Toddlers And Christmas Trees

[LouisaJF]

DS will be 20 months by Christmas and is into everything. I can't think of anywhere I can put the tree that won't have him hanging off it. Does anyone have any tips to minimise tree pulling over/bauble eating/tree chewing?

Don't. Or just have a tiny one up high somewhere. Then get a great big strip of wallpaper and draw one on the back. You and he can have a whale of a time painting and throwing glitter and sparkly stuff on it and then you can stick it up with blutack on the wall somewhere. Life is just too short to spend forever telling him off for something he can't help touching. Next year he should be old enough to get the hang of not playing with it.

My 13 mo is into everything, im putting mine up on 1 dec as usual and figue after a week or so he won't be bothered. We will be visiting family so he will hsve to get used to their trees and not pull them over!

Playpen the child during December!

Well we bought a fairly cheap artificial tree and a load of plastic decorations. Put a little hook in the wall / ceiling and attach top if tree to it with fishing line.

So it shouldn't fall over and if it does its not the end of the world as it is neither heavy nor breakable.

It looks a little um 80s office style but it means the toddlers can touch everything and they soon lose interest and saves us from stressing about it. It has also seemed to desensitise them to other people's lovely breakable trees and decorations which they don't tend to touch either.

And in a couple of years when they are not tiny lunatics, I shall have beautiful real trees with glass baubles on. Sigh.

DS was about the same last Christmas. He was actually pretty good at not touching it and we made sure the more breakable decorations were out of reach. I think we put it up so it was kind of behind the edge of the sofa, barricaded in a little bit. He loved us switching the lights on each day and it wouldn't have felt Christmassy to me without it.

When dd was 12 months old, we used the artificial tree and the plastic baubles (a couple of nice but not sooo delicate ones up high), and kept telling her "NO!" When she went near the tree. She generally left it alone after the first few days.

At 24 months, we were traveling so I used the artificial again (always on traveling years, so it doesn't die while we're away!), but a few more robust but breakable things were on it. Again, plenty of reminding of No for the first day or so, but she was much better about leaving it that year.

We also had lots of toys with lights and noises anyway, that we'd give her to distract from tree lights.

But we certainly never had any great issues with her at the tree - in fact, we have more now as DH re-arranges decorations into her idea of beauty and finds choccie ones hidden for sneaky treats! She'll be 8 on Boxing Day this year.

My daughter has 6 children! Each year she has a gorgeous Christmas tree that looks like a Harrods display. When she has a child at that stage she puts the Christmas tree inside the playpen (and never hangs chocolate decorations or candy canes!)
She does have to deal with a free range toddler but they have all survived

The year DD was 15mo we didn't put a tree up, that saved a hell of a lot of worrying about her pulling it over or smashing baubles. Get a very small one (real or fake) that you can put on a table or somewhere else higher, or decorate the house in other ways so that it still feels Christmassy?

I had a 15 month old, then a 2 year old and I'm a firm believer in not childproofing too much.

I decorated a 7 foot tree as normal and repeatedly said no.

They got the hang of it in a day. I'd hate to not have a tree because of my child...