Doing stairs independently

[ladygrey]

At what age did you feel comfortable letting your toddler go up/down stairs without help?

DD is 18 months and I have always either a) held her hand when she walks up/down or b) been right beside her as she scoots on her butt to go down. This morning I forgot to close the gate at the top of the stairs and before I knew it, she had managed to scoot down all by herself. I'm now wondering if I have been too overprotective of her and the stairs, since she seems to be able to do it alone. However, we have hardwood floors, and I'm terrified of her taking a tumble and getting hurt. Thoughts? 

[Deleted]

I'm always with him or right behind him but mostly because our stairs are steep as hell. I'm not sure when I'll stop. Probably when he can walk down instead of butt scooting.

[Deleted]

DD just started doing it on her own, but supervised. 17 months. We've taught her to go down on her tummy (the same way she goes up). Same deal for getting off beds and furniture.

I won't let her do it entirely on her own for a few months, but I try to teach them the method as soon as they're physically able. I think we let DS do it around 2? He was an earlier walker, though.

[SallySparrow]

Our house is old, the stairs are steep. A can do them by herself when she's like, 10.

[holly116]

DS1 will be 3 in February and he's been going up and down on his own for a while. Probably since last summer. Maybe spring.

[kaycee]

My 18 month old still crawls up the stairs. Maybe I should work on this?

[deo]

DS2 has been going up and downstairs since he was 12 months (crawling/scooting) but our stairs are carpeted and have a landing half way down so I felt a lot better about them. My sister has a steep staircase with hardwood floors so it will be while before I let him go down those stairs on his own.

[spk926]

Once DD could do it at about 15 months I just let her go. I remember looking for houses this spring and our realtor was shocked I just let her climb up and down alone. I thought it was normal but I've since learned this is something I guess I'm breezy about. She's only fallen once and only fell a couple stairs and was fine. She falls more walking around on a flat surface to be honest. I just took a picture of our stairs since I'm setting up for her party and she's been able to climb up and down these independently since we moved here (16 months).

Attachment Deleted

ETA: Here is this same question from a month ago. There were lots of replies so you might get a good consensus from reading this too. pandce.proboards.com/thread/395258/stairs

[Brie]

We still don't at 2y3m. He is a total clown on the stairs and likes to pretend he's a frog, march up them, slide/roll down them, etc. Drives me insaaaane but he thinks it's hilarious.

I'd be fine letting a kid who always used them responsibly go up and down alone at this point.

[yellowbrkrd]

M will not go down the stairs on his own. I have tried encouraging him but he insists on holding my hand. He also won't go up without us right behind him.

[cinco]

Around 2. The ones off our back deck are the exception. They are steep and are over a brick patio. I get a cold sweat thinking about them.

[ladygrey]

spk926 - thanks for the link. I somehow missed that thread.
@tambcat - we have a split-level house, so the stairs are only 6 at a time.

Trying to balance breeziness and safety is hard!

[h]

DS3 (20 months) has gone up and down our stairs alone a few times when he has escaped or an older brother left the gate open. He handles them fine. But we will continue to try to keep him from going on the stairs alone until closer to 2.5-3 just to be safe.

We just got back from spending the holidays at my ILs with my 3 yo nieces and 5 to nephew, none of whom are allowed on the stairs alone. The ILs kept trying to prevent our 7 and 4 yos from going on the stairs, and DH and I finally had to insist that they leave them alone. My MIL had a sister who fell down the stairs and died as a toddler, and as a result his whole family is totally freaked out by them.

[Deleted]

Jan 2, 2015 15:34:51 GMT -5 @starry said:

Not yet. Not breezy.

DS is almost 3 years old. Not yet. Even LESS breezy.

...he can do it, obviously nom just always right there. Usually hand holding.

[teatimefor2]

DS is 2y3m and I still either hold is hand (down) or walk behind him (up). Our stairs are all wood and sometimes he gets distracted and wants to play on them. I'm scared to death of stairs.

[docholly]

ODS started going up and down our steps (5 up and 5 down Ina split level) shortly after we bought the house... So he was probably about 20 months, YDS is doing the same and he is also 20 months.

[CloudBee]

We've never held DS back from the stairs. When he started crawling up them we watched, and he managed just fine. We have 2 flights in our home, and let him go at it. I"m probably more likely to fall down the stairs than he is, and he's more bendable at this point.

[justjen]

We're just starting to let her do it now at 2y5m. But only sometimes We have scary hardwood floors

[jessnpaul]

B is short at 2y9m and doesn't really reach the banister. So we still have to hold his hand up/down.

We have hardwood stairs/floor so I'm terrified of him sliding down them

[Deleted]

My dd is 2y9m and can't go down stairs alone. I let her go up alone sometimes but not always. But we don't have them in our house so she doesn't get much practice. And she's small.

[Deleted]

I'm pretty darn breezy and I would definitely still gate stairs if we had them in our house. (DD2 is almost 19 months.)

With DD1 we lived in a house with stairs and I think we took the gate off when she was between 2 and 2.5... but she has always been an INSANELY cautious, safety-oriented kid. She is more sensible than me sometimes. DD2 on the other hand is gunning for a career as a stunt double so we are going to keep things babyproofed for a long while for her.

[niq]

V crawled up supervised but without help pretty early on. These days he wants to do a lot of walking, even going upstairs.

He's just started trying to walk down. I will sometimes let him do one stair unassisted. I suspect we've got at least 3 months before

He's 16 months.

[Deleted]

Dd (2 years, 2 months) has free range on our stairs. She usually does fine, though she sometimes requests to be carried down the stairs. She fell down 4-5 steps at my grandmothers last weekend. I was standing about 10 steps below her. It scared her, but she's fine.

[Deleted]

Like 2.5. We didn't move into a house with stairs until he was 21 months old though. So I needed some te to see him master them.

[thecatinthehat]

My 19 months old still needs help going down, supervision with going up. My friend with a 2.5 yr old have been independently doing it for 1-2 months now.

[smile]

DD will be 2 next week and has been able to walk up and down the stairs for a while. However, most of the time I make her hold my hand because she likes to jump down the stairs if left unsupervised. If she wasn't a jumper, I would let her have free reign.

[thejen626]

My MIL taught DD2 how to scoot up and down stairs when she was 18 months old. She had a gross motor delay and didn't walk until she was 20 months old, lol, but she's always done great on stairs. She's only fallen once, down about 4 stairs, and she was fine afterwards.

[babyrn]

We live in a ranch so she isn't exposed to stairs much. She can go up well but I help her go down still at 22 months.

[chickens987]

We let her at my ILs so 27 months. They're carpeted and she was very good at holding on to the railings at all times even when we didn't remind her so after a day or 2 I stopped caring. She had zero incidents.