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Parenting

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Original poster

Toddler has entered the climbing phase - help!

9 replies

mezzer · 09/04/2007 15:47

My 15mo dd has started climbing on everything (shelves, the back of the sofa, etc etc etc). And, she is just now tall enough that if she gets on her tip-toes, she can reach most of the shelves / tables in the house. I'm trying desperately to get her to stop climbing but it's not working. I've tried "no climbing" and promptly removing her, tried praise when she sits on the sofa and doesn't climb it, tried removing her from the situation, tried yelling, nothing works. Anyone else have any secret tricks to stop them from climbing / messing with things on the table? Am I going to have to invest in more drawers / locked boxes to keep her (and my stuff!) safe?

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mankyscotslass · 09/04/2007 16:59

after having 3 kids i have realised the only thing to do is put anything that you dont want them breaking/touching away, totally toddler proof the wires n stuff and watch them like hawks.....they really just want to explore and learn at this age, and have no real understanding of limits. Nothing worked with them at all so i just resigned myself to it, and also invested in a playpen for when i really had to do something for 5-10 minutes and it wasnt safe to leave them or take them to do whatever with me. I know a lot of people don't like them, but like everything else i think if only used a little it's a life saver! So not a real help but it is just a phase, and as they get older it gets better!

ChaCha · 09/04/2007 17:30

DS1 has just turned 16 months. I converted our living room into a babyproof playroom as I really got tired of the whole 'no, don't you'll fall, dangerous, etc' particularly as I was pregnant since he was quite young and just needed things to be as easy as possible. Our ex-living room is now home to the sofa, armchair, rocking chair and a big storage unit for toys under the stairs - a small TV unit and one bookshelf that would not fit into the adjoining room. He still climbs onto the chairs, knocks on the window, switches the light on and off, opens the porch door from there too. Swithes DVD on for nursery rhyme CD - don't know how he learned that and has recently started climbing sofa to swing a massive framed picture from side to side! I also do the whole praise thing and sometimes he listens and gets down but i find that when he is bored(i.e. when i'm feeding DS2 and not spending enough time with him, on phone etc..) this is when he does the things that he knows he shouldn't.
I'd just put away anything that you value or is dangerous, it works for me, but then i do have friends who changed very little and are doing fine. Suppose not all kids are like my DS though.
HTH, and hope i haven't rambled.

Donk · 09/04/2007 17:54

The only things that worked for me with ds at that age were:

Toddler proof as much as possible.
Remove ds from whatever he has climbed on without reacting in any way - not even looking at him, put him in the living room (his favourite climbing spots were in the dining room) and ignore him. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Sometimes at 2 minute intervals. (Shouting, or any other reaction made him MUCH worse.)
And when he had climbed to the top of the bookcase and was stuck, he yelled for help because he wasn't afraid of my reaction..... He only did it once..... (at least I knew the bookcase wouldn't fall over - see 1))
We bought him a climbing frame and encouraged him to climb on that instead. HTH

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Original poster

mezzer · 09/04/2007 20:36

Thanks. I guess it helps to know that I am not alone in having a little monkey loose in the house! Will go look into some toddler-proofing materials.

Donk - how long do you ignore him for? I have a hard time getting my head around the ignoring idea. I like it in theory, though. And, perhaps I can invest in some sort of climbing aparatus...

OP posts:

Donk · 10/04/2007 09:10

I ignored ds for a couple of minutes - but tried to be quick to find good reasons to spend time with him. It took a lot of patience for this to work....... but work it did. I spent a lot of time reminding myself 'it's just a phase' - and counting to ten. Backwards. In Arabic.

Donk · 10/04/2007 09:12

If I didn't ignore ds (which is hard when you are carrying a struggling toddler) he would just get more and more silly and climby to get the extra attention. I literally looked away from him, kept my expression absolutely neutral and said nothing whilst I carried ds through.

Original poster

mezzer · 10/04/2007 14:52

Ok, thanks. I will give it a try. Wriggling toddlers are definitely difficult to ignore but I will do my best and let you know how it goes...

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TeeCee · 10/04/2007 14:54

My 15 month old has been the same for some time now. I started a thread on ideas of keeping her off the kitchen table. No real answer other than trying to keep her out, watching hr and removing her when she succeeded. It's exhausting!

Iklboo · 10/04/2007 14:58

And get some comfrey ointment in for the bumps & bruises

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