Ask:
When my older kids were little, we had a 4 ft tree we put up on a cedar chest so they could not get to it. When we got a large tree, my boys were toddlers, my girls were older and I had a baby. Then we had the tree up in the living room and we spent most of our time in the basement family room. Now we have our tree in the living room (we no longer have a basement family room) and my boys are 3.5, 6.5, 8 & 9. My grandson is 2. My 3 yr old is pretty good about leaving it alone. All the breakable ornaments are up way high. I am hoping that my grandson will learn to leave it alone (he has been at his dad's for the past week). I will not put any presents under the tree until the last minute, though because I know that that would be just asking for trouble!!!
Answer:
We have always been pretty lucky. None of the girls have ever bothered the tree or the presents. Josie is the last one I need to worry about this year. Hopefully she will leave it alone. However, at 22 months, and with coaxing from sisters, I have a feeling I am in for a bit of trouble.
Answer:
So far so good here. My dd is almost 10 1/2 mos. and she took 1 or 2 ornaments off and we told her no no no and she seemed to leave it alone after that. I didn't really put much on the bottom quarter though.
Answer:
We just had a rule from the start - look with your eyes and don't touch with your hands. IT was so cute to see DS wanlk up and look with his hands behind his back.
This year has been a little harder - but I expected that since this was the first year we let him help decorate the tree. I just knew that it would be hard to explain why he could touch while decorating but not later. Hasn't been too bad though.
Answer:
We've never really had that problem w/ our too but I know my cousin did w/ her twins. Then ended up putting the tree in a play pen so they couldnt get too it. Not sure how well that would work or not but I guess at that age they were too little to get into the play pen.
Answer:
We bought one of those super play gates or something. They're usually used as a playpen they don't have a bottom and they snap together, well at christmas time we put it around the tree. We have been doing this for about 3 yrs cause now we have another baby, My friend bought one to use because her cat swats at the ornaments.
Answer:
We have a superyard that we put up around our tree too. It works fairly well. Both kids can still touch the tree and pull some of the ornaments on the bottom off, but the bulk of the tree is protected and I don't have to worry about the boys pulling it down on themselves. We are trying to teach them not to touch the tree, but it's difficult, especially since it is in the living room which is their main play area (we don't have a play room or family room).