to the shops to buy millions of window locks as I had visions of him tumbling out of the window.

[PinkTulips]

Playpen, who gives a toss if he doesn't like it, it's better than the window sill. I have had climbers, one of whom would climb the armchair to the window sill in a second floor flat [eek]

And sit with him on the couch while he learns how to go back down, teach him 'Legs go first' asap and he'll be grand, once they learn that they're sorted.

Honestly, you wouldn't teach a child to climb the stairs? Surely ds1 can do it? Well then he must have learned from someone

and.... CALM DOWN! Absolutely no need to panic, he's an inquisitive, curious, mobile little lad and that's a good thing

[shonaspurtle]

Ds was a climber. It had to be all about risk assessment chez spurtle.

My experience was

Sofa: ok, not too far to fall, likelihood of falling fairly low.

Windowseat, ditto

Bookcases: nightmare. fastened to the wall and he was whipped away as soon as he looked at them.

I sympathise. I think the key is to identify the real danger areas where they could be tempted and overreach themselves (like climbing from the sofa to the window)and remove the temptation if possible, supervise the less hairy escapades, accept that there will be bumps and bruises and hope for the best, don't leave unsupervised unless in a "safe" area or playpen.

The upside for us was that ds had a good sense of balance to go with his climbing habits and also seemed to learn from his mistakes.

Going through to the kitchen and finding my 14mo standing on the table holding a breadknife is not an experience I'd like to repeat though

My parenting was slack. You will do better.

[haventsleptforayear]

Definitely teach him to go down backwards.

DS1 was taught this trick by his grandad (one and only bit of hands-on parenting, us included!) at about 9 mths when he learnt to crawl.

You need to get him to practise on a double bed (ie keep turning him round til he gets the hang of getting off it backwards).

It won't take v. long (my dad did it in an afternoon).

Seriously, if you don't teach him this trick you'll be running to catch him for another year - I am amazed when I see 2 year-olds hurtling themselves face forward off the sofa.

Good luck

[Smithagain]

Move the sofa if possible, just because of the window cill issue.

Otherwise, frankly, let him climb. It's impossible to stop them (or it was with mine) and the more you back off and let them, the more skilled they get. A well-practised climber is safer than an inexperienced one, even at a year!

[shonaspurtle]

The only time ds had a bad fall (and he only got a fright luckily) was when he climbed onto the arm of the sofa to reach a toy I'd put on a nearby bookcase. If I'd not put the toy there, in hindsight right in temptation's way, he'd not have attempted it.

[littleducks]

do you let him go on slides?

teach him to go down things backwards, i chant feet first and position them so they slide on their tummies, this is how mine went down slides and climbed down everything-a couple of sessions in the park tuummy sliding down slides should get it stuck in his head

then whenever he wants down from the sofa chant feet first and he should get down safely

and then as he has accomplished it get bored and move onto another trick to terrify you

[devotion]

yep the backwards thing!

i spent an afternoon teaching my dd1 to climb down from our bed on her tummy because she would always go to do it head first.

then after that afternoon if she was on the couch or bed i would say, "show mummy how you down properly" and she would smile and turn herself around and come down safely. it became a game to her.

try not worry, he will get it soon for now you will just have to pick him up and put him down in whatever room you are in.

i always thought for this tricky stage, having a walker you can sit them in is very handy. just for those moment when you want to go to the toilet or need to check on dinner. if you pop them in they can follow you but not climb or fall. i never let my dd sit in one for long but they def helped me.