Toddlers and Christmas trees..

Cottontail

I may be getting a little ahead of myself here, but I'm wondering how other people keep their toddlers away from Christmas trees? Last year we had our tree in the corner, with a box one side and an armchair the other side to block it off. This worked but he's bigger this year and climbing up on the chair will be no problem to him this year!

I just think all the sparkly lights and glittery decorations will be too much of a temptation for him to resist...a magpie like his mammy!!

any suggestions?

ash23

Just say no

Seriously though. I just kept saying "ah ah" and "No!" firmly and dragging her away from it when she was near it or in the same room. She wasn't left on her own with it. She never pulled it down or did any damage to it or herself.

We told her it was hot too which was a fib. She knew "hot" from the oven so she gave the tree a wide berth.
She was 10 months her first Christmas.

Tabnabs

Keep the soft and non-breakable decorations down low and the good stuff out of the reach of little hands. There will inevitably be a degree of rearranging and close inspection by toddlers and short of hanging the tree from the ceiling, this is fairly unavoidable.

Moonbeam

Last year we had a puppy,a cat and a nearly 2 year old.
We put the tree in a corner and the fireguard around it!

With just the toddler I would just say no but this year as #2 is slightly more crazy then the 1st it is going in the "play jail" (playpen)

Cottontail

Thanks everyone. @tabnabs, that is good advice about putting the breakable decorations further up. I'll definitley be doing that.

Yeah, I guess saying no etc is the only way around it. Hopefully after his initial curiosity wears off it will get easier to keep him away from it. Obviously he won't be on his own with the tree either so no worries there!

Das Kitty

We're going to chance it this year in the bay window. We uncovered our DVD shelves last week as a test. So far the DVDs are still on the shelf in spite of some close inspection. Last year he was almost 1 and pulled at the lights a lot. He seems far more compliant (although often defiant!) this year. I'd love to try out a real tree. Haven't had one since I was living at home. Love that smell.

ash23

Oh don't get me wrong. I think I spent the entire first week saying "no" every 5 seconds but it worked in the end.
I've nothing too breakable on my tree but thats a good idea about putting them up higher.

RachaelVO

Never really had much of a problem with either of mine, they didn't show that much interest in it. When they did show an interest in it, it was only to look at some of the teddys I put on it!

I do remember my Mam putting ours in a playpen though, and that was mostly to ward off my sister, who was still messing with the tree when she was 4/5/6

silly

ash23 wrote: »

Just say no

Seriously though. I just kept saying "ah ah" and "No!" firmly and dragging her away from it when she was near it or in the same room. She wasn't left on her own with it. She never pulled it down or did any damage to it or herself.

We told her it was hot too which was a fib. She knew "hot" from the oven so she gave the tree a wide berth.
She was 10 months her first Christmas.

This is what I would say.
Just say no! They have to learn what's harmful instead of blocking something off that might make it a bit more appealing and mysterious to them.

Justask

My sister put their tree sitting in a dog crate worked a treat

kelle

When my son was 2, we made the mistake of putting up a Christmas tree. My daughter was a newborn, I was SO tired and he kept pulling down the tree. I just took down the tree the day before Christmas Eve and threw it out - I had a less stressful Christmas as a result!

He's now 10 and is the one that takes down the tree from the attic and decorates it with gusto

implausible

One particularly memorable Christmas, my mother got so fed up with my youngest brother's harassment of the Christmas tree that she put it in the bath!:D

As for me, 'ah ah' and 'no' aren't particularly effective on my 16 month old, so I think the playpen will be making a welcome reappearance.

holidaygirl

I'll be due baby no 2 a few days after Christmas and by that stage will have a 15 month old. I'll put one tree in the sitting room as we are hardly ever in there. But when we are I'll just say no, if that fails miserable I'll put the coffee table in front of it to block it off! But this year I'm not putting up the second one we normally put up in the living area, open plan area where we spend most if our time. I'll probably get a small table top one instead but just don't think I'd be up to our 15 month old and his constant exploring!

cynder

It they do pull the xmas tree down dont forget to take a photo, they are usually in tears because of the shock..... I show my 12 year old a photograph of her when she pulled the tree down at 15 months old.

Cottontail

grindelwald wrote: »

It they do pull the xmas tree down dont forget to take a photo, they are usually in tears because of the shock..... I show my 12 year old a photograph of her when she pulled the tree down at 15 months old.

Ha ha! I'll have a camera at the ready!

Cottontail

holidaygirl wrote: »

I'll be due baby no 2 a few days after Christmas and by that stage will have a 15 month old. I'll put one tree in the sitting room as we are hardly ever in there. But when we are I'll just say no, if that fails miserable I'll put the coffee table in front of it to block it off! But this year I'm not putting up the second one we normally put up in the living area, open plan area where we spend most if our time. I'll probably get a small table top one instead but just don't think I'd be up to our 15 month old and his constant exploring!

Congrats! I'm due just before Christmas (23rd). What date are you due? We will both have our hands full come the New Year!!

lynski

grindelwald wrote: »

It they do pull the xmas tree down dont forget to take a photo, they are usually in tears because of the shock..... I show my 12 year old a photograph of her when she pulled the tree down at 15 months old.

Lol!
I take the view that it is a family tree so if they want to rearrange the decorations off they go.
I did the confined behind the chairs thing in year 1, since then i put only soft toys on the bottom half, only no-breakables on the rest, tie the tree with fishing line to something behind it (like speaker holder in corner), put lots of christmas dressed soft toys underneath and leave them at it. Have great photos of them playing with it last year. The lights are only plugged in when it is evening time and the children are very supervised or in bed.
I use the glass decorations on garlands in the hall etc so they cant get their hands on the dedicates.
Will be trying our first fresh tree this year!!

Cottontail

lynski wrote: »

tie the tree with fishing line to something behind it (like speaker holder in corner

hmmm.. not a bad idea, hadn't thought of doing something like that. Our tree is 6ft and I'd be afraid he'd pull it over on top of himself.

holidaygirl

Cottontail wrote: »

Congrats! I'm due just before Christmas (23rd). What date are you due? We will both have our hands full come the New Year!!

Contrats to you also, I'm due the 29th, may have to have a section again but we'll see. First baby was 5 days early. We sure will have our hands full in the new year!

stovelid

We told him the lights were "hot".

It didn't work.

paperclip2

I have a great picture at home from the Christmas where Cillian was two and a half. It was early January and the tree had survived all previous assaults by our determined toddler. Myself and the other half were smugly congratulating ourselves on not having had any major tree related hassle. Anyway we're in the kitchen when we hear a loud rustle and thump from the sitting room. Raced in to find the tree on the floor and Cillian standing beside it with the best ever Bart Simpson 'I didn't do it' look. So i did what any caring parent would do and grabbed the phone to record the moment. According to the little man it 'just fell'. :rolleyes::D
We never had any problems with the trees since so maybe he got it out of this system.