Worst thing your toddler has got up to unsupervised

[MiaWallace]

Following on from the thread about leaving toddlers to play unsupervised -

What is the worst thing yours has got up to when unsupervised?

Dd managed to get a tub of emulsion out of a cupboard with a safety lock on it, somehow got the lid of the tub, and then proceeded to smear the emulsion all over the stair carpet and banister.

What tales of destruction have you got?

[nappyaddict]

It's not at all like saying that because when you go to the beach you wear sun cream and you wouldn't give your child boiling hot food, you'd let it cool down first. That aside all the things I mentioned can be hazards if you're not careful and don't wear the appropiate protection, yet many don't make their children wear protection. Falling down the stairs isn't a fun activity and can be just as much of a hazard as falling off a table.

I really don't know why you are so determined to make this into a debate when all I'm guilty of is having a table smaller than yours and was therefore curious of why you had that reaction.

[Sycamoretree]

I was being sarcastic, not obtuse. I am neither thick or slow on the uptake, thanks.

I just wish you would stop equating fun activities with actual safety hazards, that's all.

To try and make my point clearer, he's my final attempt. I'll exaggerate but here goes:

It's like saying you don't mind letting your DS play with the oven because a child can get burnt doing lots of things like, going to the beach, eating hot food, but hey, you wouldn't stop them doing those things would you, so you know, why worry about a little thing like playing with the oven.

And no, our table is about 90 cms high.

[nappyaddict]

Sycamoretree I'm not trying to have a debate with you, I was innocently curious!! No my 15 month couldn't ride a scooter or a bike but you were worried about broken bones and those are activities along with many other things like roller skating, climbing trees etc that when your child is older will probably result in broken bones yet no one stops those. I did allow my 15 month old (and younger cos he was 12 months at the beginning of summer) unsupervised on bouncy castles and trampolines with other children which apparently according to one snooty mother who wanted her child to be allowed on on her own was an accident and broken bones waiting to happen.

I never said you were a spoilt overprotective mother, neither have I tried to imply that. I have already said our table is 78cm which is why I was never worried when DS climbed on it - yours is 100cm so much higher.

DS is allowed to climb on the window sill as the windows are always locked. He would not be allowed if there was any way he could open the windows. Now who's being obtuse I don't understand why you have turned my innocent question into this massive thing but hey ho. Like I said we are all different.

[swanriver]

Ate half a firelighter. No illeffects at all. This was 6 years ago

[Sycamoretree]

Nappy will probably be along any minute to wonder what on earth you were so bloody worried about, I mean, if he got out there, he could get himself back in, right?

[pollypentapeptide]

DS aged 3 used to climb up onto his bedroom windowsill and hide behind the curtains when DH came up to say goodnight. It was a ritual they did most nights (mad idea I know but we did have window locks fitted and so somehow thought this was ok )

One night however, the window had been left unopened and my husband crept into the room and hearing giggles behind the curtains, threw them open with a big rahhhhhh! only to find DS standing on the window sill OUTSIDE

Managed to get him safely inside and for months I refused to wash away the little footprints he had left on the window ledge to serve as a reminder of our total and utter stupidity.

[Sycamoretree]

You're describing a bunch of activities that would naturally be supervised. Are you ACTUALLY saying I should not stop my DS from climbing unsupervised on a dining room table? That in I'm some kind of spoil spoilt over protective mother Are you quite mad?

You are crazy if you think riding a scooter (your 15 month old could do that???) or a tricycle remotely compares.

I said our table was not far off a metre.

No one else can see your point. You're doing your best not to see any sense in what I have posted, and I have to conclude that some people just aren't worth debating with for reasons I'm too polite to post.

[nappyaddict]

Oh right, why would I be being obtuse because of that thread - you were one of the people being nice!!

Yes I understand it's high enough for them to fall and break bones from but so is coming down the stairs, going on a slide, jumping on the bed, riding a bike/trike/scooter and various other fun things that no one would ever think of stopping them from doing.

Our dining table is only slightly higher than a bed or the arm of a sofa which I'm sure no one would worry about. In fact just measured it and it's 76cm. He also frequently would climb on a chair, on the table and then crawl around it. If he was walking around the table I would share your concern because as you say they could lose their footing. If you'd said your table was a metre high then I would have understood straight away as that's much higher than ours. You must all be very tall - I'd need a booster seat for a table with a height of 100cm!!

[redsky]

dh woke up after an afternoon nap to find ds (5) had snipped off all dd(1)'s curls leaving her bald! Said he was being a hairdresser - thank god he didn't choose dentistry.

[Sycamoretree]

Nappy - it's the shock of what could have been, not was was.

I can't ever see how a dining table is "not that high". You do understand it's high enough for them to fall and break bones from? How minimal would the damage ever be for a 15 month old to fall from that height? Ours is almost a metre high?

But fine, each to their own levels of safety concern - or else you have a different picture in your mind of what happened, or your DS was spectacularly more adept at climbing, judging distance and not losing his footing at that age?

The other thread was re your mum being screamed at.

But let's move on. I'm too old for this tittle tattle.

[hazeyjane]

Thanks Sycamoretree, she was ok, but an afternoon in a+e with 2 toddlers is never much of a laugh!

It's amazing how quick kids can be (when you're not trying to get somewhere, of course), I was in the room with her washing up, one minute she was flinging glitter around, the next she was stood on the table shouting 'Blast off!'

[littlelamb]

Sycamoretree I would be horrified at that too. My ds is 11 mo and is proving to be quite the HOudini. His latest trick is climbing out of his straps and standing up in his highchair. I am going to spend the next X years of my life watching him like a hawk
Can you really not see the difference between a table and a slide nappy?? WHat would your ds have to do to worry you?

[nappyaddict]

Sycamoretree which other thread? I wasn't asking blunty. I asked why because it wouldn't have worried me at all not being that high and also cos you said he was sitting quite safely in the middle not standing up balancing dangerously near the edge. Promise I'm not being obtuse I was generally curious.

[ICANDOTHAT]

When ds2 was about 2, he put AAA battery into friends new born babies mouth hoping it would "make him move" .... WTF

[Sycamoretree]

Poor DD Hazeyjane

And I should also say I just don't see how you can compare a slide in a park, where presumably you are supervising your child at play, to a child who is unsupervised whilst you're in the kitchen who climbs up onto a kitchen table when you had no idea they were capable of such feats of mountaineering.

[hazeyjane]

BTW, my re: the falling off tables thing.

Dd1 fell off the kitchen table when she was 2 1/2, caught her foot in the highchair, and hit her head on a cupboard. We took her to hospital (BIG bump!), and they said that if a child falls off something taller than itself (generally) they should always be checked out.

[Sycamoretree]

Nappyaddict - the is because the whole idea that you had to ask why I would have a heart attack (not literally!!! Spirit of anecdotal threat, yes?)in such a blunt way at the sight of a 15 month old sat unsupervised on top of a dining table is unequivocably double . You're being obtuse to suggest otherwise.

I think you were being snarky with me because of what I said on your other thread.

[stripeypineapple]

My DD locked me and my aged grandmother in her kitchen so I had to(in my PJ's and barefooted) climb out of the window onto the roof, leap across the path, into a tree and climb/fall down that to get round to the front door to let my self back in to rescue grandma.

My friends DS woke up before everyone else one morning and got a litre bottle of oil from the cupboard and poured it over her beautiful new, expensive rug.

How lovely and experimental toddlers are.

[VinoEsmeralda]

DS ate his own poo (didnt like it), managed to open a child locked drawer with kitchen knives and had a 'pirate' fight with DD (I heard this cling cling noise and have never been so quick!) He climbed upon the kitchen surface and opened my vitamin pills (in cupboard) and downed a few with a litre pack of smoothie.

He also used to have an obsession with toilets and one day I heard a hollow 'help me mummy' and he was stuck with his head in the toilet (seat had fallen around his shoulders and got stuck

He is a well balanced calm 5 year old now!

[hazeyjane]

dd1 swallowed half a tube of Colgate

dd2 coloured in her lips with a red felt tip pen (this morning) - she looks like a scary toddler Marilyn Monroe.

[saadia]

Mine wasn't exactly destructive but it makes me shudder. Little known to me, I only found out by chance one day, when ds2 went to the toilet he would drip a bit and would use the towel, that we used for drying hands, to wipe it with. I have no idea how long he had been doing this but the thought of it is just so horrible.

[smugmumofboys]

DS1 (now 6) cut his baby brother's hair with very sharp scissors which he had scaled several bookshelves to access (everything nailed to wall in our house).

Painted the walls in DH's study with a selection of paint samples.

Threw DS2 down the stairs when we had just moved into this house and hadn't got the stairgates up.

I could go on.

[nappyaddict]

I never said they did but a slide is much higher than a table and they could theoretically fall backwards quite easily and break bones. Ditto my divan bed which is quite high and the arm of the sofa. Not sure what the is for? As I said some people are just more relaxed about these sorts of things - nothing wrong with that we are all different which is a good thing imo.

[Pinkjenny]

OMG Ledodgy.

[Ledodgy]

Cut his curly hair off right down the front and middle so he looked like Max Wall. Pic on profile.