Climbing the furniture

Climbing is an important stage in the development of gross motor skills.  It's adorable the first time your wobbly tot tries to pull herself up onto the couch or a chair -  you might not be able to stop the smiles and giggles!

Skip ahead several weeks or a few short months, though, and the happy feeling might be gone as you watch your toddler trying to scale every piece of furniture or vertical structure in his path. It can be hard behavior for parents to manage. At the very least, it may seem inappropriate and a bit irritating. It can also lead to the ruin of many a couch cushion or book case. The greatest concern for most parents, though, is safety. Your child is going to fall. She could get scraped and bumped, and may suffer some more serious injuries.

In light of the very real possibility of harm, you might want to put an end to the climbing. Trying to stop a climbing toddler is not likely to work, though. A better approach is to learn what motivates your child to climb, look for ways to redirect that urge, and do whatever you can to lessen the risks of injury.

Short of removing from your home every vertical object as well as objects that could be stacked vertically, you can't really stop a climber. Climbing is an excellent way for young children to build strength, flexibility, and balance. It is also a way for young children to learn about their environment and to gain confidence. 

Of course, even if you relax the no-climbing rule in your own home, there are places and times in which climbing just cannot be allowed. In this case, you can try applying discipline techniques to stop the specific behavior, but try to avoid making it seem that all climbing is forbidden. If your reaction to any and all climbing is dramatic and loud, you might accidentally fall into one of the worst toddler behavior traps: turning that which is forbidden into a fun game that gets mommy's attention. 

The first thing you may have to do then is to accept that toddlers aren't made to stay still. Coming to terms with that fact can help you be more patient when faced with a rambunctious tyke.

Next, you should give your child time and space to move. An hour or two in the yard or at the playground is excellent, and it may tire a toddler enough that he'll want to nap or rest for a while afterward, but once he's awake again, he'll be ready to go, go, go again. If you try to keep your child confined or provide toys that are just of the "sit-and-be-calm" variety it's very likely to backfire and push your active toddler to (literally) start climbing the walls!

So, look around the areas where your toddler usually plays and see how you can make the environment more safe by taking steps such as:

• Placing a toddler-friendly step stool near book shelves or by other areas that he can't reach (and where you don't mind him grabbing things off the shelf).
• Pack away trinkets, knickknacks and other items that are magnets for curious toddlers (it's temporary; you should be able to put them back out by the time your child hits preschool).
• Move furniture away from the windows and be sure that all windows are properly secured to prevent falls.

Make photos with your active toddler, upload to the App. Write whether he/she likes climbing.