Fearless 1yo - climbing everything....help!

[Sallyre]

I'm not sure what to do about this - my 1yoDS is fearless - he started walking 4 weeks ago and is now climbing EVERYTHING. We've got gates round the stairs, round the telly, the fire and the bookshelves but now he's able to climb up on our dining chairs and onto the kitchen table - we've got an open plan kitchen-family room so it's not like we can fence it off....

DH thinks we should let him fall and "learn" his lesson....

I can't keep my eyes on him every second as I also have a 3yoDS and a life and a house to run.....

We've tried pushing the chairs right in - he can move them - we've turned them round so the backs (which are high) are sort of blocking the table top - but he can get round them....he's so damn chuffed with himself too - at least if I hear cackling I know he's up to something.....

Anyone any hints? "NO" doesn't work....I think I'm saying it too often (when he's unpacking the dishwasher or turning on the cooker.....) He's a terror! Eldest DS was never this bad.....

I had two like this. It may sound awful, but I fixed strong, garden trellis across my livingroom/dining room. It was either that or a child with a broken neck. (The holes in it were too small for him to them to get hands or feet into).

Welcome to the joys of an energetic child. A playpen is a good idea for when you need to leave the room. You can get some very big ones.

I have a climber. Now 22 mo.

Maybe I've done things wrong but I've taught him how to climb things safely and especially how to get down safely. Means I don't need to watch him like a hawk quite so much. Stairs are no access but apart from that he has free reign. Surprisingly after a few weeks of the dining table trick he had mastered that and never done it since. We reserve no for things like bookcases. The one thing I really do is take him places where he can get his climbing fix - soft play, playgrounds etc. This seems to help for when he is in the house. We also encourage him to climb things to help us e.g. in to bed, on to his changing table, in to the car seat. In other words we give his climbing compulsion some outlets!

Good luck, it gets less stressful as they get more physically adept!

Good ideas Weegle - we do live in soft play and parks at the moment - and we let him climb the stairs at bedtime or sometimes if he's going bugshit we go up and down the stairs - he can get up and down off the chairs safely 90% of the time....will work on more outlet ideas....

Garden trellis is a good idea.....and I have a good big babydan playpen but it's currently in 2 bits - blocking the TV and the bookshelf! Might be easier to put it back together and stick the little man inside!

I just get really paranoid as this is a friend of mine from school - it's 4 years ago but her life is still in tatters because of it and it freaks me out as Betsy was always a climber.....

Oh, I remember that. It was so sad. Fix the playpen back together and put the little darling inside. It's better then blocking bits of the room off. They you can keep the darling contained.

I tried the playpen (hollow laughter). My ears couldn't cope with the screams of frustration.

3littlefrogs. That's because you've stopped the little darling causing mayhem and he's letting you know he's pissed off with you.

We got mettle brakets and attatched our draws,wardrobes and bookcases to the wall after we read that article ! My dd2 is 30mths old and ds2 is 17mths old and they are both climers .I think the best way is too do as weegle says just teach them to be safe and if they fall , AS my good friend julie says "it is'nt the first time it won't be the last " good luck hun

Ah yes - mine is now 2.5yrs, and he hasn't 'learnt' yet my DH said the same as yours but he would have broken his neck if we had followed that strategy. Playpen is essential - he will get used to it, do persevere...the howls of rage are hard but you have to be able to leave them sometimes (like having a shower!) for your sanity!