A question....jenna is a handful now!

mummy2girls wrote: Jenna now roams the apartment on her own now. She goes into her room which is fine because most of toys and such are in there and i vacuum everyday so i know nothing is on the floor for her to choke on. Now She goes into the kitchen and she can now break off the cupboard protectors off on her own and get into the cupboards. I have moved everything poisin up high where she cant get a hold of and just leave tupawear and such for her to play with. Now she is getting into everything her hands can grip onto and open. Has anyone ever felt safe to just let thier toddler roam the house. If you are in the living room and she ends up in the kitchen do you go and get them? I am thinking of getting a gate to prevent her from even entering the kitchen.as for the cupboard locks i have no idea what to do because no matter what she can get into them. Maby just leaving everything empty down low will prevent her from getting hurt...do you have troubles with this kind of stuff?

coasterqueen replied: Well, I let Kylie roam the house within reason I do try to keep everything that she can get ahold of high and we let her roam around, but if I don't see her right away, I go see what she's in to.

Gates are good for certain occassions when you just can't let her wander around like if you have something in one room you don't want her to get into and you just haven't picked it up, kwim

alice&arik replied: I let Arik roam around the house. He has his favorite things he likes to do. But I know when he gets quiet he has something he isn't supposed to. I think my house is pretty safe for him and he can't really break anything. My house isn't very big either so it isn't hard to listen to him. The other day he got a hold of my tub of Eucerin cream and stuck one of his Hot Wheels in it. I still can't get it all out of the car.

5littleladies replied: I let Brianna roam too. Of course she is my third so the house is relatively child-proof. It's small too so it isn't hard to keep track of her. The only thing I worry about is the stairs and they have a gate in front of them. Oh and her newest thing is to dig in the garbage and try to eat whatever she finds. That's lots of fun.

MomofTay&Sam replied: Sammy doesnt roam and we watch him like a hawk. He is into the climbing stage bad, he will use whatever he can to get from point a to point b for climbing. We are moving very soon and I am hoping things will be different.

MommyToAshley replied: I let Ashley roam...kind of. I have certain rooms closed off or gated off. I never her let her go where I can't see her. I don't let her in the kitchen either unless I am in there. (Otherwise it is gated off) It sounds like I am a little over-protective and I probably am.

paradisemommy replied: Our house is pretty small so he doesn't wander far..our downstairs is kitchen/living room/dining room combined. I just got done rearranging the kitchen cupboards and what I did was I left one cupboard open for him with all the pots and pans (he loves to get into them ). All the other ones have locks on them..are you sure you installed them correctly? because taven yanks and pulls on them pretty hard and can't get them open - i would suggest maybe double checking because they (children) shouldn't be able to get them open that easily. Anyways - we have one small cupboard that he can open and I put all the boxes and such on the top and left the bottom 3 shelves (that he can reach) with all our canned goods - he loves to rearrange those and play with them and he can't break into them so it works out pretty good.

MomToMany replied: I let Hannah roam the house, too. There's not much she can get into/wreck, so I don't worry about it much. Our house is small, too, so there's not many places she can go where I can't see her. If she's quiet for more than a minute, I go check to see what she's doing. Usually she's playing with brother's Hot Wheels, or "reading" books. The bathroom is off-limits, though. She doesn't get to play in there.

Her favorite thing to do now is to take a laundry basket, tip it over, and try to get the cereal out of the cupboard. She hasn't succeeded yet. She also likes playing with the canned goods, too. And all my plastic containers, cooking utensils, etc.

aspenblue1 replied: I have a gate that I put up so she can't get into the kitchen.

jem0622 replied: We protect the stairways with gates, but not rooms. I have a friend who uses a kitchen gate b/c she doesn't have gates in other places.

We do let Gabe roam, but he is always on the same level as we are and there is nothing dangerous that he'll find to ingest. We can usually see or hear him and his brother so if something sounds off (crying, too quiet, etc) then we poke our heads around to see what he is up to.

Julie

Schnoogly replied: Well if Iain wants to roam I let him b/c I like him to get used to not being 2 feet away from me (he is usually very clingy). He usually talks to himself constantly so if things get quiet I go check on him...he's usually into something when he gets quiet! As long as I can hear him talking I'm pretty sure he's OK. We have the cat room and the upstairs stairway gated off and my office door closed since that isn't babyproofed. He loves to hang out by the sliding glass door and wave at the cats outside. He has just discovered the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen but he can't get into the locked ones (I have slide locks on the handles) and I have one that has some baking supplies that he can play with. He has rammed himself in the head with the cupboard doors a lot but I actually think he needs to learn that he needs to be careful with certain things.

Kaitlin'smom replied: I let Kaitlin roam, we have the laundry room gated off cause thats where the cat stuff is, but other than that I should baby proof more but I dont let her get to far with out me seeing what she is doing. Usually she only roams when we are both not out there with her, she wants to know what we are doing espically when daddy is on the computer or playing games, she want to help him play. So she roams but I am not far behind.

mummy2girls replied:
yes... she yanks really hard and one part breaks and then it just falls off the knobs... So i just put everything poisin and such up high and then leave the cupboards filled with plastic dishes or just leave empty. And i now leave the bathroom doors shut!

DansMom replied: He has a series of rooms that are baby proof, and we keep the other doors closed. But the kitchen requires supervision, because of the cat food and the doorway that goes to the basement is off the kitchen. Even though there is a gate there, I am paranoid. He can also reach the knobs on the stove now, and will try to turn them.

He has his own cupboards with tupperware type stuff, and I let him play with the pots and pans, but only while I'm in there cooking.