A what age is it reasonable to allow DCs to walk up/down stairs unattended?

[SpawnChorus]

I usually accompany DD (2) up and down the stairs, and she is pretty sure-footed, especially on the way up. Not so confident about her coming down, but I think that's partly cos I am always there in front of her, and I think that gives her a (false?) sense of added security, so she's not so careful.

Anyway, I'm just curious to know when I can let her tackle the stairs without my go-go-gadget arms in the immediate vicinity.

Teach her to come down on her bottom and then let her get on with it - both ds's (but particularly ds2 as we weren't as vigilant by then! ) have just got on with going up and down stairs from the minute they could move - but we did tell them both to come down on their bottoms - ds2 still comes down this way and he's nearly 3 (and very clumsy...). Both have fallen down stairs once, which was horrible, but they were fine and didn't do it again...

DS1 slides down on his tummy - he's 2.10yo. He walks up pretty well though, often with three little engines in his hands

I have tried to get her to go down on her bottom, but she won't comply!

Hunkermunker - head or feet first? Lol

PMSL, feet first! Yes, wouldn't exactly be the safest thing to teach him to come down head first!

ds1 is 2.4 and walks up and down the stairs fine. he started at about 18 months on his bum or tummy and has never looked back. tbh he always saw tham as a challenge and somewhere he wasn't allowed. as soon as we allowed him a bit of freedom the novelty wore off.

ds3 was walking down without holding on- carrying things in each- from about 16 months! He's a bit of an acrobat. The other 2 were older.

dd2 has been going up walking from about 18 months and I taught her to come down on her bottom. Only just started to let her do it alone at 22 months and now she slides down feet first on her tummy

Hmmmm....I sense that I might be suffering from Precious Firstborn Syndrome here. Lol!

DD2 is going up and down quite happily and quite safely - she is 16 months.

Depends on the child, IMO - DS1 was too skittish to do it before he was older than two!

My dd is like jimjams's ds3! Totally sure footed. She turned 2 two weeks ago and now likes to jump down the stairs! eeek! Let her jump off the bottom step though.

I get pfbs when ds1 comes down the stairs on his own

my ds1 and flossam's ds were going down my stairs a few days ago on their bottoms, without anyone in front to catch them. I got all panicky, even though both boys are more than capable of getting down the stairs alone

pfbs??

sorry, precious first born syndrome

My 12 month old goes up and downthe stairs unattended. She's now started to try and walk part of the journey whilst holding on the the rails.
It depends on your child.
I know a couple who were absolutely paranoid about letting their over 2 year old do the stairs. They said he was unsure of them.That's because he's never been allowed to blooming well go up and down them on his own fgs.

My ds was about 18m when we decided not to replace the stairgate that had been removed by visiting plumber. He was going up and downstairs on 2 legs like a grown up (he's quite tall though, I think leglength makes a difference.)
My dd was at least 20m - I remember because I couldn't carry her after DS's CSec and we kept getting stuck upstairs and calling for DH!

Thing is, you can't keep track of your later kids like you can with the first. I barely used the stair gates with DS2. He's two now, and is forever going down stairs, without stair railings, and refusing to hold my hand.

PFB sydrome here . Ds (2.4) climbs stairs by himself (though he's not really supposed to) but not allowed down by himself. He fell down them a few months ago and it was horrible.

Stairgate upstairs, but not downstairs - it stops him getting into lodgers room as well and believe me that would not be good (ds plus combination of expensive equipment and comic book collection = trouble). Though may have to rethink it soon as although he cannot open the gate he can unscrew it off the wall

Freaks me out though to think of my baby doing stairs all by himself

We ditched the stairgate about 6 months ago and ds was 3 last week. He also likes to slide down on his tummy, feet first!

I think dd was slightly younger.

We don't have any carpet on the stairs and it's also fairly steep and has a bend (?)

Oh God, DS2 will probably roll down the stairs and I wouldn't notice

not got them for ds4 - he was one last week and goes up and down willy nilly - speeding!

We'll hopefully be moved by the time DS2 starts this whole murlarkey. I'm thinking about no stairgates in the new house, wherever we move to.

You won't need them igw, we moved to this house when ds3 was 18 months, nd have since had ds4 without a stairgate, have decided it's much safer without them.

this is very timely for me; ds (nearly 18m) has been going up the stairs with me right behind, in a kind of crawl (him, not me..) and i'm debating letting him start trying to come down. My worry is because our stairs are steep, and I mean steep. Visitors to our house come down them feet sideways iyswim and always remark on them.

OTOH, the old lady we bought the house from, and the other old lady 2 doors up, both raised 3 boys in these very houses and presumably managed to get them past their infancy with their necks in one piece!