Crawling 7 1/2 month old into everything

[Leogaela]

Has anyone had any success with preventing a curious baby from playing with things that they shouldn't play with?
He is already starting to get into everything and I want him (if possible) to learn that something are not for him to play with. I have started by saying 'No' and taking things away from him if he doesn't stop, but I have a bad feeling that this is a very bad approach and I don't really know where to start.

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I agree with secur - around 12 months is the best age to start 'expecting' them to understand "no" (actually listening to it..........well DS1 is 5 and still doesn't seem to hear it sometimes ).

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OK, thanks. i am really worried about making a mistake with the whole discipline/control/behaviour thing because I fear that if you get it wrong from the beginning it will snowball and will be impossible to put right.

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Hi Leogaela

Agree with Secur. If you say no each time now in a few months time you'll all be miserable as that will seem to be the only thing you ever say to him. By 10 months old ds drove me so mad with it and was also clambering around my legs much of the time that I changed tack and went out to mums and tots or activities as often as possible to divert his curiosity and relieve my stress !

You have to relax a bit, childproof where you easily can to minimise the dangers and then determine what it really a no-no ,ie. the dangerous things like sockets,wires, things to pull down, or precious items, and what is just an irritation for you but actually doesn't matter like pulling out books and videos from shelves. Once you have that straight in your mind you'll find it easier to pick the moments when you need to say no and remove him, so you use it more selectively but consistently and it has more impact, and he'll gradually come to understand that you do mean it and why.

hth

Thanks again. My fear is that i will end up with a child that needs the help of a super nanny to sort him out again. At the moment though I am only worried about him getting his hands on dangerous stuff. I will try to relax about it all, go with my instincts though. yesterday I was reading something about the super nanny children and some of the opinion was that many of the behavioural problems are caused by the relationship between the parents. I will keep hoping things with us stay as good as they are !

LizS are you still feeling culture shock and home sickness for Switzerland or have you settled back in at home again? Its really beautiful here at the moment, fantastic blue autumn skies and they are starting to be really clear later in the day so the views of the mountains are spectacular! We've moved house now which is really great!

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