Toddlers and Christmas trees

[Montifer]

Are they a match made in hell, as I suspect may be the case, or will it all be OK as DP thinks?

DS (17 months) is in exploration mode at the moment, his favourite things to explore being the fridge / toilet brush / fireplace

DP loves the ritual of getting a big tree and decking it out with all the glittery bauble-tastic stuff. However I have visions of DS constantly trying to clamber in / up tree and think it may be more sensible to get a small one which could stand on a table out of small arm's reach.

Our living space is open plan so having the tree in another room isn't an option.

What's the general consensus and is there an obvious solution that I've missed?

We go for the "nothing breakable on the tree and tie it to the door handle" method usually.

Tables are good, so are paper trees stuck to the wall.

tbh anything that works is good as long as it means you don't lose your sense of humour. I can honestly say that I have lost count of the number of christmas trees I have seen pulled over by rampaging toddlers.

Merry christmas....

Childmind my 17 month old grandson every afternoon while my wonderful DIL goes to work....our Christmas tree will be high up on a table....having had 4 DS's I know what havoc they can cause

Do you know what, last year our twin boys were approx 17 months and into everything and I so nearly didn't get a tree because I thought it'd be a nightmare, they'd be pulling it over, etc etc. And actually, it was fine. I left off a couple of v delicate and much loved glass ornaments and made sure that the baubles were pretty much all unbreakable ones , just in case. It might not be half as bad as you think - try it and you might find your DH is right after all. In extremis, you could always take it all down again if your worst fears come true and your toddler attempts to shin up the tree on a regular basis...

Mine has always been fine. The chocolates tend to evaporate unexplainedly . But other than that the cat is only danger to the tree.

And my current toddler is confirmed to be the worst toddler all who know her have ever experienced. This comes from two grans, a great gran and several aunts/uncles/great aunts/uncles

fine, just make sure toddler has suitable headgear and rock climbing harness available

Thanks all, reckon DP will be keen to get tree today so I'll see how it goes, I'm sure DS will have great fun.

The way his climbing skills are progressing wouldn't be surprised to find him at the top shouting "Star, Star"

If your tree is anything like mind you will start off with loads of decorations at the bottom of the tree as they 'help' you decorate but within a couple of weeks there will be nothing on the bottom 2 foot as you tire of picking it all up off of the floor everyday