Keeping toddlers away from the tree

[TwinsandTrifle]

We have 20mth old DTwins. The age that they have zero understanding of being careful around a Christmas Tree, combined with being fabulously dexterous and mobile.

What do we do about the tree? A cage isn't an option. To me, it removes all the prettiness and presence of the tree.

DTwins will have all the baubles off every time my back is turned. Even if I ensure everything is hardy and non-smash plastic, they'll still yank them off and probably twiddle with the lights. Maybe even tug the whole thing over/along. (Prelit BH I think about 7ft if that makes any difference?)

What do you do to stop small children wrecking the tree? We have other DC, so we kind of need a tree, and with twins, it's not as simple as just keeping an eye, boy twin is like Houdini. There will be times when I'm in the vicinity but not watching like a hawk...and this is when they'll strike . Our house is pretty open plan too (bar the kitchen), and we usually have several trees, and I'm already limiting it to one.

Any suggestions very gratefully received.

These look better, and a bit more robust. But it's still not great. And on the basis these are just plastic, what prevents them being easily moved if you pull on them?

We have twin kittens - 6 months old at the moment, but BIG for it, one is 3.7kg already. We have a very sturdy weighted tree base, and 90% of my beloved baubles won't be going up this year, I'll have to find softer or unbreakable alternatives. Last time we had kittens at christmas, they spent the whole season up the tree, systematically knocking things off, and you can't fence the tree off from cats, or teach them to be gentle! I just hope they don't eat the lights, our previous cats never did but one of my sister's (note the very important apostrophe) can't resist chewing them.

Can you put 5ft tree on coffee table. Attach. Put whole thing in corner. Then box in with sofa or two arm chairs and side table.

Yes they can climb sofa and reach, but it would t be able to be pulled down, and all the water bucket if real is hidden.

That basically what we did last year but Ds was only crawling then so safe. Will probably do similar this year with only safe decorations on chair side.

As an aside, maybe they won’t be too bad. Ds rot being a terror climb on side table and leaping off or climbing over to sofa from it in a loop. I just stuck a plant on side table yesterday and now he can’t climb and he hasn’t touched plant at all even though he could just yank whole thing off

@TwinsandTrifle

These look better, and a bit more robust. But it's still not great. And on the basis these are just plastic, what prevents them being easily moved if you pull on them?

We used metal ones for ours, but we could tighten the corners so that they were immovable so you would have to push the entire structure to cause movement and that actually was tough because of the amount of friction, if that makes sense? Locking nuts in the corners would probably work here, too, and I can only presume that's the case, given that they are apparently being used in shopping centres and must therefore be pretty robust.

Just tell them no Move away from the tree. Let go of that bauble.

That kind of thing.

You mat need to shout a couple of times.

With mine I used to sit with them when unpacking the delicate decorations. Explaining how precious they were and how we needed to be really gentle. And how if they were broken mummy would be very sad.

It's very similar to how you teach them to be kind to animals.

@ablutiions

Just tell them no Move away from the tree. Let go of that bauble.

That kind of thing.

You mat need to shout a couple of times.

With mine I used to sit with them when unpacking the delicate decorations. Explaining how precious they were and how we needed to be really gentle. And how if they were broken mummy would be very sad.

It's very similar to how you teach them to be kind to animals.

Goodness me, how on earth could you possibly think that no one here has thought to try this?

If it hadn’t worked for your children and situation, what would you have done?

Telling them to be kind to an animal isn’t anything like not touching a tree.

We have 2 cats, they are in and out all day and with own feet move away from 1 year old if they don’t want to be near. We teach him to be gentle with them when they are close.

A tree is just a glittering new object in the room 24/7. It’s much more tempting, and even if you tell them 3749 times in one day, there’s bound to be 5 seconds you aren’t glued to child when they wander up to it.

I let it fall on them a few times until they learnt not to touch it.

Stunt presents.

We used to create a barrier of wrapped cardboard boxes attached to each other with cable ties with something heavy in the bottom ones. If your DS is a climber you will need to use smaller boxes on top so there isn't a flat surface he can use to climb on.

You can also use the stunt boxes to hide the real presents inside!

We also secured the tree to the windows with strong fishing wire so it couldn't topple; decorated the lower branches with unbreakable decorations; and used wire to attach the baubles tightly so they couldn't be pulled or knocked off.

If you don't have enough space to create a wide enough barrier, you could use a playpen but decorate it with 2D cardboard presents to hide the bars or a village scene or forest scene.

@ablutiions

Just tell them no Move away from the tree. Let go of that bauble.

That kind of thing.

You mat need to shout a couple of times.

With mine I used to sit with them when unpacking the delicate decorations. Explaining how precious they were and how we needed to be really gentle. And how if they were broken mummy would be very sad.

It's very similar to how you teach them to be kind to animals.

They will be just under 2.

"Please don't touch as mummy will be very sad if the baubles break", will be about as effective as a chocolate teapot.

Small one on a sideboard at that age!

@nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut

I let it fall on them a few times until they learnt not to touch it.

Ours actually fell on DS a few years ago, when he was 6. He wasn't messing with it, it had only just been put up and wasn't quite sitting right. He caught it on his back and managed to stay still, holding it, till I got it off him. Only one decoration broke. We bought a little tree-shaped bauble to commemorate it, and now every Christmas he hangs that on the tree and reminisces about the year he saved all my decorations.

DD was 10 months for her first Christmas and cruising and crawling which was just about manageable.

We did a bit of "NO, don't touch" ing, but we also took her to see the decorated trees in various garden centres so by the time ours went up she was like "yeah mum...not as good as the one at Dobbies is it?"

We did the same the following year, showed her lots of trees, let her have one to decorate and play with and she was fine. In fact DD still has her tree which no one else is allowed to decorate.

I'd recommend a tree of their own to play with, plastic baubles, tinsel, no lights they might be so engrossed with theirs they leave yours alone.

@chesirecat99
"Stunt presents"
"...You can also use the stunt boxes to hide the real presents inside!..."

Which have surely got to be stunt pineapples?
Go full-on Mumsnet.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/2749425-What-naice-things-do-you-make-sure-are-visible-to-visitors

@UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername,
That is adorable! I suspect the tale of how 6 year old SuperStrong him saved(!) your decorations, will still be doing the family rounds decades from now.

Of my five children, none of them wrecked the tree.

Last Christmas my son was 22 months and surprisingly very good around the tree. We thought he might get the baubles off etc but he didn't. He learnt not to touch or if he did it was just the felt ones strategically placed ones around the bottom. Maybe see how they are first? They might surprise you.

No tree?

Just tell them no Move away from the tree. Let go of that bauble.

That kind of thing.

You mat need to shout a couple of times.

^

Yeah right, that'll work

(bangs head on wall again)

@CraftyGin

Of my five children, none of them wrecked the tree.

Neither have my singleton children. Do you have twins?

We out a fire type guard around ours ....and placed it in a corner !!

@immersivereader

No tree?

This is a real option. I think I'd rather have no tree than a tree behind bars.

It's the other DC who the tree needs to be up for. But I have no time to make weighted boxes ( our tree is huge, to ring it in, I'd need about twenty,) and what on earth I'd weight twenty of them with, that two toddlers couldn't slide between them, is beyond me.

We don't have a suitable table to put a tree on. Only narrow consoles and dresser type things. It's going to have to be fenced. And the only place it can go is in the corner which is part wall, part floor to ceiling window, so I can't work out how I anchor the fencing

@TwinsandTrifle

I'm debating the tree this year too - twins will be nearly 12 months. Girl twin won't be crawling by then (very premature) but boy twin definitely will maybe even walking and given half a chance he wants to pull on/over bash anything he can get his hand on 😂

I'm thinking of going back to a real tree mainly because I think it might be prickly enough to put him off getting too close?

@Lulu1919

We out a fire type guard around ours ....and placed it in a corner !!

What stops this from sliding or being pulled?

Our floors are wooden. If I put a fireguard up, or a pen up, DTwins would just pull on it until they had a gap big enough to squeeze through. A circular pen would have to be enormous and even that they'd tug on and slide until it had moved sufficiently for them to reach in and grab a branch.

Whenever I leave the room, she rushes to touch what she's not allowed. And he joins in, then he's the one that does the damage. The other day, I'd just unloaded the shopping, and nipped to the loo. I was gone under a minute, and was about 10ft away from the kitchen area where they were. I came out, she'd emptied my entire handbag and was sitting proudly with the contents around her. He'd run off with a lipbalm and was kicking it around the floor whilst shredding a pack of tissues.

My bag was there the whole time when I was present. They don't touch it. But the moment my back is turned it's their first thought. I will inevitably nip to the loo etc while the tree is up.

[quote tiggerwhocamefortea]@TwinsandTrifle

I'm debating the tree this year too - twins will be nearly 12 months. Girl twin won't be crawling by then (very premature) but boy twin definitely will maybe even walking and given half a chance he wants to pull on/over bash anything he can get his hand on 😂

I'm thinking of going back to a real tree mainly because I think it might be prickly enough to put him off getting too close? [/quote]
That was us last year. We penned the children. Got one of those huge grey and white pens with the patchwork flooring and they both went in there. It was great, I could leave them playing in there virtually all day and get on with so much. It was huge, ample for them to do their wobbly first steps and cling onto the sides.

It went when they were 18mths old and could lift it between them.