Your advice please - DS climbing onto the table

[mckenzie]

My DS is 20 months old and like most children his age, I assume, he likes to climb on top of things. We have recently bought a children's table and chairs from Ikea which DS uses for his puzzles, reading and sometimes for tea. He understands 'sit down please' and says it himself with a huge smile on his face as he stands up on the chair to climb up onto the table!

I'm torn between trying to stop him doing it as it's dangerous and bad manners but that means I need to speak sternly to him and lift him down which results in him smiling at me (i'm wondering if he's doing it to get my attention but I dont think that is the case) or ignoring him in the hope that he'll stop doing it and if he does fall, it's only carpet underneath and it might teach him not to do it.

Anyone had this problem? I'd be grateful to know what others did and how much success was achieved.

thanks very much

Personally, if he was really agile and had good balance I would let him do it, but hover around in case he fell. Does that sound too time consuming? Is he pretty steady on his feet - he sounds it? Is it likely he will fall? Does he know how to climb down? If it was the dining table during a meal I would prevent him climbing in the first place, but I suspect he realises his toy table and chairs are different. If you really don't want him to do it I would just completely ignore him while he does it, then be very interactive etc when he gets off the table. God knows if it would work. If he smiles when you bark at him and get him down, I think he probably regards it as a great game with lots of lovely mummy attention. My ds feels the same about climbing the stairs, but that's my fault because I chase him up them, then get fed up when he wants to do it all the time. Stupid me,eh?

I remember my DS's doing this,I just kept telling them to get down, which they "eventually", listen to.
I can remember one of them seeing someone stand on a chair in a TV program, and shouting at the TV,"get down".
A simular thing happened the first time they saw the London marathon, one of them shouted, "Don't run, walk".

mckenzie you have my sympathy. My ds is a climber, I swear if Mt. Everest was outside he would climb it. I'm sorry to say for all my get down its naughty chants that at 3.3 he still climbs. He uses the washing machine to get on the bench and if he can't reach things he gets a chair. I think by about 2/2.6 they learn common sense and make sure you're there for any dodgy climbs. He still hasn't learnt to make sure he can get down again before he climbs up. Sorry its not the success rate you wanted but the good news is he hasn't overly hurt himself yet (touch wood).

Well mckensie, I also have a 20 month old DS and he climbs everything. I could say 'get down' a zillion times a day and the minute I turn my back he's doing it again. His thing at the moment is to pull out the dining room chairs, climb on them and then onto the dining table. He just sits there waiting to be physically removed and then does it again. Fighting a losing battle springs to mind.
He also likes to climb behind me on my chair while I'm on mumsnet, maybe I'm creating our youngest addict yet
There no advise I can give but as my eldest son was also a climber all I can say is he grew out of it so lets keep our fingers crossed.

EmmaTG, out of interest, what do you think would happen if you ignored it and didn't get him down?

Yes, and 20 months is EXACTLY the sort of age when they've learned to delight in that wonderful thing called defiance. Personally, I think this is the age when consistent boundaries begin to be incredibly important (I know what you're thinking, all you mums of 1 very young one ? I'm beginning to sound just like a power-crazed prison warden). But I think this is what this kind of behaviour is all about ? finding out where the boundaries are, and how much you'll let them get away with, rather than climbing per se. Whether you decide to let him do it is for you to decide, but be consistent. If the answer's yes, it's probably great for his gross motor skills (but no more so than a climbing frame in the park); if the answer's no, then it'll probably be boring for a few months, getting him down every time he does it, but it'll only divert his boundary-searching mechanism towards something else.
Sorry, probably not much help. Personally, I found this age one of the most difficult ? listening to myself saying the same old thing time after time after time... It does pass, though.

My dd (22 month) is just the same, I found her the other day, on the kitchen worktop getting a packet of noodles out of teh cupboard (she thought it was crisps!) She had pushe dteh kitchen stool up against the cupboard, climbed on teh wrktop, opened the cupboard and climbed down again. This is a kid who climbed stairs at 5 months!!! Promoptly fell down again!

My dd is 16 months and she has been climbing for a while. I now have my chairs on top of the table to stop her climbing up there but unfortunately there are plenty of other places to climb. She seems to like getting on to a little coffee table and then the window sill which she then runs up and down.

I try to ignore it as much as I can but it isn't always possible. They don't seem to learn even when they do fall off, she fell off the coffee table last night but just gets up and climbs straight back up again.

I went through all of this with my ds and was told by my mw to try and teach him how to get down safely, but to just let him get on with it. They do grow out of it.

Sympthies to all!! We have a climber too and it is a bit of a nightmare, isn't it! Our other two didn't really bother, but d.s.#2 (16 months) is a real pain when it comes to climbing - on tables, chairs, stairs, ladders, on the fireplace - you name it. I have just about got to the stage where I leave him to it (within reason!). If he falls off the table, he will bang! DH, however, is stressed beyond reason as he finds he can't leave DS/ignore the unwanted behaviour.

My biggger current worry is DS's other obsession which is plugs and sockets. We have socket guards, but DS has become really adept at pulling out the t.v. table to pull the plugs out of the sockets behind it. His favourite game is to pull the plug out of the stereo when we are listening to it, or to pull the plug out of the telephone or computer! WHEN DO THEY GROW OUT OF THIS !!!!

Oh aloha, he'd just sit there and either climb down himself, which he does or shout until he's got someones attention to get him down. Needless to say I don't remove him from the table all the time now and I'm quite sure he does it alot more than I'm aware of as he always seems to have stuff out of my bag that I'm sure was out of his reach.
He just loves the game of it all.
Sorry I didn't reply to your question earlier but I lost track of this thread and just found it again.

Both my dd's are climbers dd2 learnt her art from dd1!
I've had to tie the dining chairs together abd then to the table to stop them from pulling the chairs out and using them to get into places they shouldn't be.

I'm interested to know if any other climbers are very inquisitive and into absolutely everything like my dd's. I've had to put locks on practically all the doors, I can't leave the kitchen or toilet/bathroom door open if we're not in there (liquid soap all over floor, floods emptying the book basket and using it as stool to get into drawers ect give some indication why!)
I don't know any other children like this to this extent.
They're quite young 2.9yrs & 22mths-god knows what they'll be like when they're older!

Annie1, DS1 (now 4) was never into anything. He was the perfect child, a little naughty but no real stuff. Then DS2 (nearly 2) came along and it's completely different. He is into everything and DS1 follows him. He climbs, he draws, he plays with toothpaste/suncream/whatever. I'm certain that it's him starting it all as he has that 'ringleader' personality.

DS1 never used a chair to get anything he couldn't reach, DS2 is more resourceful. For example, DS1 came out to me yesterday saying he wanted some chocolate biscuits. I told him that he could not have any as it was nearly lunchtime at which point he flipped, crying that he wanted some the same as X had. Sure enough, resourceful little DS2 was sitting on the sofa with a packet of Cadbury's chocolate animal bisucuits looking very pleased with himself.

I think they grow out of it (although seeing DH and his brother together, I'm not so sure...)