do you let lo roam around your whole house?

luvmybaby28

kitchen, dining room, bathrooms, etc.  Or are certain places off limits?  It seems like the second we try to let limits, he wants to go to those areas even more.  I do not like him going to the kitchen and dining room because of the table, chairs, cabinets, but this is where he insists on going again and again or a major tantrum ensues.

Lizzie65

We let her go throughout the house, but keep an eye on her.  If we told her she couldn't go in a certain room, I am sure she would be even more determined to go there.

saraboston

Pretty much. We try to discourage her from certain areas, but still let her explore them with supervision. Only the stairs are gated off. We had originally planned to confine her to the living room and bedrooms, but that never happened (because it would have failed miserably). We try to keep the doors to the bathrooms closed, but even if she goes in there it's not a big deal. We have cabinet locks on everything except the pots & pans.

mrsjengle

NO! She'd drink out of the toilet and stab us with knives. She's gated off to just the living room, but if we are out in the kitchen/dining room, she'll roam out there. Upstairs she has a little more roaming room. We don't have things gated off up there since we don't spend much time up there. But we don't let her go too far because we don't have a gate at the top of the steps.

hopecounts

We have an open floor plan so we focus more on stopping her from messing with things she shouldn't (dog's water bowl etc.)

I'd just be careful about following through, if he's not allowed in those areas he's not allowed period. If you cave even occasionally it"s going to confuse him and make it harder. If you really don't want him in there stop him everytime and ignore the tantrums it will be exhausting and take a week or so but he will get it.

He keeps going in there because he's testing the limits and how serious you are.  

TiffanyBerry

Yup, whole house. You might have had a heart attack to see our studio while we were doing some light installation - 8 foot ladder in the middle of the room, and DD decided to learn how to go up it. But we keep half an eye on her (I already know about where her climbing skills are) and use discipline to keep her out of the stuff that's dangerous.

Is there a risk? Sure. Life is full of them. I'm not going to do DD any favors by shielding her from them rather than teaching her how to gauge them. 

Exaclty what is kept strictly out of her reach, though, is very dependent on her - her ,abilities and tendencies and strength and personality. Shes always been a tiny bit cautious, even when she's being adventuresome; if she just threw herself onto something full force without looking first, I would probably do things somewhat differently. 

luvmybaby28

i forgot to mention that he always has to lug around a huge truck, push toy, and lately that huge cozy coupe car that we push him around in - he pushes that too, so these areas become more dangerous as these huge things get stuck on a chair, etc, and he keeps walking, so I have to quickly move it to prevent a fall.

MNgirl326

We live in a rambler that has an open floor plan so pretty much every room is available to LO.  We just make sure things are put away and if there is a room we don't want him in, like the bathroom, we shut the door.

Otherwise he is free to play wherever.  Sometimes he will wonder off and play in a different space then we are in. I just go in a check in on him, but like i said, there isn't much he can get into.   The cabinets have babylocks on them, the staircase going downstairs has a pony door that locks and the breakable things are up high.

Alysonni

No way.  I would end up with toys in the toilet and dog food scattered about the whole house. He gets the whole living room and hallways.  The doors to the bedrooms and bathrooms  are closed and we have a sliding door that separates the kitchen from the living room that is always closed unless we are in the kitchen with him.

trombagn

i have babygates blocking off the stairs and the hallway to the bedrooms so she is left with the living and dining room(dining room is pretty much transformed into a toy room)

if we are in the kitchen i have her come and hang out with me in there but i close doors to anyother room so i can keep an eye on her

MrsFv20

downstairs, we have half of the floor gated off because of the stairs, so she's pretty limited. Really though, she likes to be where I am so she doesn't roam too much. Upstairs she has free reign since it's just bedrooms. She likes to run around up there and play while I'm doing laundry or getting dressed.

schnappycat

Yep, pretty much. We live in an open floor plan. And the doors we can shut are lever handles that she can open, so not too much we can keep her from. We do have childproof locks on the doors to the outside, but that is it. 

Kara5109

We only limit her from the bathrooms.

ASmallWonder

He has free reign on the first floor except the bathroom because he likes to play in the toilet and the office because right now that's our "We don't know where to put this random crap" space

ABColeslaw

nope.  He is allowed to go from his bedroom to the living room, there is a small hallway that connects them.  But thats it.  We don't allow him in the kitchen or the bathroom and he is not allowed in our room without us. 

caprocornia

It depends.  We live in a split, so upstairs, she'll have free reign of the living room, kitchen, dining room, hallway, and her bedroom.  If I don't feel like chasing her around though and picking up everything in her wake, she's gated in the living room.  Downstairs is just one big room, so she's free to do whatever when we're down there.

MrsSR

She roams, unless there is a reason for her to stay out of a certain part of house.  When I'm using the oven, or the cats are eating dinner, we close the gate to the kitchen. 

If DH needs to work from home, we close the hall gate to keep her from his office door (which she'll bang on and cry).

Otherwise (like now) both gates are open.  However, she seldom leaves us.  If we are in the living room, she is.  If we are in the bedroom, she is.  If one of us goes somewhere, she'll follow.  She still isn't very independent.

MrsVonKikabee

We have the living room and her bedroom gated off as baby safe zone. We can't put a gate at the top of the stairs because then our cats wouldn't be able to access their food and water. V is allowed in other parts of the house when one of us is there to supervise her directly.

Kitiara5512

Yes, but either DH or I are with him in that room.

RitaT22

I do let Gavin roam the house, but he tends to stay wherever we are. I have a baby gate I place in the kitchen doorway whenever we're cooking because I do not want him being accidentally burned but bathrooms are off limits, and I just close the door. 

quidditchcapn1120

No.  He is limited to the hallway and the living room.  We have the dining room and kitchen gated off so that the dogs can have their own space if they get irritated by him.  Upstairs is not babyproofed really well so I am always in the same room with him.

WildcatPrincess

We keep our bedroom door closed, more so the rabbit doesn't get in, and sometimes we shut the door to the master suite if she's harrassing the bunny, but other than that she can go anywhere. The cabinets in the main bathroom are empty and she loves playing in there. There's only one cabinet she can open in the kitchen and it's all paper and cheap plastic bowls we let her play with. I'm almost always right there with her, but there's really not much she can get into or climb.

mommytoconnor

I have gates up to keep him out of the hallways and to keep him from gettin into bathrooms and laundry room.  I allow him in kitchen and family room, as these are childproofs and are one big open room, but if I want to keep anything I do have to restrict area.

MNgirl326

MrsVonKikabee:

We have the living room and her bedroom gated off as baby safe zone. We can't put a gate at the top of the stairs because then our cats wouldn't be able to access their food and water. V is allowed in other parts of the house when one of us is there to supervise her directly.

 

You might actually be surprised.  We have a pony door going downstairs and the cats litter and food/water is down there.  They just jump right over it.

delg23

not really. We keep expanding where he can go as he gets older but we have a spiral staircase so we have part of our living room sectioned off blocking the spiral stair case and also some other things we want to keep him out of, like the bathroom w/ a litter box and my desk. Upstairs w/ the kitchen, our room, his room, and a small eating area he can roam around when we are up there but I only let him in the bathroom or kitchen if I am in there. 

kegallagh

luvmybaby28:

i forgot to mention that he always has to lug around a huge truck, push toy, and lately that huge cozy coupe car that we push him around in - he pushes that too, so these areas become more dangerous as these huge things get stuck on a chair, etc, and he keeps walking, so I have to quickly move it to prevent a fall.

If you're always there to prevent the fall, he's not going to learn the natural consequence of dragging toys into other objects. With practice, he'll learn to navigate those items better and then it won't be as big of an issue.

And yes, LO can roam anywhere. There are a couple of cabinet locks in the kitchen, but for the most part I just let him get into stuff and then he gets it out of his system.

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hopkins5

DD roams around the whole house. I go up and down the stairs with her, and if she wants to check out a bathroom (she loves sitting in there for some reason) I'll go in with her, but otherwise she wanders everywhere.

TheOriginalSP

No place it off limits to DD#1.  She is almost 3 and she knows what things she is allowed to get into and what she is not allowed to get into.

DD#2, she's allowed to roam on whatever level we are on minus the bathrooms.  It just becomes a disaster area.  She insists of playing with the toilet paper.

As far as the kitchen, we have locks on all of the cabinets with anything that we don't want her playing with.  She has full access to the tupperwear and the washcloths/dish cloths!

mavs_girl07

He's free to roam around the entire house, except for the laundry room (that's where the cat's litter box is).  But that has a baby gate blocking it, so he can't get in there...although he makes a mad dash for it any time someone accidentally leaves it open.  Other than that though, he's free to go wherever he wants.

MrsLnt

No. They can go in the living room and kitchen (which are connected) but the doors are closed off to the hallway where the bedrooms are, and the dining room is closed off. I don't like it when they go in the kitchen, and usually coax them out of there, but it's babyproofed (cabinets locked, oven locked, etc). If I let them have free range of the whole house they'd be in opposite directions all day long. 

ANJ410

DD has access to the whole house. Our house is pretty well child proofed and I check on her every few minutes if she is out of sight to make sure she isn't getting into trouble.

lrn327

Usually he can go anywhere but only if we're with him.  Often we close the bathroom doors though and sometimes the bedroom doors.  He wrecks havoc wherever he goes so it's the only way to control the mess somewhat.

pitterpatter129

We close the doors to the bathroom and our bedroom, although he's allowed in there with us. The kitchen doesn't have a door, but it has a doorframe (if that makes sense), so there is a baby gate keeping him out of there, which connects to the laundry room, so he's not in there either.  So, he's allowed in the living/dining area and his bedroom.  His bedroom connects to a smaller room (old houses seem to have no hallways!) that we mostly use as storage, but I have a curtain up between the "doorways" and he doesn't ever venture in there (yet.)  We might have to put up a baby gate there too when he gets braver.

Rink08

On the main floor, DS2 isn't allowed in the laundry room ( now that he can tip over our recycling cans), sitting room, bathroom, or dining room without someone else. He's only upstairs. (minus his bedroom which he can play in) or in the finished basement with DH or I because they are not baby proofed. Anywhere else, he can roam freely. Our cleaning pantry has a hook latch on the door so that the kids can't get into it but the rest of the kitchen isn't baby proofed. He likes to go in our Tupperware cabinet and play with the pieces which I don't mind. He doesn't bother with any of the other cabinets.

ERA: DS1 just turned 5 and is able to go anywhere except the finished basement and DH's office on his own. If he wants to go in the basement, I'll sometimes allow it if I turn the intercom on so that I can hear him. That area is more of a man cave/bar/movie area so there's not really a reason for him to be down there without an adult.

Kingston54

Yes, he pretty much can go anywhere.  Supervised...  Our basement is off limits unless we are down there.  DH's office is always closed.  Otherwise he's in the same room or the next room as we are.  Everything is pretty "baby-proofed" though so we don't worry too much.

mommybrynn

She goes where she will-- we keep a door-knob-thingy on the stairs tot he basement and the downstairs bathroom (because of stair danger and cleaning chemical dangers) but other than that the house is baby-proofed and we just keep an eye on her.  Limiting her to certain rooms is incredibly unrealistic.

sugarland726

We have an open floor plan for the great room, kitchen and dining area. All of her toys are in the great room, so she runs around the whole place. We have the basement and hallway to the bedrooms gated. We allow her access to one cabinet in the kitchen. When she tries to go into another I tell her no, she has her own cabinet and she stops and goes there. I agree that you need to be consistent with the limits, but you also need to let him play and learn.

And to the poster about the cats, we raised our baby gates a little bit off the ground. Our majorly overweight cat can get himself under, but it is too low for DD to get under. It's worked well for a year now.

historychick79

We have a 3 story townhouse and C's not quite ready for the stairs unattended, so not yet. He's usually on the middle floor with our kitchen, dining and living room area. We block off the office to keep him away from the kitty litter box, vacuum cleaner and the desktop computer/wires, and we close the powder room door to keep him from flushing the toilet. He has access to about 4 stairs going towards the bedrooms/3rd floor for practice and because of the wall design. Since DH is home with him while unemployed it's given DH a bit a sanity while we're working on teaching C boundaries. But overall I feel he does have pretty free access ( e.g. no childproofing in the kitchen), and we're beginning to think about when we will open up the office section and remove the baby gates on the stairs.

TheBuddha

Downstairs he has free roam of the family room, laundry room and kitchen.  The dining room and living room (which is my office) are usually gated off.  Sometimes I let him in there, but he doesn't insist on going in.

Upstairs he has free reign.  If his older brother doesn't want him in his stuff, he closes his door.

Oh, and we keep bathroom doors closed.  If the baby lock on the toilet is unlocked he likes to go in an lock it (makes me laugh every time) but his problem is toilet paper.  He will unroll the entire thing and then rip it to pieces.

However, the whole house is basically baby-proofed.  Just in case.