15 month old climbing on EVERYTHING!

[missgriss]

My dd has learned to climb in the past month and now climbs on everything, from kitchen chairs to stairs. The thing is, she has no fear and I've caught her on more than one occasion standing on the arm of my settee, grinning and waving at me. One of her favourite pastimes is pulling a footstool to the middle of the room then climbing up and jumping onto a nearby chair

My DS was never like this. Is there anyway to 'teach' her to be more careful before she really hurts herself or am I just going to have to resign myself to having a total tomboy

We just got used to the fact dd2 was going to do it regardless, we have tried millions of times to get her not to climb but no joy! we call her stunt xxx!

dd2 was like this, absolute nightmare, nothing like dd1. We tried for ages to discourage her never worked, sorry.

I've seen your dd in action missgriss & she scares the hell out of me

Don't think there's anything much you can do about it tbh as she's going to do it regardless - tho' a few glasses of wine might calm your nerves.

Have posted on your thread Greebos

I guess it's just a case of grinning and bearing it just now then.

DS has a slide which is meant for age 3 and over and little madam can climb up the ladder easily, and stands at the top before launching herself down it. My nerves are in shreds!

I'm telling you - wine . It works wonders for shattered nerves

Oh God you really have my sympathy. DD is a climbing maniac. She's 2.7 now, and is still an aspiring mountaineer. In fact, she's just learnt to scale our 5 and a half foot garden fence. She's also recently climbed a v tall bookcase to reach my 'safely hidden' essential oils.

My only suggestion might be to let your DD have a few minor bumps and falls while she's still only climbing relatively low objects. I sometimes wonder if I acted as too much as a safety net for DD, and she's just never really learnt that it can be dangerous!

PMSL at the table dancing toddler!

I think I'll have to buy a crash helmet for DD until she grows out this obsession

I tend to just ignore now too

I do have to mop up blood occasionally if I don't catch in time, but babies tend to bounce.

missgriss sounds exactly like my dd who 15 months old. She pushed the dining room chair into the middle of the livingroom. Climbs on the couch & thinks its a bouncy castle then just grins this very cheeky grin She has no fear either.

Exactly like my DS, 14 months. I spent a weekend teaching him to climb off things backwards which he now does. So I know he can do things safely. I figure he is somehow wired to climb, it's like a compulsion in him so I just try to make things as safe as possible. And take him places where it is safe to climb (eg soft play), and strategically place the furniture so he can't get too high! But then I just let him get on with it. He can now climb on to the loo then on to the cistern then onto the windowsill - so no leaving the bathroom window open!!! Doesn't help he's tall either so he can get up really high things!

Huge sympathies here as well as DS (now 21mths) has been like this for ages. Learnt to walk at 10mths and to climb soon after At 4.6 DD still won't climb half the things he will!
Not sure if Tumble Tots has been helped or not but it has given him a legitimate climbing space once a week.

has been A help

symapathies Missgriss - my dd is 16 m and has been climbing up everything in sight for a couple of months. She has started climbing up slides in the park this week and frequently gets to the top which is a nightmare if I can't get up there quick enough. She has been having full on tantrums when I pull her off things as well - not fun - I may just invest in a lot of bubblewrap and a helmet!!

Both my girls have been early climbers - in DD2's case she was climbing well before she could walk unaided.

From experience, they are much more careful and stable when I am not hovering around in a worried fashion. The other day, I witnessed DD2 going down a flight of stairs slowly and carefully, backwards on hands and knees. She didn't know I was there. I have been trying to get her to do it like that for months, but when I am with her, she pretends she is going to dive down head first and cackles like a maniac at my reaction.

Her favourite game in the whole wide world is flinging herself full length on the floor and gleefully shouting "bump"

I think she has a strong instinct for survival and try to stay calm. Maybe one day I'll be proved wrong and she will really hurt herself. On the other hand, my friend's toddler broke her arm falling off a two inch high step, onto grass. You cannot protect them from the whole world.

DS1 (5) was like this from an early age. He climbed to the top shelf of a bookcase (7 shelves up) and got some super sharp nail scissors down which I'd (naively) assumed would be out of reach! I caught him giving DS2 an unscheduled haircut!! I think some children are natural climbers and you just have to accept it. I would strongly urge you to bracket all freestanding furniture (CD towers, bookcaes etc) to the wall which is what we have done throughout our house.