Climbing on the Sofa

My climber has figured out how to climb onto the sofa by yanking off the cushions and using them as a stepping stool. I need suggestions on how to get her to take me seriously when I say "No climbing! Auburn sit!" She knows what "no" means and she knows what "sit" means, but when I tell her to stop, she looks at me like I've grown an extra head. I pick her up and put her down on the ground again, and then she laughs and climbs back up. It's a wonderful game, if it weren't for her perching on the back of the sofa and trying to climb onto the kitchen counter from there... Ack!

 

Keep in mind that climbing is a very important developmental phase... my advice is to create a safe and fun zone that is OKAY to climb. I use my living room for this and have several futons out on the floor for them to climb on as well as several chairs and my couch. Our kitchen and dining room are "no climbing" zones. They can stand up on the chairs to watch me cook or do dishes, but no getting on the counters or tables. If they start to try to climb on the counter or table I tell them "you can put your hands on the table, but not your feet" and I move them down. If they try it a second time, I repeat and I say "if you try it again I will put you on the floor" The third time they go on the floor. If a tantrum ensues, they I say, "You can't climb on the table but you CAN climb in the living room!" and I move them into the living room. So far this has worked well for us. I try to stay positive with them and remind myself this is an important phase

 

Sorry I can't help, but mine twins are 25 months and they still like to climb on the sofa. When I see them doing this I remind them "No climbing on the furniture", but two minutes later (or less) they're doing it again. I wish I had an answer.

thea

 

Count us in as we have climber too. They both yank the cushion off and love to jump/walk/crawl over the cushion on the floor. They both also like to climb onto the sofa without the cushion on it. I had to keep taking them off because they both still don't know how to climb "down" yet. They will only do this when Mommy isn't watching them from the kitchen area. My kitchen is on the off of the family room where I can't see them. I am a deaf Mom to my twins who are hearing. They do time out when they do this but I know they won't stop anyway! Ugh!

Diana w/Rianna and Justin (almost 16 mos old)

 

The only way I can think of to stop her from climbing on the sofa is maybe tell her no the first time and then take her down and if she does it again then put her into time out (like a pack n play or put her someplace else that is safe for her but away from everyone else). Then after a while hopefully she will learn not to do it if she wants to be with everyone else. For me my sofa's are against the walls so they can't hurt themselves by climbing up on it and after each one of mine started climbing up we started to teach them how to climb down safely and to sit on the couch. Basically we are very repetative and keep making them sit every time they stood on the couch (which my son still needs to be told to sit every now and then).

 

We have climbers, too. One will sit down as soon as she sees me seeing her standing. The other doesn't care yet. No advice, but we've tried to sitting them down and time outs, and they don't seem to work yet. So we have pillows all around in case they start dive bombing off the couch.

 

I like the pillow idea but we are still trying to teach them to climb downward. Rianna seem to know but she a bit afraid when she tries. Justin is NO where near wanting to climb downward. He prefer to stand like we walk downstairs. Ugh! I am hoping with our "My Gym" class he will eventually learn how to climb off on his own. We do our practice on the stair case but not quite there yet.

I can't believe they can actually try to lift off the cushion because it is so heavy. I caught them just the other day as they help each other. I wish I had a video camera right then when I peak off from my kitchen because they were not coming up to the kitchen area. I know they'll do this again so I'll have my camera ready. :winking0009:

 

I let mine do it. I just taught them how to get down feet first so they could easily (and safely) get down. It has worked well for other things in the playground etc... If they climb on other things like the change table I pull them off and say no but it doesn't work. Sigh.

 

I too at first was freaked out by them climbing my couch even though I have pretty thick carpet. After many attempts to stop them and telling them no, I realized it was pointless and that they only want to do what we do, be on the couch. The only thing that drove me crazy was when they would stand on the couch and to this day that is a big no no rule in our house. It took weeks for me to teach them that it's not acceptable to stand on the couch and that the couch is for sitting only. I would say sit a couple of times and then eventually, pull their legs so they would sort of fall into a sitting position and say sit. I had to keep reiterating the word sit a million times. It got to the point where it would become a game and I got better at their game then them. I would give them one warning to sit and would tell them if you do not sit you are coming off the couch. If they didn't sit, they came off the couch. They would climb back on and I would repeat this a lot. They would start to get very upset that I kept taking them off but eventually they really did start to get it and connect the idea that if they stand, they come down. Now they rarely ever stand on the couch and if they "forget" I will give them a warning and if they don't listen they come off and it's usually enough to remind them of the rule.

 

It took us a solid 2-3 weeks to get them to understand that when we said "sit" they needed to or they would be put on the floor and not allowed back up. Now we do have occasional standing and jumping but we stay consistent. They seem so heart-broken they they lost that privilege that they stand there saying "sit, sit" like they promise they will when they are allowed back up.

Some days while I am making dinner, they decide to play trampoline on it which is just not safe being that hard wood floors would catch them. When I have had enough of redirection, I shut the light out in the family room and tell them it's "all done" and direct them to the toy room which is right near the kitchen as well. Amazingly, they accept that and move on.... granted, at that time of day the room is pretty dark with no lights anyway.

 

I was going to do the EXACT same post the other week but decided it was pointless! My boys have been climbing for weeks not and nothing will work except putting my couches outside until they decide they are done with this phase!

I did consistent time outs in their highchair. One day we did about 8 in just a few minutes. Each time they got down, they ran to the couch to jump. When that obviously was not working, I decided to slap their hand (I hated doing that---when I slapped one of their hands, the other one slapped his own hand to try it!). The first time did not work so I had to slap it harder and they continued to laugh (and their little hands were red ) . Now, I pretty much make sure I am by them at all times to just redirect. So all day, I am saying 'no couch' and swatting them down. My sister says they are like bugs...knock them down and they jump right back up again!

They listen to grandma and the babysitter. All they say is a gentle 'no couch' and they dont even make an attemp. With me and dh, they think it is the funniest game they have yet to take part it. THey laugh like they cant even believe how fun this game of climbing is and when we tell them to get down, the laughter increases! So frustrating!

 

:blush: I let them climb on my couches, but I don't have a counter there.... I stopped the JUMPING :blush: when we went to the Pedi for an appt. and they jumped on the couch at the pedi's office and bounced themselves OFF the couch. I got a trampoline thing for them after that to satisfy the jumping. They still climb, stand and sit on the couch, but that's all!! PHEW!

 

QUOTE(Lindyloo @ Jan 23 2008, 10:35 AM) [snapback]585577[/snapback]
I let mine do it. I just taught them how to get down feet first so they could easily (and safely) get down. It has worked well for other things in the playground etc... If they climb on other things like the change table I pull them off and say no but it doesn't work. Sigh.

This is waht I was going to say.

 

I wish when mine had started climbing on the couch I would have just taught them how to climb down safely. Jilly got up there when the babysitter was there and "walked" right off. She broke her leg.

They love to climb on everthing. Our rule is "sit down or get down". If they don't sit, we take them down. It gets really tiring but I don't want another broken bone or worse. We really haven't found a solution other than close supervision.

 

Its like asking the wind not to blow... my only saving grace was to teach them how to climb off the sofa. I also say sit and sit them down, if they stand up I take them off... they got it pretty quickly.

 

my 2 cents. kids need to climb. teach them how to climb on sofa safely. but don't let them climb on dangerous things like dining room tables (not kidding, some kids do this, thankfully mine haven't tried yet, but again I do let them climb on the couch).

 

QUOTE(Safari @ Jan 23 2008, 03:55 PM) [snapback]586475[/snapback]
my 2 cents. kids need to climb. teach them how to climb on sofa safely. but don't let them climb on dangerous things like dining room tables (not kidding, some kids do this, thankfully mine haven't tried yet, but again I do let them climb on the couch).



I agree with this philosophy. (and yes, mine are those kids who climb on the table, the 6.5' cat tree, etc). I'd rather have them play safely where they can and focus my efforts where safety is an issue (end tables, the tall cat tree).

I also agree with double-or-nothing that they really just want to do what you're doing and want to be big kids and sit up there with you...it's just such a novelty at first.

edited b/c I can't type

 

I would let my kids climb. They actually are really good at it and get down really well. It is just when they jump like they are on a trampoline with no sense of how much space they actually have and have the possibility to fall backwards on the hardwood floor, it makes me nervous. Just wanted to add that!