18 Mos. Old Son and Christmas Tree

Hi L., At 18 months he will be currious, but as a toddler he needs to be taught what he can touch and what he can't and since he gets in to everything I'm going to assume you and your husband have not done that. But it's not to late, let him explore when he touches tell him no and move him away, if he goes back and touches tell him no and move him away, if he does it a third time tap him on the hand tell him no and move him away. That's how i trained all 3 of my kids not to touch, but I started as soon as they started crawling and were able to get into stuff. It's not about being a boy, all baby's/toddlers are currious and want to touch everything, so they have to be taught not to. J.

My son was like that last christmas also. Here is what I did to keep my sanity. First we attached the tree to the wall with green rope so that it would not fall down on top of him. Then I decorated the bottom half with plastic decorations that if he did touch it would not hurt him. It wasn't the prettiest tree you have ever seen but it worked for us. We just put up the our tree yesterday and so far it looks pretty and he has not played with it. Good Luck!

My kids have been taught to touch and not to touch; as I am sure you are working on that also =) But at a young age, they sometimes forget the rules BEFORE you have a chance to remind them. I have three kids, my daughter who is now 10.5 never did the stuff that her two brothers did/do. So when one son was about 18 months old and the second son was 5 months old and it was Christmas time....we bought our first fake tree. Its skinny, lite wieght, and attaches nicely to the wall. I was concerned that the 18 month old would manage to pull a tree over onto the baby, and in the case that the worse scenerio did happen I did not want the tree to be TOO heavy. Needless to say those two boys are now 5 and 4 and I still do not have any faith in the things that can attempt when I am busy in a different room then the tree is at. (As most moms KNOW, there are times when you can not see what you child is doing and those are the times that the children always find trouble LOL) Keep the tree decor light and non breakable on the lower half of the tree, I have some special decor that I don't use yet, it will be back when the boys are a bit bigger. My cousin who has twins that are nearly 2, puts a gate around the tree. You tree is a good teaching tool, but in the process of teaching you dont want anything broken (especially your child) I am a 'choose my battles' mom, and the holiday season is stressful enough with out having to CONSTANTLY watch your tree and your children. Sometimes a mom has other chores (laundry, cooking, cleaning, breaking up a fight, wiping tears and owies). Teach and guide your child with love, let him touch but teach him to touch softly. God bless and Happy Holidays to you and yours.

teach him not to touch it the same way you taught him not to touch electrical sockets.
and barely decorate the bottom and with non-sparkly plastic ornaments.

my sister's suggestion is what she did-- got the kids their own fake mini tree that they could touch and decorate, so the big tree was off limits.

a shorter tree on top of a table or blocks is also good--he'd have to be super strong to pull it off, and maybe put non-skid mat under the bottom so it won't slip. you can use a sheet as a tree skirt to cover the table/base.