How to stop bouncing on the couch?

gwennec

Help! I am at my wits end. I don't know what to do. My toddler won't stop bouncing on the couches. I have tried everything, removing her multiple times, taking things away, redirecting her, putting her in another room and physically getting in her way so she can't get to them. We even go into other areas of the house till she calms down to distract her and when we come back to that area, she goes right back to doing it. She of course always picks the times when I am with the baby, either feeding or something else. So I know she is doing it to get attention. I can't ignore her since she has fallen off and now is trying to climb off the arm and even over the back.

The playroom is open to the family room where the couches are and there is no way to block off that portion of the room. Our kitchen is also open to that area, so she also loves to do it when I am making dinner.

She was doing this before the baby came around, but obviously has gotten much worse lately. I also make sure to spend alone time with her when the baby is napping or whatever, but apparently it is not enough. And the baby is now taking very short naps, so we don't have as much time during the week. I give her a bath every night and have this special time too.

I don't know what else to do, so any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

babs324

If you are talking about jumping on the couch/bed, a friend of mine gave me a great idea.  Her rule is that they can jump on the bed - but only on their knees.  It really has helped prevent jumping-  it's hard to do that way.

kes77

I have this same problem and am at my wits end too.  My 4 and 2 year old jump off the arm of the couch onto the cushions and use the whole piece of furniture as a gymnastics apparatus :-/  Besides putting them both in time out a few time a day I have no idea what to do, its very frustrating. 

blaze99

While I'm sure this isn't actually about the jumping (as you mentioned that you think she's doing it for attention), but maybe it would be helpful to provide a safe jumping alternative. Maybe something like this (sorry it's not clicky, I'm on my phone):

https://www.squidoo.com/kids-mini-trampoline-with-handle

Maybe she could jump on this during supervised times and then you can have more structured activities set up for when you're feeding baby & making dinner (like doing play doh or a craft, "helping" mommy make dinner, etc). Maybe a reward system would help where she can get a sticker or something for doing a more appropriate activity when you're busy with baby.

LoveEeyore

I was going to say, get her a mini tramp.  I went through this with 3 of them and seriously turned the couch upside down for the rest of the day when I caught them doing it.  That state of disorder was incredibly upsetting for them and it took 2 times.  But beware, if she is expressing a need by jumping (for attention or exercise/likes that physical motion) , and you squelch the couch jumping, until that need is met, she will continue finding inappropriate ways to meet that need.  So really try to get to the bottom of why she's doing it.