Why does my daughter stand on/kick everything?

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It's like her feet have to come into contact with everything. It drives me mad. Sometimes she will purposely put things (toys/books) on the floor just to stand on them. It's not being clumsy, she fully intends to do it. It irritates me because she's either going to break things or she's going to hurt herself by falling/slipping. I don't know why she does it or how to make her stop it. It's almost as if she has more sensitivity in her feet than her hands so uses them to explore. Or maybe she just does it because she knows it gets on my tits. Does anyone else's child do this?

My DD used to do this - and as you say, I'm sure it was to do with exploring the sensations with her feet.

I'm pretty relaxed about that kind of thing, and generally let her get on with it. Certainly books won't come to any harm, and I tend to think that toys are there for children to use too. I'd stop her if it was genuinely dangerous (not sure that ever happened tbh), or if it was something I particularly cared about, or belonged to someone else.

I think it peaked around 2 years of age. DD is almost 4, and never does it now. She does however have amazing balance and very strong feet - eg will walk across a suspended rope barefoot at the park, and use her toes to help balance. I suspect it's related, if only because she goes barefoot outdoors whenever she can (presumably for the same reasons as she used to stand on things). So it's not all bad!

Yes all the time! My DD has sensory integration issues so she needs a lot of 'input'.

My daughter is unfortunately very clumsy so standing on things usually results in her falling!

My DD is 5 and stands on fucking everything. It drive me potty.

My son does this all.the.time. As we speak he's sat next to me poking me with his toes. I caught him stretching his legs out of the stroller trying to kick the woman in front of us in the supermarket queue! I'm hoping he grows out of it soon or I'm going to have to carry out my threat and eat his feet!

How old is she and what do you do when she does it?

He also stood on one of his moving toys last week - it did not end well and now all things with wheels that look fun to stand on have been removed.

Rather than just telling her to stop could you feed her need for this in a more appropriate way? Take shoes and socks off, blindfold (if she's up for it) then make a trail for her to walk on..... Newspaper, flour, foil etc.... See how many she can guess.
It may just mean that she satisfies this need and is more able to listen to you telling her what she can't stand on??

That's a brilliant idea Henrietta! I'll try it.

She'll be 3 in January. I usually tell her that if she continues to stand on things she shouldn't I'll take them away. This is after countless times of telling her not to do it, explaining that she could hurt herself etc and she understands she shouldn't do it. It's also her go to thing when she's having a tantrum - start standing on things because she knows it pisses me off. I know the answer is to not react so she won't do it but it's so hard not to when I worry that she'll hurt herself.

Argh! And the toe digging in thing. Fucking painful. I swear she is actually a monkey and she uses her feet like hands.

DD (3) does this. I don't think it's a coincidence that she loves Little Kickers. She can now dribble a football better than her big brother can, much to his annoyance.

Ah yes, the toe digging thing... You've just reminded me that although DD doesn't usually stand on things any more, she does still like to 'connect' using her feet. I quite often eat dinner with a little foot pushing into my leg. I don't really mind and almost don't notice it.

Definitely preferable to the 'elbow to the throat' move which she perfected at about the same time!

I can see that it would be more of a problem if you are worried about her hurting herself though.