Climbing On Furniture

[hoopinglady]

The kids are naturally inclined to do it obviously.

I have gone back and forth on it. I hear myself "feet on the floor" etc a zillion time a day (from the same kid) and wonder if I'm being unreasonable. I don't want them jumping and climbing but will allow standing on the chairs to look out the window or sitting on the arm/back of the sofa. My furniture is nothing fancy, let me tell ya.

Is it setting a bad precedent or is it age appropriate? What are your rules?

[mismatchedsocks]

I must be mean. I dont let the daycare kids on my rocking chair or sofa. I have enough "childsize" items/chairs/furniture/etc, there is no reason for it.

[morgan24]

I must be mean too. I give them one chance on my sofa or chairs and if they can't sit on their butts and not play around they stay off it the rest of the day. They are only in my living room when I'm making lunch, the rest of the time we are in the daycare play room and that only has one chair for me and the rest are child size chairs.

[awestbrook713]

I am constantly telling the kids to sit on their bottoms on the furniture, no jumping, off the arm of the couch, or you will be sitting on the floor for the remainder of the day. My furniture is not a jungle gym. I don't allow my children to jump all over it and I doubt the dcp allow their children to do it at home. Now that I think of it I asked a 3 yr old dcb one day if his mommy let him jump on her furniture which he responded yes. I said ok well we will just check when she comes to pick you up, boy was mom surprised to hear that she allowed that behavior at home. My furniture is nothing fancy either, just hand me downs but they have to last me and a child jumping on it will not make it last long.

[iheartkids]

Mine are not allowed on the furniture unless they are sitting looking at books are cuddling with me. They all seem to have the urge to stand and jump around when left unattended and I feel it's not only a safety thing to sit nicely but also respectful. When I visit other people's houses I don't allow my kids to jump or stand on their furniture.

[Blackcat31]

I have a friend from high school that I used to argue with constantly about this same subject. She let her boys sit in the back and arms of the sofa ALL the time. They climbed on EVERYTHING!!!

I taught my kids to sit properly and hated that she allowed her children to climb on my furniture. She always said he stuff wan't high end or expensive so she wasn't going to bother making them.

I know her stuff may have not been super nice or expensive but years later when she did get nice expensive stuff....guess who trashed it???

I think it isn't the point about how nice your stuff is or isn't, it is a respect thing that children should not be taught to treat things in ways they aren't meant to be treated. JMHO.

As a parent, I would be upset if my DCP allowed my kids to do something like that when I worked so hard to teach them differently.

Kids naturally pick their noses, wipe their boogies and show their privates but we still teach them proper social behaviors. KWIM?

[Heidi]

I guess we're just a bunch of meanies here! Couches (chairs) are for sitting on! Tables are NOT for climbing on, we climb on the jungle gym.

[nannyde]

I don't have any kiddie furniture except for the table and chairs the kids eat and do stuff on. The table and chairs are by invite only.

They don't have access to anything that they CAN climb on. I don't have adult furniture in the room except for a rocker that is OFF LIMITS at all times.

No climbing in my house.

[wahmof3]

Same here- you can sit on my furniture. No toys, standing, or jumping. You get 1 chance. No respect, No sit.

What burns me is when the dcp arrive its nothing for them to dive, run, & jump on my furniture!! Thank goodness this hasn't happened in a while!

[2ndFamilyDC]

I no longer have the room I do daycare in filled with furniture. Just kids stuff.
But when I did I did not allow them on it either. My first set of furniture

the daycare kids wrecked, so when I bought new stuff I did not let

daycare kids on it.

Last January when I was selling my furniture and my brothers and

sister in laws found out that it was in excellent shape, they asked how

could it look so good when it was in daycare room, I said "I never allowed

the kids on it" They were shocked. They thought I was so mean

to not have let the kids on it.

I should say this room was our family room, not it is strictly a playroom.

[Meyou]

I don't have any grownup furniture in the daycare areas. I even sit in a little chair in the playroom to read. I used to have a futon but it was a constant source of trouble. Jumping, lying down and not making room, tears and drama. I'm much happier without it.

[hoopinglady]

I don't have any grownup furniture in the daycare areas. I even sit in a little chair in the playroom to read. I used to have a futon but it was a constant source of trouble. Jumping, lying down and not making room, tears and drama. I'm much happier without it.

I'm thinking this might be the way to go.

Except my daycare rooms are my entire downstairs.

eh, my bedrooms fairly sizeable maybe I can live in there. ::

[DCMom]

I don't have any grownup furniture in the daycare areas. I even sit in a little chair in the playroom to read. I used to have a futon but it was a constant source of trouble. Jumping, lying down and not making room, tears and drama. I'm much happier without it.

Same here. Absolutely no climbing on the furniture.

When I had daycare upstairs in our living area, I had a family who was allowed to use the sofa as a jungle gym at home. Literally. Jumping off the back, climbing on the arms, etc. When I said "NO WAY" to it at my house, mom was shocked. Literally shocked that I wouldn't let her little darlings jump off the back of my sofa.

The got grounded from the sofa one Friday, told mom about it at pick up and on Monday the kids came in and she told me: "We've reached a compromise on the sofa jumping. I told them they could only use the center cushion on your sofa for jumping and absolutely no jumping of the back".

She was completely serious. She really, truly thought she had worked out a compromise that was workable for me AND her kids...needless to say, they didn't last long,

[mismatchedsocks]

Wow some nerve, telling her kids how they can destruct your house. I would cut an ad from the paper of a beautiful and expensive sofa. Give to the mom and tell her since yuor kids are ruining my sofa, and you are telling them how, i figured you wanted to buy me a new sofa!

[Unregistered]

climbing

How old is the child who climbs? I used to expect the children to follow the rule that we climb outside or on a climber, and not on furniture. Does the child have opportunities to climb on equipment meant for climbing? Does the child climb on furniture at home? Children need to develop large motor skills and some love to climb. Try to remove the filters that you use to determine why climbing on furniture is not appropriate. What is the reason that you don't want the child to climb on furniture? Safety, manners, your belief, whatever the reason, think about it from the child's perspective. Perhaps you might put a small climber in the area near the furniture that is climbed on. This way, the child's needs are met, climbing is a good thing, and you redirect the child to the climber, problem solved.