Any Ideas on how to keep them off the couch?

Hi Everyone!
I need help on how to keep the twins from climbing onto the couch? It's the newest & most fun thing to do around our house!!
I've tried everything...saying NO until I'm just a broken record, setting them off the couch and telling them No...but they just look at me and grin and start climbing back onto it! DD knows how to get off without hurting herself but, DS is another story he trys to jump off the back of it.

Please anyone....... any suggestions?? OR am I just stuck and have to ride this phase out too????


Thanks & Everyone Have A Great Afternoon!

 

We did time outs (in a pack in play) starting at 15 months for jumping on the couch. They were (are) allowed to sit on the couch though and we taught them how to get down safely. Now at nearly 20 months we rarely have to time them out for jumping. Usually after their first warning (we do 3 warnings and then a time out) they sit nicely on it or go play somewhere else.

I also have monkeys who are fearless (they are their father's daughters!), but after teaching them how to get down from things safely they do very well and we haven't had many injuries.

 

That's the only thing in the play room (used to be known as my living room) that I couldn't child-proof - the couch. It totally freaked me out but the only thing to do is to teach them how to get down safely. I also put pillows on the floor in front for a little while until I was more confident. I think it was all of 2 weeks before they were getting on and off without even thinking about it - smooth as two little monkeys can be....

Now, how do I get them to stop climbing up the change table when I'm changing their brother?

 

We did the pillows around the couch, too. I also taught them how to climb off the couch when they were on it. I'll admit, it's pretty freaky and nerve-racking when they first start climbing, but we just tried the best we could to keep them off and then when I got tired of fighting that battle, I taught them how to get off without breaking their neck. Our girls learned pretty quickly, but we kept the pillows around the edges for quite some time.

 

I'd just let them do it. Within a few days they'll learn how to get up and down themselves. Put a few pillows on the floor in case they fall off. How can you possibly play couch police all day long? My boys rarely stand on the sofa now - the thrill is gone. They sit on it. I think you should pick your battles. Climbing on the sofa - no big deal. Playing with electrical sockets - no, no. Save you energy for the big stuff. Anyway, that's just my philosophy. You have to do what feels right for your family.

 

I'm in the same boat. My husband and I worked sooooo hard to childproof our living area. I think the very day that we said to each other that there wasn't, there couldn't be 1 thing for them to hurt themselves on was the day they started climbing on the couches!
They still can't really get up on the couch alone, but they use any toy they can to stand on to get up on the couch. We were saying no for days on end at first then when I couldn't stand it anymore I started just letting them jump thinking the fun would wear off. Well....that never happened. Now we just tell them to sit and for the most part its going well. The problem is when they are both on the couch and push each other off.
Hopfully this isn't going to last long!

 

QUOTE(CHJH @ Oct 27 2008, 07:09 PM) [snapback]1044596[/snapback]
How can you possibly play couch police all day long?



I really don't play couch police all day long but, it's scary when my DS wants to jump over the back of the couch! I don't want any major accidents just yet if they can be prevented. I'll try the pillows on the floor tomorrow.
Thank you everyone for the advise

 

QUOTE(nadana77 @ Oct 27 2008, 08:33 PM) [snapback]1044740[/snapback]
I really don't play couch police all day long but, it's scary when my DS wants to jump over the back of the couch!


I'd be worried about that. We had our couch against a wall, so I didn't have to worry about climbing over the back. Is there anyway you can move the couch against a wall? I'd be very concerned about falling from that height, too.

 

QUOTE(Utopia122 @ Oct 27 2008, 08:35 PM) [snapback]1044745[/snapback]
I'd be worried about that. We had our couch against a wall, so I didn't have to worry about climbing over the back. Is there anyway you can move the couch against a wall? I'd be very concerned about falling from that height, too.


We are going to have to figure something out! We have a couch that is up against a wall then the loveseat that isn't. So it looks like we are going to have to do some rearranging once again at our house.

 

We pushed the couches up against the wall for a while. Once they were better climbers, we moved the furniture back out. I didn't try to keep them off but I did make a point of showing them how to get down safely (feet first). Then, I just kept demonstrating and repeating that we sit on a couch. We don't jump, we don't get up on the back, etc. They still climb up there or jump around sometimes and need to be reminded. FWIW, they were horrible about jumping off of and turning over the coffee table (because it's more fun on its side) and they don't do that at all anymore so I think they will eventually learn if you repeat, repeat, repeat but it might take a couple of years

 

QUOTE(nadana77 @ Oct 27 2008, 09:33 PM) [snapback]1044740[/snapback]
I really don't play couch police all day long but, it's scary when my DS wants to jump over the back of the couch!


We have re-arranged our living room. It doesn't look great but they can't jump over the back of the sofa (now against a wall) and they can't climb on any tables (we removed the tables). Hopefully we can go back to some kind of normal arrangement in a year?!

 

QUOTE(CHJH @ Oct 27 2008, 09:29 PM) [snapback]1044820[/snapback]
We have re-arranged our living room. It doesn't look great but they can't jump over the back of the sofa (now against a wall) and they can't climb on any tables (we removed the tables). Hopefully we can go back to some kind of normal arrangement in a year?!


I just got my living room back this month. We, too, moved the tables out. I was celebrating when I was finally able to move my tables and table lamps back in.

 

QUOTE(Utopia122 @ Oct 27 2008, 10:49 PM) [snapback]1044914[/snapback]
I just got my living room back this month. We, too, moved the tables out. I was celebrating when I was finally able to move my tables and table lamps back in.



Our tables too have been gone since they started trying to pull up. Now that they are walkinfg I had actually thought of putting them back but, I am not just yet because I know too that will be another thing that they will start climbing on LOL!! Oh boy...I can hardly wait until they start climbing out of their cribs!!!
Any of you dealing with that yet?

 

Oh I would be worried about jumping off the back! My younger sister broke her arm when she was 2 from falling (not jumping) off the back of the couch.

We've moved our furniture so everything is against a wall. Before we did that we had a chaise lounge cushion behind the couch in case someone fell. Eventually I got tired of seeing that big cushion on my den floor and I was worried about someone getting hurt, so we just rearranged the furniture. Some day our house will look normal again, but for now its all about safety first.

 

We gave up. I put rubber mat down on the floor around the couch, and we tell them repeatedly to SIT down, but beyond that we don't stress about it. Both have fallen and bumped heads a few times, but thankfully it hasn't been worse than that.

We have an open floor plan, so it's really not an option to move the couch against the wall --unless we put it *under* the wall-mounted TV, LOL. So, we're just taking our chances with the back -- we do have pillows on the floor behind it, but so far, no one has jumped off the back, just the sides. (Hope I didn't just jinx myself.)

The worst is when Kevan is standing, and we tell him to sit -- and he looks right at us, gives a devilish grin, and then throws one leg over the arm of the couch. Ooooh, what is he going to be like at 2? Or, at 15?

And, Karina likes to RUN across the couch. I try not to have a heart attack...

 

QUOTE(Becca34 @ Oct 28 2008, 09:36 AM) [snapback]1045247[/snapback]
We gave up. I put rubber mat down on the floor around the couch, and we tell them repeatedly to SIT down, but beyond that we don't stress about it. Both have fallen and bumped heads a few times, but thankfully it hasn't been worse than that.

We have an open floor plan, so it's really not an option to move the couch against the wall --unless we put it *under* the wall-mounted TV, LOL. So, we're just taking our chances with the back -- we do have pillows on the floor behind it, but so far, no one has jumped off the back, just the sides. (Hope I didn't just jinx myself.)

The worst is when Kevan is standing, and we tell him to sit -- and he looks right at us, gives a devilish grin, and then throws one leg over the arm of the couch. Ooooh, what is he going to be like at 2? Or, at 15?

And, Karina likes to RUN across the couch. I try not to have a heart attack...


This is our house too. Open floor plan and the only spot to move one of the couches is under the half wall into the foyer, which just gave them the needed leverage to get up on that ! The other couch is on the only other posible wall and that's still not great because they like to stand on the back of it and bang on the windows behind...especially when Daddy's outside with the doggies. :blink:

So I gave up too. We just constantly reinforced sitting on the couch. Over and over and over and over again. Now that we do timeouts, standing on the back of the one couch is a timeout and running/leaning over the back of the couch w/o the wall is a timeout. They are much better about it now, they still need reminders but they're pretty good.

ETA: I use the useless body pillow from when I was pregnant behind the couch, now not so useless!