oh help PLEASE what do i do with a 1 year old who has learnt to climb on the sofa???

[FrannyandZooey]

help major disaster here
i can't leave the room
well in fact i can't turn my back
he can't even stand - there's no way he's safe on the sofa
he then climbs on the window sill! about 3 foot up
help help help help help
he is fast
and CROSS when i take him down
it's a nightmare

Get a BabyDan playpen and instead of making it into a hexagon, put it in a line in front of the sofa.

well I did have a 4 yr age gap between mine so that probably helped. but yes would take child to the door and the loo was on the same level as the lounge so that also helped.

But generally yes remember how exhausting it was to watch them all the time and how frustrating it was not to be able to do anything else much.

I certainly wasn't doing housework anyway. Used to save that for weekend and one would entertain dcs and the other did cleaning.

Or for a period of time we had a cleaner. House was a tip most of that time.

Would say once they got to 4 ish would leave them alone for brief periods.

house was a tip in between cleans i should have said

lol at image of Franny behind bars on the sofa

I think sincity that its the difference between knowing where they are, and being able to leave them for a minute while they are playing to go on mumsnet do a chore while checking on them frequently and literally having to have them in sight and close to you and not be able to leave them at all for even 10 seconds.

LOL @ SpawnChorus! No it's to keep them from climbing on in the first place

"I don't understand why you would leave your toddler alone in a room anyway? Can't you stay in the room to ensure their safety?!"

i thought this was someone being funny until i read on

following a previous thread of yours I am still merrily stuffing the odd moulted chook feather into an envelope, any chance you might want some at some point in the future?

oh yes ta very much, we can always use them for crafts and that is very kind indeed

Once it gets full I'll CAT you for your address, that OK? Am expecting a major moult out this autumn, so if you can wait a bit they'll be loads!

Sincity - seriously, you wouldn't leave them alone in a room at all until they were 4? wow that must have been hard. I am not really qualified to comment as I only have one, but I let dd climb as much as I can, she does get a few bumps and bruises, "letting go as children grow" by Deborah Jackson is a good book though I wouldn't take the independence thing quite as far as she suggests. I put dd a cot with toys when she was younger in emergencies.

f&z - thanks for posting this. I am in the same position. DS2 (15mo) is a climber and DS1 constantly tries to 'help' by pulling him off high furniture.

I realised that I was giving DS2 a lot of attention for climbing (running over, grabbing him, telling him off, cuddling him afterwards etc etc). The only thing that has helped is every time he climbs, to go over to him and hold him still, facing away from me for about 5 seconds (gently of course!), then say 'stay on the floor', in quite a casual way before getting on with something, and at no point making eye contact with him. Over a few days, this worked quite well. He still climbs, but not quite as often.

Good luck!