Refuses to walk down the stairs

Ainsley will not walk down the stairs. I can occasionally coax her to walk down holding my hand (me standing in front of her), but most of the time, she will demand to be carried. She will even jump off the top step into me, forcing me to carry her. I am not sure how much of this is stubborness, or how much is part of her gross motor delay. She CAN walk down the stairs holding hands, as she has done it, but maybe it's unsettling or something? Has anyone experienced this with one of your children?

 

You could try teaching her to go down backwards, she might feel more secure that way. Or do you want to really encourage her going forwards so that her motor delay improves faster?
Maybe you could try bargaining with her that if she walks a certain number of steps (holding hands) you will carry her for the rest. You could start small-have her walk 2 or 3 stairs-and then gradually increase the number.

 

My boys can be the same way, but it seems to be linked to bed and nap times. They demand to be carried down the stairs in the morning and up whenever they go to bed. I'm really trying to get away from this. My back can't keep up with it, particularly with my expanding belly. I think a lot of it with them is competition over me. If I'm carrying one, I can't give any attention to the other.

 

QUOTE(Twin nanny @ Oct 11 2007, 06:09 PM) [snapback]446249[/snapback]
You could try teaching her to go down backwards, she might feel more secure that way. Or do you want to really encourage her going forwards so that her motor delay improves faster?
Maybe you could try bargaining with her that if she walks a certain number of steps (holding hands) you will carry her for the rest. You could start small-have her walk 2 or 3 stairs-and then gradually increase the number.

I have nothing against going down backwards, they've just never really done it. Before they could walk down safely, we had them go on their bottoms. I'll give it a shot and see if maybe she likes it better. I'll also try compromising like you suggested.

 

QUOTE(MusicalAli @ Oct 11 2007, 10:04 PM) [snapback]446693[/snapback]
My boys can be the same way, but it seems to be linked to bed and nap times. They demand to be carried down the stairs in the morning and up whenever they go to bed. I'm really trying to get away from this. My back can't keep up with it, particularly with my expanding belly. I think a lot of it with them is competition over me. If I'm carrying one, I can't give any attention to the other.

I do think attention is part of it. She will just stand there and whine and cry until I pick her up, or she throws herself at me. Bea doesn't ask to be carried much. She is usually down the stairs before I even know it. I don't really like her going down the stairs by herself with a cast on her arm, it makes me nervous.

 

My DD1 was like this. I could never figure it out. She fell down the stairs once when she was still in the crawling stage - I wondered if it was linked to that, just an attention thing, she has always been a little behind on gross motor (didn't walk until 15 mos)...I think she really was scared to... She would crawl down or walk holding someone's hand. I hate to tell you she didn't start walking down the steps by herself until this summer - she was 3 in June. She still takes the stairs slowly w/a death grip on the railing. You can tell she is thinking about it - way more than you would expect from a 3 yr old.