Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

I'm in a small condo. My DS (10 mos today!!!) has the run of our living room, dining room and his bedroom. We do have a playyard set up in which he spends about 2+ hours in in the AM. He's starting to try and climb out of it (he is extremely active for his age)

My question, and I'm asking cause I know my son is going to cruise against the tree....

how do you protect your Christmas Tree from your DC? I know we're gonna limit the fragile ornaments (or put them on the top).

I'm def. putting up a tree so the option of not putting one up isn't ok.

Any advice from BTDT moms? Any tips?

Thanks!

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

no advice, and coming from another mom with a nutty child. I am leaving it alone. I am NOT going to block anything off to him. He needs to know what he can/cannot touch. He is super active, he almost tipped his PNP the other day trying to get a toy. So I knowIm doomed.

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

If there is anyway that you can attach the tree to a wall, I would do it, that way it will not topple over if its knocked into by an unsteady little one.

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

Posted by JennZ

no advice, and coming from another mom with a nutty child. I am leaving it alone. I am NOT going to block anything off to him. He needs to know what he can/cannot touch. He is super active, he almost tipped his PNP the other day trying to get a toy. So I knowIm doomed.

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

Last year DD was 14 months old at Xmas and surprisingly, she didn't mess with the tree at all. This year, it may be a different story.

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

I tie the tree to the wall in a few areas. That way he can't accidentally pull quickly and it topples. Any breakables went higher on the tree and any VERY important fragile didn't get put up.

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

see I don't see any way we can tie out tree to our wall (we can only place it in one area.

I guess we'll have to wing it and watch him closely.

Its a good point that we don't want him to do this in other peoples houses.

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Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

honestly it was never a major issue like we thought it would be. He would touch the branches and look at the ornaments, but he never really messed with the tree. We put the glass ornaments up high so he couldnt break them and get hurt and the non-breakable ones at the bottom. The few times he did touch an ornament we told him no, and he eventually got it.

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

It wasn't as bad for Leah her 1st year. RJ may be another story this year, but we just aimed to make it known not to touch the tree. You could always put your playyard around the tree to block it.

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

As a BTDT mom and also from being on these boards for the past four years, I find that we stress out about the tree, but that the kids hardly bother with it.

We've never secured the tree or put up gates, etc. We do place the breakable ornaments higher up--and now I don't even put the fragile ones on just in case. In four years, and currently with a 4 year old and a 2.5 year old, we've never had an issue.

ETA: oh yeah, and we threaten them with Santa...it's the perfect time of the year to do that.

Message edited 11/18/2009 11:28:55 AM.

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

LOL, can't wait to use the "Santa Threats"

Thanks for all the tips and advice. I guess we'll see how DS acts. Fingers crossed. He gets into everything!!!!!!

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

Shatterproof ornaments are goregous, festive and safe

I have to think of my cats as much as I do my kiddo!

She'll be 16mo for this year's xmas so I'll probably put it in a corner on top of a table so she can't really get to it but she can see the pretty lights.

I know for a FACT she will grab those ornaments and toss them if she can reach them. Plus anything with glitter is a no go..*yuck* cause she likes to 'taste' everything. No garland can we say chocking harzard? But oddly enough we plan to put BELLS on the top area and the base. I want to HEAR her messing with it.

AJ has free reign in our living room where this tree will be but I'm pretty sure I can block her access to the tree completely. Still, .. you never know.

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

Kaydyn is the same as your DS. She was VERY active last year (at 11 months) so what we did was put our christmas tree in the corner. We put a couch on either side so there was only a little spot in the front that was open. She kept trying to crawl underneath it and she kept pulling herself up on it so we took apart the Superyard we had and put 2 panels in front of the tree so she couldn't get to it at all.

I'm not sure what we're going to do this year as she can reach the tree from either couch.

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

Posted by JennZ

no advice, and coming from another mom with a nutty child. I am leaving it alone. I am NOT going to block anything off to him. He needs to know what he can/cannot touch. He is super active, he almost tipped his PNP the other day trying to get a toy. So I knowIm doomed.

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

Kerry last year DD was just over a year old and WALKING! We put the glass fragile ornaments on branches she couldn't reach, and just kept telling her not to touch. She generally followed the instructions not to touch.

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

We had a small apt and put the tree in a corner between a love seat and an end table and put the ottoman in front of it. It worked pretty well.

Re: Lets talk kids & Christmas Trees

Posted by Tine73

Last year DD was 14 months old at Xmas and surprisingly, she didn't mess with the tree at all. This year, it may be a different story.