PDA

View Full Version : How did you teach your toddler to go down stairs?



brigmaman
02-22-2004, 11:38 AM
Brig acts like he's stepping off the gangplank when he's at the top of the stairs and I say we're going down. I guess he knows that I'm just going to carry him down. He goes up pretty well, but he has no idea that he'll just fall if he goes near the edge.

Kimberly H
02-22-2004, 12:49 PM
Trish, we showed the boys over and over how to back down the stairs. It was the same way we taught them to get off the couch and chairs so you'd think it would be easy - NOPE! It took a few weeks but they finally got finished with the pirate walking the plank stage and do it "right."

Another friend of mine taught her daughter to slide down the stairs on her bottom but it kind of freaked me out so we did the backwards thing.

em_jon98
02-22-2004, 03:19 PM
I used to sit down at the top of the staircase with Lindsey and slide down on my bottom to illustrate. She got the point pretty quickly and started to slide down on her bottom right next to me. When she wants to get down quickly, she flips over and slides down on her tummy. We did not teach her that, she just started doing it on her own.

Now, she likes to walk down the stairs. But, she knows she can't do it on her own, so she waits for DH or I to come along. Then, we take one of her hands, she puts the other hand on the wall, and we go down together, step by step. Her legs are still a bit on the short side, but she does okay with our help. It did take a while for her to learn that she needed help going down.

August Mom
02-22-2004, 03:28 PM
I would say that at this point, I would teach him to walk down holding your hand (unless there will be times that you will let him go up/down the stairs by himself). DS is a daredevil in most things, but always seemed cautious about the stairs. He is very aware that he cannot go down the stairs forward by himself. He will take my hand and steady himself with his other hand on the wall and step down. It works quite well. Occasionally he wants to hold both of my hands and jump from step to step. On his own, he goes backwards. We really didn't teach him that; he just did it on his own. I would think you could model it for him, though, if that's the way you want to go.

Karenn
02-22-2004, 04:00 PM
Stairs mean nothing to Colin. When he's busy playing, he treats them like any other place he wants to walk and just takes off! You'd think a tumbling trip down a whole flight of them would have convinced him that they are something to worry about, but it didn't seem to make a difference. Unfortunately, we have 3 seperate flights of stairs in our tiny little house! I've taught him to turn around and go feet first on his tummy. (We tried on his bottom, but he liked his tummy better.) He can do that OK if I'm right there to remind him, but I'm nowhere near ready to take the gates down. Lately, he's started trying to walk down them like a "big boy" holding my hand but his legs really aren't long enough yet.

The one thing that seemed to help the most was visiting my parents house. Their main floor is set up so that there are little groupings of 1-3 stairs all over the house. I was able to let him "fall" down those stairs without really getting hurt (it's carpeted.) I think that helped him understand the concept a little better. Someone else suggested putting a gate 2 or 3 stairs up for the same purpose. (Unfortunatly, our stairs aren't designed in such a way that I can do that.) I'll be SO glad when Colin masters stairs!

egoldber
02-22-2004, 04:19 PM
We also taught DD from a young age to go down the stairs backwards. She did that for a long time, even after she learned to go upstairs upright. She has only recently mastered going downstairs upright (by herself), and I still don't let her do it if she is tired/sleepy.

HTH,

raynjen
02-22-2004, 08:45 PM
I have nothing constructive to add, I just wanted to say, what a cutie! I looked at your shutterfly link, and your son is sooo adorable! I wish we could introduce DD to snow, I don't think she remembers it at all, and they look so cute bundled up like that.

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (10/25/01)

brigmaman
02-23-2004, 10:54 AM
Thanks! The snow (we've had a ton!) has been lots of fun for Brig. It took a while for him to get used to it, but now he loves it! Actually he just loves being outside!

brubeck
02-23-2004, 02:33 PM
With Amy we tried and tried to teach her to go down backwards on her tummy but she refused. At 13 months she learned how to walk down the stairs while holding my hand, and I also taught her the 'sit on bottom and scoot' method. About a month later she learned how to go down the stairs without me by holding onto the bannisters. Our bannisters are a series of long vertical wooden 'bars' so it was the perfect grasp.

Andrew refuses to go down the stairs on his feet. He taught himself the slide backwards on his tummy method. At 14 months this is still all he does. So I guess each kid is different!