Community› The Bump Message Boards› Pre-School and Daycare
Pre-School and Daycare
New Discussion

Stairs

ArcticFoxArcticFox member
in Pre-School and Daycare

We have a HUGE flight of stairs in our house.. it makes me a nervous wreck?

How do you "deal" with stairs?

We have a gate at the top, and I always walk down in front of DD, I guess I figure I'd catch her if she fell?  She is not allowed on the stairs on her own.  Going up I walk behind her too, and she has to hold onto the railing.

Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers Lilypie Second Birthday tickers
Nest Bio ~ ~ Baby Food Blog
Report Reply to Post

Re: Stairs

  • jenuinejenuine
    We ave two sets in our house, and I have never been that worried about them. I was a bit when DD was learning to walk (at one year or so), but then she proved that she does great on stairs. She started going down on her bum. Then graduated to holding the rail and someone's hand. Then someone in front of her while she held the rail. Now she does them fine. DD knows to respect them and be careful, which is all I can ask.
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
    met DH 1995 ~ married DH 2006 ~ completed our family 2008
    Life is good!
    Report Reply
  • Loading the player...
  • MrsAmersMrsAmers

    imagejenuine:
    DD knows to respect them and be careful, which is all I can ask.

    This.  When DD was tall enough to "walk" them instead of crawl down, we would hold her hand.  Then I would walk next to and just in front of her for a while.  Probably around age 3 (I don't remember exactly) I started letting her do them herself.   It still makes me a tiny bit nervous, but if she starts going to fast or being reckless, I just remind her to pay attention to where she's walking.  90% of the time she is completely in control and doesn't give me any reason to worry.

    And FWIW, we have no gates on our steps.  The kids can be gated in the living/dining room, but with all of the woodwork on our steps, we would have to drill into unpleasant places to get the gates to work.  So we have taught the kids proper stair use instead.  Not always easy, but our choice for this issue.

    Heather Margaret --- Feb '07 and Todd Eldon --- April '09
    image
    Report Reply
  • luvmagoldnluvmagoldn
    We have a gate at the top of the stairs but not at the bottom.  When the boys were really little we had gates that kept them in the kitchen/family room and playroom so they couldn't wander over to the stairs anyway.  We put the gate at the top of the stairs so we could close off the upstairs while we were giving everyone baths and/or getting everyone dressed to leave the house.  That way we didn't have to worry about where everyone was during the round up!
    image

    My twins are 5! My baby is 3!

    DS#2 - Allergic to Cashew, Pistachio, Kiwi

    DS#3 - Allergic to Milk, Egg, Peanut, Tree Nuts and Sesame

    Report Reply
  • Halo79RNHalo79RN member

    we have 2 flights..  our main living area is the 2nd floor.  the ground floor is a playroom/living room, laundry, bathroom and garage.  

    we have gates up mainly to stop the kids from going on the ground level alone (don't want them going outside without me knowing) and upstairs when they go to sleep at night. otherwise that 3rd floor one is open all day so they can go from 2nd to 3rd floors all they want.  I've relaxed a lot recently since ds has gotten really good at going up and down the stairs.  I just keep an ear out to make sure they are not running upstairs and that they do not play on the stairs.

     

    reminds me of sliding down a jr. high friend's stairs on bean bags. lol. my mom would have died.  

    Report Reply
  • Dani123Dani123
    we have stairs and i gate the bottom only....Kids dont go upstairs to play unless theyre going TO bed or waking UP from bed....if were upstairs were in a closed room.  All their stuff is downstairs and theres always a gate up at the bottom.
    Report Reply
  • Erika6504Erika6504

    We have a flight that goes upstairs and one that goes down into the basement.  90% of Hailey's toys are in the basement and she's up and down those all the time.  Neither set of stairs is gated.

    I honestly don't worry about them.  She knows not to carry things with her when she's going up and down stairs and she holds on to the railing.  She has fallen, but it's very, very rare.

    Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers
    Lilypie Second Birthday tickers
    Report Reply
  • ali2005jasonali2005jason
    We only use a gate at the top of the stairs at night so that if she stumbles out of her room to go to our room, she won't be able to fall down the stairs (if she gets disoriented). Otherwise she is really good about respecting the stairs. When she was younger, she was good at them too but didn't pay attention day and rolled all the way down 14 steps. Scared the sh!t out of us!!
    Report Reply
  • ceecee31ceecee31
    A few months back we lived in a 3rd floor apartment--which meant 3 flights of stairs...all cement.  I guess I should have been more nervous about DD climbing the stairs but I wasn't.  She was around 27 months at the time but very agile.  DH and I always forced her to hold on to the rail and we were always either 2-3 steps behind or before her.  By the time we got to the 2 1/2 age mark she was taking those stairs like a pro!  No slips, trips or falls and we were there for a year.  I think sticking close by to catch her in case she falls but give her enough leeway to where she's working those muscles that will keep her balanced when she climbs.  The more she uses 'em the stronger they'll become.
    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"