Help with Climbing 2 Yr Old.

Bolt everything down. I was a climber, too. My middle is a climber. There's not much you can do, except maybe take her to a climbing wall.

Try taking her to places where climbing is encouraged. There are parent-participation movement programs at gymnastics clubs. You could then ask the instructors help to define proper safety climbing rules. Good, safe playgrounds for climbing as well. Realize tho', your daughters age requires almost constant supervision so the 5mo old needs to be safely tucked away as well... I have 2 boy monkeys of my own age 5 & 3

I think that I am going to have a climber also so I would be very interested to see what kind of suggestions you get.
The only thing that I know to do is just watch her closely and keep telling her to stop climbing. Is that something that you can really punish for? I think that she will grow out of it, just how do you handle it in the mean time besides watching carefully and saying no?
Good luck. I will be reading your responses.

It sounds like you have an athletic little girl. You might want to consider putting her in a gymnastics class. My kids were in the Tumble Tots class at that age. You can start her in soccer at age 3. Lots of children's parks have jungle gyms and those great wooden play places that they can climb in. Teach her the OK places to climb. I think she sounds like she needs an outlet for her extra energy and athletic talents.

I would set a boundary with the climbing in the crib. You will need to have consequences for that behavior. Your sweet baby might get hurt.

My oldest son was walking at 9 months, running at 10 months, and he climbed up on the refrigerator when he was barely one year old and jumped off. He is a Senior in high school this year. He plays football, wrestling, baseball, and track. Last month he was awarded a baseball scholarship. Think about channeling your daughter's extra energy and athletic abilities into sports. Take that negative behavior and make it a positive!

I saw an "expert" on a parenting show once that suggested something that might help. Instead of telling her "no climbing" say something like, "wow, you must really like to climb, but this dresser isn't safe -- let's find 3 things in the house that you CAN climb on." then walk her around and put on your "excited mommy voice" :) while you search for three objects that are safer for her to climb on/ jump off. when my kids are doing dangerous things or touching dangerous things, I quietly walk up behind them and scare them while they're doing it; then, they actually associate that danger with fear. (like, when they try to touch the outlets, I walk up behind them and make a "zap" sound and shake their ribs with my fingertips at the same time, it worked for my 3-year old boy and my 15-month old boy, I only use this method with really dangerous stuff, though, so they won't get de-sensitized to it) good luck

Hi M.,

I have no advise. I am responding to let you know I am living that same life. I have a 2 1/2 yr old girl that is a climber. I nicknamed her Curious Georgette. I just keep looking on the bright side, maybe she will be an Olympic Gold Medalist someday.

I know its tiring and scary...

A.

Climbing is a very natural thing at this age and shows a healthy interst in physical activity and exploration. I agree that you should encourage it by helping her find things that ARE safe to climb on. Just remember that her self-esteem is at stake when you punish for exploring or wanting to be with her little sister. I know it's scary (my daughter is doing the same thing), but be patient and loving and give her other options. She will understand and outgrow it. Of course, gymnastics and time-outs (for really dangerous situations) are good alternatives too.

This is most definitely a 2nd/3rd/4th child thing. I was so protective of my first and while he climbed when I wasn't looking, he didn't climb all the time like my 2nd and 3rd. My 2 year old insists on climbing on all the play places and such when we go. He wants to keep up. The child can use his arms to pull himself up onto ANYTHING!!

Kids are going to climb and get hurt... I've had to relax a bit and just kiss the boo-boos when they happen. I try to tell him that it is dangerous for him to climb certain things and don't allow him to climb things like dressers, book shelves, etc. But he loves to climb. I try really hard to provide opportunities for him to climb and jump. We make trips to XTreme Play in Concord or Monkey Joes. We go to Chik Fil A play places, Chuck-e-cheese (on a week day, at lunch time when it's almost never crowded), public parks... It makes me a nervous wreck, but he just *needs* to climb. Going to places like this has eliminated some of his climbing into cabinets to get food, climbing into sinks to play with the water, and climbing over the railings in our stair case... (eep!)

Give her some opportunities to really climb and wear herself out in places that are meant for climbing... Maybe it will alleviate some of that need to climb at home. :)

Steph S. Mom to Asher (9), Evie(5), Isaac (2) and Oz (Due in May)

Spank. A swat on the bare butt will help. Do you put her in time out everytime? if not I would. SHe will eventually get the hint. Make her stay with you at all times so you can whatch her everymove! put a chair where ever you are give her a book or coloring book while you are cooking dinner. keep her in your view at all times or put her in a car seat in your view and strap her in for her time out. That is our job to rear our children to have good charecters. My son was a climber too!

I like you have a 2 year old that is part monkey. We have had her in gymanstics since 10 months. You may want to check into it. We took her our recently due to schedule conflicts and birth of a new baby.(2 month old girl. I also have a boy who is almsot six. I feel your pain.

A. M

My daughter does the climbing thing too. My daughter was even in a toddler bed by the time she was 15 months, cuz she climbed out of her crib, and fell to the floor. She would also use her drawers to climb up her dresser. And in the process make "clothes confetti" throwing every article of clothing to the floor in the procees of opening her drawers.
What I would recommend instead of bolting things down (because I was leary that I could do it securely enough) is move her dresser out her bedroom. Either into your room, the hallway, any other room where she won't be able to do it withotu getting caught doing it. As for the climbing into the crib, do they share a room? My daughter will also try to climb in the crib, but my kids don't share a room, so we keep the baby's door closed at all times (of course this is also where the dressers are, so it works for both).

My daughter is also part monkey and a huge climber when she was 1-2 years old. What helped me was giving her something she could climb on and making very clear what she cannot climb on. And consistently follow through with the your discipline method when she is somewhere she shouldn't be. I know it seems like it's not working, but eventually it does (it's just that eventually is usually longer than we'd like it to be). At our house the crib was allowed because my daughter is the youngest, but I can understand why that would be a big no-no in your house. I don't know what you have in your house that she could climb on safely, but if you could find something, it might help. Also, I started taking my daughter to a class at My Gym (my daughter calls it Monkey School). This helped her by giving her a safe place to climb on all kinds of fun things, and then I could say to her when she was climbing "we climb on toys at Monkey School, but not at home.) I recommend My Gym over Little Gym or Gymboree because there is more free play and more active/climbing play at My Gym. If you have problems with her pulling out her dresser drawers to use as steps, maybe it would help to put a drawer lock on them so she can't open them. My daughter will be 3 in May and she still will climb anything I let her, but she's stopped doing it so much at home.