Standing on the couch = Best thing ever!

ArcticFox

My DD is obsessed with the couch.  Or chairs.  But she is constantly climbing on the couch and standing on it.  I yell at her all the time to sit or get down (yell, because I am running at her yelling to sit before she face plants on the floor).

She looks at me with an impish smile.. and every time I turn around she is standing on the couch.

I have tried yelling (mostly as I am running to her in fear), physically sitting her down, or just taking her off the couch and saying "NO" firmly.

But she still climbs up there with a huge smile on her face.

Any suggestions?

slmcronelaw

Nope, no suggestions here.  We are going through the same thing. Now she is standing on the kitchen chairs.  Usually we just take her off the chair, she screams and throws a fit and after she calms down I tell her we don't want her standing in the chair because chairs are for sitting and she could fall and hurt herself.  I know she doesn't really understand now, but I figure if I keep on telling her that, she will eventually get it, right?? LOL

Blue1299

slmcronelaw:

Nope, no suggestions here.  We are going through the same thing. Now she is standing on the kitchen chairs.  Usually we just take her off the chair, she screams and throws a fit and after she calms down I tell her we don't want her standing in the chair because chairs are for sitting and she could fall and hurt herself.  I know she doesn't really understand now, but I figure if I keep on telling her that, she will eventually get it, right?? LOL

All of this unfortunately. DH figures a fall will cure her, but I'm not ready to just let her fall down from a chair so I keep taking her down, then she climbs back up. We do that over and over a million times a day!

shopgirl78

My son is right there with your DD--climbing on everything.   DS loves the big kids step stools (to the sink) and the bed (its low to the ground)...luckily he doesn't like (knock on wood) their small chair and table set & the couch is too high.  The chair tipped over on him a couple of times when he was learning to pull up -- natural consequences.  

I think your options are to limit access to the chairs and/or continue redirecting. She really isn't old enough for time outs or physical punishment. 

 

parsleyqueen

When my girls first learned how to get up on the couch I spent one extremely frustrating week telling them "no," making them sit rather than stand, and redirecting them to other activities.  I even tried time out, which did not work since they just thought THAT was a game.  Nothing worked.  When I reached my breaking point I gave up and just let them climb/stand on the couch.  I only said "no" and redirected when they started doing something really dangerous--like standing on the arm of the couch--or hitting the lamps while they were up there.  The novelty wore off pretty quickly for them after that.  Now when they are on the couch they pretty much just sit there, and if they do stand, they are calm about it and not running back and forth like they did when they first learned to get up.

Other people might have strategies that work better, but for me, the only thing that worked was just letting them explore and get it out of their systems. 

bumpuser511563

I hate to say it but it is true that a fall will cure it. DS would get up on the couch and jump and run on it. And of course I would get him down and tell him no.

There was one time DS fell off the couch while jumping and landed on the living room floor (it has carpet) and DS started crying. DH laughed at him, (I know that didn't help), and said he needed to get it out of his system to stop jumping on the couch and that was it. I got DS to comfort him and thankfully he wasn't hurt. DS has stopped since then.

war_eagle

I say "sit down or get down" and take him off the couch if he won't sit down.

MommyandKate

Frustrating, isn't it?  Right now DD will give me a warning by yelling "get down" while she climbs on something.  So the message isn't exactly getting across, huh??

I have no solution other than to repeatedly sit her down or take her off something.

DEBBIE33CASEY

ugh i wish.  And for us it's not only standing on the couch that is awesome. JUMPING on the couch is the newest best thing ever. And standing on the seat of her rocking chair.  Maybe DD is a thrillseeker?  *sigh*

No advice, just able to relate with the issue!

wolverine8

First of all, standing and crawling across the couch just happens to be the most amazing thing ever in DSs mind and I don't want to burst that bubble. As long as he is not standing or climbing over the arm of the couch I let him be. I figure that if he can learn to climb up it he can learn to climb down. He's had one bad fall and ever since he has learned to turn around and climb off slowly.

shoeboxx

LO never climbs on the couch I think because no one sits on it.  Our couch is there just for decoration, lol.  He climbs in his pbk chair all of the time.  When he gets on it, he holds on to the side and runs in place.  I try to stop keep an eye on him because I don't want him to fall and we have hardwood.  He also climbs in his rocking chair and pulls on the curtains

memali26

DD climbs on our couch and arm chair all the time. As long as she's not scaling the back of them or climbing over the arms or any thing else dangerous, I just let her be and make sure I supervise well. She likes to just stand or sit on them and read her books or rock her babies. We've had a few falls, but she just gets right back up and climbs back on.

war_eagle

Let me add that when he first started we let him do it.  Then he started jumping and we didn't stop that.  Same with throwing a ball in the house.  Now that we have an infant, we had to start putting limits on this b/c it is like having a bull in a china shop with a rambunctious toddler and a newborn.

Brittani10/28

My DD jumps on the couches and rocking chair without holding on. I have tried everything. She has fallen off the couch many times and just gets right back up there and does it again.... she even fell on her head last night(scared me to death)! She also climbs up the back of the couch and hangs over saying "weeeee". With the dining room chairs she would use them to climb onto the table and walk around on it. he chairs are now laying on their backs so she cant get on them. I hope this phase passes soon!!