how to keep them away from xmas tree?

I'm going crazy saying- "the tree is just for pretty. the tree is just to look at. no touch the tree." All day long! Argh!

How are you keeping your toddlers from touching and pulling all day long? My mom's suggestion? "Just tell them no!" Uhh..tried that!

 

I'm going crazy saying- "the tree is just for pretty. the tree is just to look at. no touch the tree." All day long! Argh!

How are you keeping your toddlers from touching and pulling all day long? My mom's suggestion? "Just tell them no!" Uhh..tried that!

 

Luckily the "no touching the tree" has worked for us. Last year we put the superyard around it and that kept them away. Good luck!

 

Mine have already knocked the tree over! They won't stay away from it period. Nothing has worked!

 

You all are scarying me! We are getting ours this weekend. I have the superyard for back-up!

 

My girls are 19 months and I use the supryard...They don't seem interested in it anymore!!!! Good for me

Michelle

 

Don't put one up!

We have not put one up for two years....but the superyard is a great idea!

 

we only put a small one up - like a 4 ft. one - and put decorations on it that they could touch... nothing breakable... and then let them have at it. they played for a couple days with it, and then they left it alone. at that point, i redistributed the ornaments back to all over the tree, and we've been enjoying it ever since. my girls are 3 now, but we started this 2 years ago!

 

Someone mentioned a while back that they put fun kid ornaments on the entire tree and then let the kids take the stuff down and put it back at leisure. An idea but would still require patience of watching etc. Another friend used fishing line to tie the tree to something so it for sure would not fall. We do not have a tree up yet for this year but last year I just put the non-breakable items up and the curiosity only lasted a few days and then the normal days continued.

Good luck...
-Kristi

 

I keep trelling them no, and each time they take an ornament off the tree, I put it higher. Soon I wont have any ornaments on the lower half.

 

I use a superyard also, not around the tree but around my end table, past my tree and around to my t.v. so basically they have the whole living room and are not able to even get near the tree. I would never not put one up so...just curious, where do you pt the presents??... if a superyard wasn't available I would do what my MIL does and buys a smaller 3.5ft tree and puts in on one of her end tables and they are not able to get to it.

 

Quite honestly, it is the age. It's like trying to get an 18 month old to stay in their "big bed" when they know they can get out (I remember this being next to impossible). Their brains just don't have the maturity to recognize the reason of this and to control their impulses. We stuck our tree in the corner until last year when they were about 2 and 1/2 and old enough to really listen to "no" and comply. Until then you're going to have to section it off or make sure they just don't play near it. A tree inside with shiny things on it is just too big a tempatation.

 

We tie the tree to our banister and in the past have only decorated the top 1/2, strange looking tree, but we had one haha.

I'm hoping we can decorate the whole thing this year as they're 3 1/2now.

I don't think saying "no" is going to work, its just so pretty and tempting to them.

good luck

amanda (jorja and jessica 3)

 

Well, we'll see. We're putting ours up this weekend. Last year we had the SuperYard around it, but this year I refuse. I've been telling them about the tree, and Melissa, she's so funny, says wagging her finger, "Look, no touch." We have hardwood floors so there will undoubtedly be some smashed balls. Maybe I should put an area rug in front of it.

 

We had a hard time with this last year when my twins were 14 mo. I remember most of our ornaments were at the top of the tree! I think it's important to have a tree up though, so they know how to behave at other christmases where there might be a tree. Just keep up the "no,no...pretty tree...don't touch". Eventually, it will come. Hopefully, next year, they will be better!

 

I know many will disagree but I flick their little hands and very sternly say "Don't touch!!". We have had it up since Sunday and maybe twice a day they go and check it out. I just point and say "Don't Touch" and they walk away.
The other day Zoe was grabbing Drew saying "Don't touch" to him. It was so cute!!

 

look at my avatar....That's how!

 

We were given a Sure and Secure Gate when the babies were born and it works great to seperate them from the tree. We were able to center the tree in the window as usual and put the gate hinging on each side of the window frame. I'm a huge fan of that gate. We have now used it in three differrent areas, cause we're giving Sophie & Shane more room as we toddler proof areas.

 

If I didn't have my fence, I would lose my mind!!!!!

 

We have our tree up in our dining room which isn't really an area we spend time in. There was no way I could have it in the living room or family room. The tree only has lights on it, no ornaments - so they are allowed to touch the tree and explore it. They have gotten over it now, and pretty much leave it alone. They are just curious and want to check out the new item in our house! They like the pretty lights

 

quote:
I keep trelling them no, and each time they take an ornament off the tree, I put it higher. Soon I wont have any ornaments on the lower half.


We got a pre-lite tree for our family room this year because there is more room for the 6 of us. The girls are really good with it but like Cathy they took everything off and there are only ornaments on the top 1/4 of the tree. I think they are standing on their little cars to get some of the ones they took off.

 

SUPERYARD!!!!

 

My sil has a train that her son is affraid of.When he goes near it she turns the train on and he runs away. I say put it up Christams eve and take it down Christmas night.We are putting ours up tonight.I dread it.


Danielle

 

I put a little 2 ft laser light tree on the table with no ornaments and put the presents in the playpen. They never even tried to climb in it!

 

This year we made a 5 foot tree out of construction paper on the wall.
This morning my daughter and I made ornaments with lots of stickers, glitter, etc. I string some thin garland up as well.
I actaully love it and so does she. I'll try and get a picture.
Then, we put lights on the tree that we can see right outside our living room.
I could not deal with the real tree this year with 1 year old twins and my 2.5 year old daughter.

 

I am sitting here trying to recall if I have even met any adults who resist touching Christmas trees or ornaments.....

 

Telling them "no" didn't work too well for us either. I put up my Superyard around the tree and that worked great. It allowed them to enjoy the pretty lights without feeling tempted to pull the tree over. When they were 18 months, they did manage to pull all the candy canes off the tree and eat a few though. It was kind of cute when I came into the room and found them sitting facing each other with a big pile of candy canes between them and some in their mouth.

 

I luckily never had to use anything but i would say the superyard.

 

We have ours up in the living room/dining room, which we don't spend much time in when they're awake (except, obviously, when they're eating, when they're in high chairs! ). I could not have it up in the family room where we spend most of our time, unless we had a SuperYard around it. I think at this age it is just too great a temptation and owuld be too exhausing for this tired Mommy!

 

We're not putting one up this year since we'll be away the week of Christmas but I'm worried about the tree at the house we'll be visiting. If we can convince the people to not decorate the lower branches then I can let them explore it by using the same "gentle pat-pat-pat" instruction that I use to keep them from grabbing the dog. This sounds much better to me than a week of battling their natural curiousity.

 

STATUS REPORT: I had been telling them for about a week that when we get the tree they can "Look, but Noooooo touching." And it stuck! Melissa won't get within two feet of it, but she loves it! We've caught Jade delicately touching it, but nothing has come off yet. So, YAY! Of course, it's only day three...but...

 

Last year, we had ours on top of a file cabinet shoved into the corner of the room, tethered to the wall... They never bothered with it. The tree wasn't in their line of vision and they couldn't really reach it so it wasn't a problem.

We have found with our guys that the more we try to keep them away from something, the more they want to get at it so this year we got a full tree and decided to not try to keep them away from it - we just decorated assuming that they would take things down... We put it in the corner of the room, tethered it to the wall and decorated carefully - non-breakable ornaments at the bottom and everything else at the top. DH and I decorated the top of the tree when they were sleeping and let them put on a few of the non-breakables at their height the following morning (they were beyond thrilled!). We told them once they hang the ornaments, we don't want them taken down - we really didn't think this would work but it has! They gently touch them, which is fine, and occasionally one will come off by mistake but other than that they pretty much leave them alone. They have both insisted on eating all their meals in front of the tree and spend a lot of time telling me what the ornaments are... it's great!

 

if you tell them no and they don't obey, then you should give a consequence, like a TO or a flick to the hand or a spanking, whatever your house does.

Also put soft ornaments on the bottom 1/3 of the tree. Things they can play with and not break.

Also, teach them how to "touch it nicely. use one finger, be gentle." This is what i say to my kids.