after they start walking

The girls started walking about a month ago and now they rarely crawl. They pick up toys and walk, they hold their sippies and walk, and basically in our carpeted living room (aka the toy room), they do great. However, I don't let them walk to their room from the living room because the floor is tiled and the house is not babyproofed (we are in the middle of remodeling). More than the baby proofing issue, I worry about them falling on the tile. So at what point did you trust your kiddos to walk around the house if you have hard floor (wood or tile)? Also when did you get real shoes for them so they can walk outside? They wear Robeez but I took them to the park yesterday and I didn't want them to walk around in them since the park is sandy. Maybe I'm being nutso about the walking outside issue, but those Robeez don't seem to protect their feet if there is something rocky underneath.

 

Um, we have wood and tile and it never occurred to me to NOT let them walk. :blush: We kind of just let them go! We wore Robeez inside or bare feet, and then they had Stride Rite shoes for outside.

 

Leighann, I got my two outdoor shoes about two/three weeks after they started walking. That's when we took them outside and let them roam around. As far as trusting them on tile and wood floors, that I let them do immediately. I figured they needed to learn to balance on it, so I just let nature take it's course, if they fell, they fell...and I was always with them as far as other non baby proofed things that they could get to. Mine didn't do to bad with it, they maybe fell once or twice, and always on thier tushy, so the diaper saved their butts.

 

Agree w/Kate, we use the stride shoes for outside, they are perfect..and the robeez for inside (also keeps the robeez clean).

we don't have hardwood or tile, but our carpet is pretty crappy. Babies bounce, they are built that way....they will learn (think of all the kids who learn who to handle stairs).

 

We have hardwood floors throughout the house and honestly it doesn't seem to phase them when they fall. In fact Addison thinks it's funny. We call it her Bulgarian Baby Butt Bomb.

 

I have one that just started walking about a week or so ago. We have wood and tile throughout the house and it never occured to me either to not let her walk on non-carpeted areas.

 

In the house we have wood and carpet. They have full reign of the carpet family room and the wood in the kitchen. I didnt stand over them at all. However, we have a screened in patio and for them to play out there I waited until they could get up in the middle of the room without crawling to something to pull up and that they could bend over and pick up something and stand back up for balance issues. I did not want to have to keep picking them up from falling when we were outside.

We dont use shoes inside (warm in FL) but for outside I bought their first pair of tennis shoes (walking) at Stride Rite just as they started so we could break them in inside. Now we have sandals from there too. Congrats on the walking. Its awesome!!

 

Thanks guys! I guess I'm being a little overprotective (go figure with a first time momma!). It really would be much easier to walk them both from playing to the bedroom for naps than having to go back and forth and carry each separately.

As for Striderite, my sister said they were having a sale and had some cute stuff for $20.

Thanks!!!!

 

We have wood floors and I never worried about them falling. They fell all over the place -- on the wood floors, on the concrete outside daycare, on the brick sidewalks downtown.... Yes we had a few goose eggs (and still get them -- in fact more now than when they were first walking!) and scrapes, etc., but nothing serious. They are really pretty good at falling mostly on their butts. And when they choose to fall on their heads is always going to be the one time that you looked away for a second (like when Sarah tumbled down 3 stairs at my SIL's house last week -- and I was standing right there!).

One great thing they learned at daycare is "brush it off." Rather than gasping and rushing to pick them up when they fall, the teachers will say "You're OK -- brush it off!" and teach the kids to brush their hands together. It really seems to help them realize they are not hurt. (Of course if they are hurt, we comfort them.)

 

QUOTE(Minette @ Mar 16 2008, 11:18 PM) [snapback]672088[/snapback]
One great thing they learned at daycare is "brush it off." Rather than gasping and rushing to pick them up when they fall, the teachers will say "You're OK -- brush it off!" and teach the kids to brush their hands together. It really seems to help them realize they are not hurt. (Of course if they are hurt, we comfort them.)


We do something similar to this. If they fall (and aren't really hurt) we say "You're ok!" and then clap (as in 'good fall!'). This weekend while DH was home by himself with the girls he said that Ana took a header in to the FP piano and Meara started clapping for her. I hope they realize that clapping is for good things too and not just falling on your head

Thanks everyone for your replies! Now I have to figure out how to get them to just walk WITH me and not try to go in opposite directions and find every outlet that doesn't have a cover on it in the house. That might be beyond the scope of this thread though. :huh:

 

I never even thought about the hard floor issue. My boys are new walkers and I let them go any where that's baby proofed (i.e. cupboard doors can't be easily opened). We recently bought them some of the new Robeez Tredz shoes for outside and they're fabulous! The go on and off like a dream, stay on when they should, they're comfy and well made. The cost is high (about $40) but I prefer leather to synthetics when possible because one of my sons has eczema and his feet need to "breath".

 

My boys wore Robeez around the house and I just let them go! At one point, someone fell and hit their head HARD on the laminate floor, and they were falling all the time not to mention climbing on everything and then falling off, so while it sounds funny, we actually covered the laminate in our dining room (the main room they were walking and falling in) with those foam multicolored tile squares like you get at Sam's Club. It looked crazy, like our house was romper room, but it did the trick until they started being more sure on their feet.

I just looked on my blog and we actually put the foam in just before they were walking- around 9 months- because they were pulling up and climbing and falling everywhere! Here's a pic so you can see our crazy floor! http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/193/4671/1024/IMG_4853.jpg

 

To me, a few bumps and bruises are just a part of the process.

 

We have laminate and tile floors, and I just let them walk on it. Neither of them have ever hurt themselves from falling on them. For outdoors, their first pair of shoes were Stride Rites. I got them pretty cheap at the Stride Rite Outlet. Indoors, we kept them in Robeez or barefoot.

 

I let them rip as soon as they could!! DS learned to walk in shoes and outside!!! LOL!!

They are going to fall a little, but you have to let them learn and they are a LOT closer to the ground than we are so falling isn't as bad as it seems!!

You'll get over it! :hug99: