3 Year Old going downstairs alone.

[blaisealex]

DS 3, for the past two mornings, has ventured downstairs alone when he wakes up.

I'm just wondering how old your DC were when they started going downstairs alone?

I'm not happy about it. We don't allow DS to use the stairs unsupervised nor be downstairs or upstairs by himself. But he's creeping downstairs first thing when he wakes up and we don't hear him. Prior to this he would come to our room and wake us up. He is no longer doing this.

I'm not sure what I can do to stop him? Of course, I can tell him not to but whether he listens or not is another matter. I can't set an alarm to wake before him because he doesn't wake at a set time. He could wake at any time. He can now open all the stair gates so those don't work anymore.

I should add, he is only just turned three. By a few weeks.

Am I being too protective or am I right that this is a definite no no?

My kids would go downstairs and put kids tv on at that age. I don't see the problem, especially with the stairs. A 3 year old doesn't need to be supervised using stairs!!! That's absurd!

I don’t know if already suggested, but what doors do you have downstairs? If you are not totally open plan, fit bolts (the little ones like for locking a bathroom door) to the top of the room doors downstairs and lock when you go to bed so he can’t get further than the hall. That doesn’t solve the stairs issue but it does deal with everything else.

Like this.

Mine would both have gone up and down at that age no problem

Just turned 3 is too young imo. When my dc were that age, we had a gate on their bedroom door to stop this. They had lots of toys in their room though so if they woke up, they could play in their room for a bit

At 3 they've a good idea of rules.
No going downstairs alone or face timeout.