To think this woman is naive?

[AnotherSpinningFuckingRainbow]

This person has just had a newborn baby and claims they will never move any of their numerous ornaments, small and chokeable knicknacks etc, as when children start to toddle, you just teach them not to touch...

AIBU to laugh heartily at this assertion?

In the UK socket covers are completely pointless and can actually make sockets more dangerous, because of the way our electricity supply works. See here.

We never moved anything. We didn't even have a fire guard around the stove, we just taught them not to go near it. They never did.

But you have to feel sorry for the lady because before I had children my children were going to: sleep, not be fussy eaters, always be well behaved, always do their homework, not watch much tv and then only edcuational tv, etc., etc., .....and then they were born and I found out the hard way.

Thats true, I was going to breastfeed, use terry nappies and no way was my child ever going to have a dummy.........erm

I would move anything out of harms way that has sentimental value and would be irreplaceable, just for that reason! No point in risking it.

Anything that isnt like the crown jewels - and with the caveat that it will require 24/7/365 surveillance including spotlights, watch tower etc, well its at their risk!

I don't believe there is a child who hasn't ever ever broken something, even due to toppling over when they are learning to walk (arms and legs a-kimbo), accidents happen! If so, more by luck than judgement, thats what kids do...

Yes, my children were going to be like that as well NearTheWindymill. I was going to spend my days as a SAHM fingerpainting and skipping happily along beaches with my organic free-range children, freshly ironed breton top and labrador named Biggles.

depends on:

whether or not you have fiddly ornaments at child height, we had larger chunky wood type things, which don't matter much

how young your dc pulled up to standing, and how long their arms were ds was early and very tall

personality of child - ds touched everything, and took NO as a reason to try again, dd1 understood No from about 7 months and never touched anything. (If she had been my first, I might have thought it was my perfect parenting!) dd2 in the middlle

your parenting style - it gets pretty negative saying no a million times to teach don't touch, much nicer atmosphere just to move it.

Dd1 never put anything in her mouth and was very gentle. Dtds were into everything so I had about 6 months of moving things higher but now at 2.5 they just know not to touch. Dm had lots of nicknacks and antiques but we just kept an eye on them. Depends on the cold and how often they will be unsupervised.

It depends but the curious child is so useful for getting rid of the hideous ornaments gifted by various relatives.

I will be honest that the stuff we liked got moved, the other stuff? Well.....

And as well as breaking stuff DS has managed in his 19 years to break the following: left arm (twice), right arm (gross), right ankle, dislocated thumb, nose, front teeth, stitches above eye, stitches at back of head, some technical ligament around his knee. There is an element of robust competitiveness - it was not as I planned it. He's find and gorgeous though - oh and his toe - playing football with no shoes on because he couldn't be bothered to come in for them.

I've got two boys with a short age gap.

Don't remember having to move a ton of stuff out of the way in case they touched it (although I've never been one for ornaments etc), but did make sure gadgets and computers weren't left where curious fingers could get to them.

But what made me move stuff, was the constant wrestling, puppy fighting, running to do handstands on the sofa etc etc. Arms, legs, feet everywhere....

My friend had a perfect dd who could keep a desk full of crayons and felt tips in their perfect cream and beige house, but when she saw the laundry marker my two had put on the hall wall, said 'but why do you let them do that?' LET hahahhahahaaaaa.

So she hated her nephew being in her house 'because he throws things' like it was a terrible thing for a toddler to do.

I was so happy when she had a 2nd child and realised her dd is just a goodie two shoes, and her 2nd child is the one you can't leave unattended for a nano-second or they will take the laundry marker out of the shopping bag and remove the packaging and attack the walls with it!!

I am not a free range parent. I just have two lively, curious, physically demanding children and choose to take the path that preserves my sanity best.

I guess we all have different priorities because I would NOT and NEVER did allow mine to play with a ball in side the house. This caused great offence to my MIL who thought a little game of catch in the drawing room was fine. It was NOT fine, it would cause anarchy with my particular two year old and it was NOT going to happen because if it did there really would have been damage caused and it is not appropriate to encourage a toddler to play ball inside the house - you get off your bum and take him to the park or into the garden

There are parents on MN who never let their child be unsupervised for even 60 seconds until they're about 4. Honestly, I've seen threads on this. Those parents surely won't need to move things.

I like to go to the toilet without having to cart my child with me, so I like the living room and their bedrooms to be safe with no small objects and nothing too breakable.

My nana's house was full of stuff. She raised 8 kids and 2 Grandkids in it.

There were another 5 of us who visited regularly. She never moved a nik nak, nor did she have to tell us the dog was getting older and grumpier or that grandad wasn't particularly safe to stand too close to - 3 strokes and a unique way of rolling cigarettes.

And then there was him. 2 days after he could toddle and reach all cupboards had child locks on, or were turned to face the wall. All odds and sods were removed and locked away (dog and grandad had died by then). He was an absolute terror and wrecked the place.

He grew up to be a lovely man though

YABU to have tonnes of froufrou shit in the house.

I can't remember moving that much out of the way when DD was 1ish, because we were with her at all times.

Now she's 2 the house is baby-proofed to death

I think it depends on the child in question. DD usually listened to us and wasn't a fiddler of other peoples belongings. DS however... is a human cyclone of destruction. I don't think he does it deliberately but he wrecks a lot of stuff given half the chance.

I never moved anything and I taught my children not to touch. It worked out fine. Food may have been thrown but no precious objects were.

How would you ever be able to take a child anywhere if you didn't teach them this?

No I wouldnt move things. I work somewhere where there is lego, knex and the works around with just turned 2 year olds + but we still dont ban all of that its in drawers they can access.

You just look after your children and teach them not to.

My first two didnt touch anything but the 3rd will try and get everything, you can say no as much as you like!

I still havent moved anything though as he has to learn (pleeease eventually??) and I watch him so he doesnt choke on the girls bits and bobs

I think it depends a lot on the child and on your parenting style. When DD was very little, I preferred to let her explore freely so put all that kind of thing away until she was older and could understand the reason behind the "don't touch." Other parents prefer to begin teaching not to touch right away and find value in that. There's no right or wrong answer here. But I do agree that some children take a bit more work on this one.

Another vote for it depends on the child(ren). I had one that could seemingly fly, or teleport, or both, my best friend had one who would sit quietly where you left it. We had similar parenting styles, but very different children. I think it's unfair to judge, you just have to deal with the type of child you get; if it's safe to leave things out, why not, if it's not safe then of course you'd move them.

You could put my DS in a ball pit filled with every fun toy known to man....within 2 minutes he'd have found, removed and put the nuts and bolts holding the ball pool together in his mouth. He has zero interest in toys. He wants the forbidden things!

Kudzugirl, but how do you teach a crawling and into everything 5mths old not to touch? Mine are bright boys but certainly didn't understand not to touch at that age. They were cruising furniture at 7mths and walking at 9/10mths and even then it was a struggle.

But then my ds2 was the child who insisted on only using the 4+ part of the playcentre from about 18mths and being told off as he whizzed down the slides head first. He's now 8, hugely talented at sport and academically gifted and a lovely child. But at 5mths when he was crawling and putting his fingers and tongue in everything, there was no telling him.