If you have a climber

[robino]

Do you just let them get on with it to a certain extent?

DDs 1 and 2 , I have come to realise, were relatively abnormal toddlers! They generally stayed by my side, weren't that interested in cupboards. Although they were both fascinated by the fireplace.

DD3 has just turned one. She is perfecting her toddler tantrum and is a lot more pesky inquisitive than DDs 1 and 2 were. She would appear to be a bit of a climber (I am hoping and praying she doesn't turn into one of these cot/ stairgate mountaineers). She is currently climbing up and down the ikea childrens' table and chairs. I am near, but I'm letting her get on with it because thus far the DDs appear to have been fairly self-limiting; only doing things they're actually capable of. But they didn't climb up and down furniture at just one.

Somebody just tell me this is ok, I'm having a paranoid moment and DH is working away!

I have a climber too - it's a shock after a more physically sedate child first time around!

I think letting them get on with it is fine but you have to risk assess everything. For example, she climbs all over the toddler table and chairs in our carpeted living room but I shut her out of the kitchen because the floor is hard and the dining table is a lot higher!

It does become second nature but it's very tiresome.

Oh god, I hadn't even thought about the logical next steps on a climber's CV . Deep breath, health and safety hat on...

DD is now almost 18 months and is ten times worse now she's able to pull a stool around with her for maximum altitude.

YES. Managed risks, and all that.

Ds is now 3.5 but spent the year from 1 to 2 climbing then I think the novelty wore off a little as he gained and moved on in other movement skills though he is still very 'physical'.

He is my first (and only) and none of his friends were like this so it was a bit if a shock and I started to label him as naughty but I realised he was just being enthusiastic and lively.

I did allow climbing but encouraged it more on soft furnishings. These would be my tips;

1. Think about where they could go after they climb on their usual choices. I once found DS half hanging out of our lounge window which for various reasons is six foot off the ground! He'd climbed from the sofa onto a side table then onto the window cill to the open window

1. Either screw bookshelves into the wall or accept that you might have to take tempting things off higher shelves. Oh and don't be lured into thinking the shelf that's higher than them is not tempting - I once found Ds aged 18 months three shelves up on his bookcase and turned around grinning at me!

1. It's still worth telling them some rules about climbing - as a general rule I tended to allow clambering rather than climbing

4.Don't think something is out of reach if it's a foot apart if it's something you really want to keep them off it. After the incident at point one I removed the side table and a week later found DS stuck horizontally with his arms and torso on the window cill and feet on the sofa!

And don't fall into the trap that I did of thinking they are naughty. It's just another way of exploring the world and their physical abilities.

At that age, I was convinced DS would be a climber - he was onto windowsills, picnic benches etc. But he lost interest and now at 2 he's definitely not a climber.

My DD is definitely a climber, but then I kind of expected it since I was always up a tree myself. What I did not expect is that at 20 months she has climbed up onto the couch, unlocked the front door, opened it, unlocked the security screen door, swung it open, hopped down off the couch and caught it before it could swing shut. She has also used the drawer handles to climb up and get knives from on top of the very tall kitchen bench. We have to be very careful about where things are kept. Eg: knife block, sewing kit, first aid kit, chemicals, mobile phones, dog food, dog leashes, make-up, hair dyes, skipping ropes, extension leads and cables (anything she could hang herself with on the way back down).
You need to imagine the impossible at all times and expect that she can do it, because mine has proven that she can.