Kids Who Climb. WTD?

[jojosmommy]

Have you had instintive climbers? Kids who climb early and everything? What do you do?


Dd is 11 months. She climbs the kitchen chairs in an instant and even pushes them out to get on them. She is fast. We have her gated out of the kitchen but our house is open style so the gates over 3/4 of the house are so annoying and putting kids over and over is too much for my back. This is the superyard style not just a small gate. And my dd is so sneaky she knows how to get around them or move them. We have rearranged, this is the best solution we can come up with.

Any ideas? I am runing circles around this kid, she keeps coming up with another thing to get in trouble with.

[Meyou]

I would encourage her to climb appropriate things outside or in the playroom and at the same time redirect her away from things she can't climb. As a last resort I would keep her in the superyard at any time I couldn't make sure she was safe or when I couldn't be there to supervise climbing.

[cheerfuldom]

okay so this is your own child and not a daycare kid?

in that case, I would let her go at it and she can learn the hard way if necessary. If she can get on a chair, she should be capable of learning how to get down on her own. My oldest was like this....all over the place at one year and very physically advanced. I didnt let her get high like on the table or anything...but I wasnt there to catch her if she fell or baby proof everything in the whole house. She learned and now is 4.5 and very independent and confident. Perhaps you are being too protective?

[jojosmommy]

Yes she is mine. And yes she is physically capeable of getting up there. Doesnt know how to get down. Doesnt have cause and effect mastered or she wouldnt let go and fall, which she would do if we left her. Im hoping her understanding of getting down comes as quickly as the other physical skills she has dared to try.

Just wondering if people have ideas they have tried. Had busy kids before but this one takes the cake!

[littlemissmuffet]

Yes she is mine. And yes she is physically capeable of getting up there. Doesnt know how to get down. Doesnt have cause and effect mastered or she wouldnt let go and fall, which she would do if we left her. Im hoping her understanding of getting down comes as quickly as the other physical skills she has dared to try.

Just wondering if people have ideas they have tried. Had busy kids before but this one takes the cake!

My personal opinion, though it might sound harsh, is to let her fall if it comes to that. Show her how to come down on her bum - she's going to have some spills, but that's part of learning. She'll be fine. Natural consequences are usually the best teacher.

[Lilbutterflie]

I think you need to be consistent about watching her, and teaching her how to get down if she does manage to climb something. It shouldn't take too long before she understands how to get on her tummy and slide down off of things. Once she has that mastered, you have less to worry about. But, yes, you must have hawk eyes in the meantime!

[countrymom]

my ydd was the absolute worse. She's number 4 so we think that she wanted to keep up with the others. Have you ever seen a 1 yr old try to scale the wall. She even walked at 9 months, potty trained early, rode her bike at 4 and knew how to tie her shoes at age 5. I can't give you any advice because it did pass.

[daycare]

Yes she is mine. And yes she is physically capeable of getting up there. Doesnt know how to get down. Doesnt have cause and effect mastered or she wouldnt let go and fall, which she would do if we left her. Im hoping her understanding of getting down comes as quickly as the other physical skills she has dared to try.

Just wondering if people have ideas they have tried. Had busy kids before but this one takes the cake!

we do a lot of play with chairs during circle time..

we just both big and small chairs so that it promotes safety to the kids, teaching them how to safely get off and on. We play musical chairs witout moving chairs so that no one gets upset.

we make a space ship and sit on the chairs in a circle and balst off in to space
bus
train
whatever you want it to be....

Just hope that if she learns to get off and on ok taht she does not learn to move the chairs to get things down.... sounds like you have quite the explorer

[nanglgrl]

My last two children were like this. My daughter was crazy about candy (at about 13 months) and if she could reach it she would eat it so I took it and put it on top of the fridge. Imagine my surprise when I came around the corner one day and she was on top of the fridge getting into the candy!!!! She had scaled the cupboard to get up there and she was only out of my site for maybe 2 minutes.
She is still like that but strong and four years old and she has never had a fall bad enough to need any more attention than a kiss from mommy.
My now 2 year old walked at 7 months (he was also very tiny so he looked more like a 4 month old) and was climbing over every baby gate I could find and out of his crib at a year. This summer (when he was about 21 months) he climbed to the top of the playhouse and jumped off. I was running towards him the whole time but never thought he was planning on jumping. Anyway, he was fine and very proud of himself. He (knock on wood) has also never broken a bone, needed stitches etc.
I watched my oldest 2 like a hawk but with the younger two it was more like a hawk who was blind out of one eye and had a broken wing. My youngest two learned how to fall pretty quickly and are still very advanced physically for their ages. My advice is to let them fall (within reason of course), it teaches them about balance, gravity, cause and effect....what doesn't kill them makes them stronger?