Going down steps.....

so how do you teach this and when???

 

I taught mine how to go down the steps when they started going up. With my latest little one, who is 1 now, whenever he would go up, I get beside him and say "down" and show him how to scoot backward. It's the same way he gets off the couch, he gets on his belly and scoots back till he feels floor. I also taught him to booty scoot down.

 

We started around 13 months old showing them how to hold onto the railing and step down (they walked at 11.5 months). They still aren't great with going down because we live in a one story house, so the only steps they have to deal with are the three steps on our deck.

 

We started as soon as we moved into our house when they were 9-10 months old, i.e. before they were walking. We taught them to crawl up and crawl down backwards, even guiding their legs a little to feel for the next step. The continued to prefer this method even after they were walking safely, and still do this if they are tired or just for fun. They had the idea of scooting down on their bottoms on their own after a while and we also practiced this, but for safety I prefer crawling down backwards. After they were walking safely they obviously started trying to walk the stairs too (maybe at 18 months?).

We have two sets of three steps leading to an addition that were premitted practice areas any time. They spent hours at a time on these stairs and took many a tumble - but what can happen with three steps? Tears, cuddles for mom and then back for lots of learning. We also taught them that the big flight of stairs (up or down) is only allowed with mom or dad at hand and that they always need to hold on to the stairs or the railing with two hands in the beginning, one hand now.

 

We did the same. I started with DD first because she was also walking at 11 months and when my DS started walking at 14 months, we did the same with him. They picked it up quickly...but we have a lot of steps in our house.

 

I don't remember when we started, but I taught them to go down on their bellies after discovering bum bumping wasn't working. We did a lot of practicing on the sofa and ottomans before we tried the stairs. Now they hold my hand and grasp the railing or put both hands on the rail with me in front.