Teaching stairs?

[Marisa6826]

Sophie can go UP stairs in a flash. But how do I teach her to go DOWN the stairs?

On her heiney? Backward?

I've been loathing the whole stair thing, but I guess potty training will be worse ;)

-m

[amp]

Jake learned to climb the stairs in the winter, when he was maybe 6-7 mths old and pulling up on stuff. We don't even own a gate, so he had to learn it. We wanted him to KNOW how to do it, not to be unsafe a other peoples homes. He loves to climb stairs. We kept teaching him to come down backwards, on his hands and knees, the same way he climbs up, but it seriously took him a few more months until he was able to do it. We kept telling him, "Turn around. Sit down and turn around." All it took was one try and it clicked, after all those weeks and months of showing him and trying to "help" him do it. Once he got the hang of it, he got fast. We just trail behind him in case he loses his balance, which he does rarely. He is fast! Sophie is old enough she might be able to do it by scooting down on her bottom, but if you feel safer, they have a better hold and more balance going backward. Good luck!

[Momof3Labs]

Colin learned to climb off of our bed (or the couch) first. We taught him to "turn around" also, and then slide down on his belly. Once he got the hang of it, he adapted these skills to the stairs no problem! Now we're working on going down on his bottom, and he's doing pretty well at it. He can also walk down sometimes, but he's also quite tall and able to hold the banister.

[Gayletmomto4]

We have Luke go down on his bottom by sitting and sort of bumping down to the next step. He learned pretty quickly by me doing it with him! He thought this was great fun and before we knew it he was always going down that way.

[khakismom]

We have taught the "sliding down feet first on your belly" move to both the girls and Ellen seems to have picked it up quickly. Eventually, Kathleen moved to going down on her heiney.

[TaChapm]

I have been wondering the same thing. Jackson can go up but has trouble getting down. I have tried to teach him to go backwards but he seems to prefer his bottom. Still not very stable though. He wants to walk down them more than anything.

Tara
Mommy to Jackson 11-10-02

[Kimberly H]

We had this dilemna at the beach house last week as we live in a single story home and the beach house has very steep stairs inside. We ended up teaching Mia to go down on her bottom and she figured it out after 2 tries. She and Sophie are about the same age so I hope it's as easy for you!