ALERT: We have a
climber!
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| BUSTED...and unhappy about it. |
A glass table? She’s climbed it. Plastic chair? Yep. Wooden cabinet? That, too. The burglar bars on her bedroom window while we’re changing her? Believe it or not...yes. Feeding chair? That’s not safe either. She's even tried to escape from school.
We have a climber. To her, everything is a mountain -- and no mountain is insurmountable.
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| Peace. I'm out. School is for losers. |
While this is often amusing and can be really fun, it is dangerous. Falling, of course, is the obvious risk. I’ve had visions of her bailing down the stairs of our duplex, and woke up in a panic one night when my dog jumped off the bed because I thought Alice had bailed. Alice wasn’t even in the bed at the time.
The thing is that Alice doesn't know she’s being reckless; she doesn’t know how dangerous her actions actually are. She’s exploring. In fact, according to this Today’s Parent article, children often can’t help themselves and are doing to do potentially dangerous things while they’re being "fearless explorers". Alice has always wanted to climb, and her personality means she’s always going to want to do things that could put her in potentially harmful situations. She fits into this fearless explorer category.
It’s posed a dilemma for us: how do we keep her safe without stifling her growth, development or, heaven forbid, her personality?
Today’s Parent quotes Calgary, Canada, parent educator Cathie Pelly as saying the onus is with the parent, not the child.
“Your job is to find a way to keep your child safe while he or she explores. That may mean changing the environment and monitoring your child very closely. These are not children who need more discipline, but rather more guidance and patience from the adults in their lives.” - Parent educator Cathie Pelly.
Yeah, sure, no fine. I get that. But it’s not easy. Alice also needs to learn boundaries and have discipline. She needs to learn that some things are safe to climb (like the couch) and some things are not (like her feeding chair). She can’t be on some free-for-all mission -- that’s not good for her, and not good
for us and our sanity.
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| As if a play ring wasn't enough to play with, it had to double up as a mountain to climb. |
Again, Today’s Parent [which you might have noticed is one of my favourite resources]
provides some suggestions on how to discipline an active toddler:
· Baby-proof to “protect toddlers from themselves”;
· Gently limit what they can and can’t do;
· Redirect them to other activities because “saying ‘no’ won’t deter
a passionate toddler”; and
· Find safe outlets including setting up safe areas for them to climb and jump off at home, or taking them to play centres where there activities are controlled and safe.
You can find that full article here.
But I don't want to only get advice from a website. I want advice and tips and hints and hacks and cheats from other parents! Practical things that you learnt while you were -- or are -- going through this stuff.
What tips and tricks do you have? How did you deal with it? I need all the help I can get!
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