Christmas Tree Proof?

It would be easier in the long run to just teach him not to touch it. It will take a long time sitting there with him, but it will be worth it in the end! For my kids, as soon as they could crawl, I would just follow them over to the thing they wanted to touch but weren't supposed to, then every time they touched it, I would lightly tap their hand and say a firm "NO" and move their hand away. It would take probably 30 times in a row at times, but eventually they got tired of trying to touch and got the message "I'm not supposed to touch that". He will probably go back several times, but if you are consistent, he will learn to not touch it, and then you can have a tree up or whatever else you want and he will leave it alone. It's a lot of work, but worth it when you have a toddler that you can tell "NO" and they will listen and not touch/break everything in sight

We used a playpen with my oldest but with the second and third we just were vigilant and never suffered any damage, from the kids anyways. The cat was another story.

For some reason it was never an issue with my 3 kids- I told them DANGER/HOT! and they believed me! But my mother in law (5 kids-all 2 yrs apart) put her tree in the playpen.

I have never known a family that had to put the tree away from the child. Just teach him to "look with his eyes". Pull him away from the tree if he gets close and do not leave him in that room unless an adult is there to watch him. Eight months, I am sure you do not leave him alone in a room on the floor. When you decorate the tree, place all of the "kid friendly" ornaments on the bottom portion of the tree.

Remember he needs to learn not to touch certain things. If you take him to a store, a business, or a Church with a tree, they are not going to block it or put it in a playpen. He might as well learn to enjoy without touching extremely fragile things.

Another thing we did in our neighborhood with so many kids the same age, we taught them all to walk with their hands behind their backs when we went into dept stores. We taught them to ask permission to touch things. We would then either hold the item in our hands or allow the child to hold the item as we guided them to be "gentle".

Have a wonderful holiday. Christmas is even more special with a child.

Hi K.,

I have two young boys - very curious, very into everything, but we tried just setting up the Christmas tree like normal to see what would happen. And they left it alone!! They would crawl over and check it out, but we made sure to show them how to touch it appropriately and took them away when they seemed like they might get too rough, but it was no big deal. Oh - and we keep the breakable ornaments up high. Good luck!

We have always had a tree even with the little ones. We make sure it is strongly anchored to the wall and then use the platic decorations and no tensel or wire hooks. My 2 year old is pulling ornaments off the tree as we speak, but the upper 2/3 of the tree is beautiful. Oh, did I mention it is an artificial tree and is ready lit so they cannot pull the lights off. Have fun!

My son is almost 1 (in 9 days)! We put him in the exersaucer right by the tree. He enjoys almost getting to touch it and looking at all the lights, etc. We have all the kid ornaments on his eye level. It also helps that his big sister comes in and tells him about all the ornaments and how to care for our tree. She also gives him the safety speech as well. After that he seems to get his fill. Also, you might want to wait before you put gifts under the tree=- I found out the hard way! Our daughter got into all the presents her first Christmas (as we were loading up to go out of town!)Good luck!
V.

Put sand in ziplock bags on base of the tree stand and twist the orinmets on the branches and have a wonderfull christmas

We have our tree in between our fireplace and a chair. We bought a fireplace screen/gate and we put it around it. It is heavy metal and holds her when she pulls up. It works really well. Good luck.

Anchor the tree to the wall behind it to prevent toppling. As for keeping him out of the tree & ornaments themselves, GOOD LUCK! You'd be amazed at how inventive a determined little one can be once that mind is set. I've raised 4 kids and have 4 grandkids and there's nothing that will keep them out of the tree. (Even the grown ones!)
My suggestion is to use inexpensive unbreakable ornaments on the bottom 1/3 of the tree. I say inexpensive because you don't want to put a huge expense into something if the little one ends up chewing on it. (It'll probably happen no matter how careful you are!)
You can also put a small tree up on a table that's away from other furniture but I'd still anchor it from the back just in case. That will put the gifts out of reach for awhile also.

Hi K.! I have an 8 mo old also who is pulling up like crazy. I did find something that worked - I put the tree against the wall on one side (a corner would be even better, if you have one). On the 3 other sides, I put up the cheap wooden baby gates. I exntended them fully out and made them stand up by propping them up with boxes. I filled the boxes with heavy rocks and then wrapped them with gift wrap so they'd look nice - I put a few behind the gates and a few in front. Put tall ones in front of the gate so he won't use it to pull up. It's been about a week and he hasn't been able to break the barricade yet.

We initially tried just the boxes alone circling the tree to form a wall, but you have to go with pretty tall boxes (about 2' or higher) so they can't get a grip to pull up. We also wrapped ours with packing tape so he can't tear the paper.

One other thought I had - if you have a sturdy square coffee table, you could put the tree on that.

Good luck, they're so devious at this age!

My daughter is 21 months old and has been into everything since she could crawl! We have a playyard and we put it around the Christmas tree. It definitely helps!
http://www.amazon.com/North-States-Superyard-Gate-Play/dp...

Hi K.,,,
This is very funny to me you see my mother had to put the tree in the playpen when i was little so there you go
Good Luck L.

i have an eight month old, similar to yours, she pulls everything over, and pulls up on everything, we decided to embrace it lol, we put the tree up and tied it around the middle and tied it to the curtain pole so she cant pull it over. at the bottom of the tree where she can reach we put only soft decorations, so she can take them off (and she does!) if she wants to, no lights at the bottom.
of course we have a fake tree - this would not be good with a real tree.
for the most part she leaves the tree alone now becasue its not off limits, she would try everywhich way to get to the tree if it was behind something

You could put it in a room that can be blocked off with a baby gate (like a formal dining room.) That way he can look at it from the gate and go in WITH you for a closer peek. You can also get a baby gate that sets up in larger spaces (they are very very big) to bock off a whole area of the room and keep the tree safe.

Our house is very open concept and we don't have any kind of place for a tree without completely gating it off, so I know how you feel!

I would suggest one of those gates for dogs to put around it. I know that you can get it in different sizes for the dog, so depending on the size you need, it might work.

My hair stylest suggests putting the tree in a play pen. I like the idea of just putting up a train or something, like presents that keeps the baby from getting near the tree. I'm taking the glass bulbs off my fancy tree and storing them away after my 17 month old broke 3 of them. I saw a picture in a magazine using cotton balls and paper snowflakes, thread through to make ornaments and keeping the white lights. I use ribbon and (non glass)strings of beads as garland, and sprays of fake red and burgundy berries to add a bit of color. Usually this is my serious tree and I put all the nativity type and Bible verse ornaments as well as my sparkling glass bulbs. Everything breakable is coming down today.
I also have a tree that has multicolor lights and all the ornaments the kids have made over the years as well as toys and a cool straw woven garland from south america. The kids put this one up all by themselves this year. Look forward to hearing what you do.

Maybe get a small tree, and put it up on a table. Without a cloth on it so that he is protected. Keep it just out of reach.

We used a play yard when my son was a toddler and it does work, but if you don't have enough space you may want to consider a smaller tree. When my son was real little we bought a small artificial tree and put it on a table that was sturdy.

Try a smaller potted tree up on a small table. Then he would pull himself up on the table to look at the tree. As others have said, keep the lower branches covered with unbreakable or soft ornaments that he can't hurt and that won't hurt him.

Good luck!

You have a couple of options.
We screwed a couple of hooks in the ceiling and used fishing line to tie the top of the tree up. If you hit studs or use ancors this will keep it from tipping over if he does decide to try to pull up.
For the ornaments, we replaced the bottow ornaments with ribbon bows and put the ornaments up higher and out or her reach. We aslo used floral wire to wrap the ornaments around the branches instead of just hooks.
He most likely will feel the tree a couple of times and stay away after that because it is not comfortable.
You can also stack wraped empty boxes all around to slow him down or you can get garden fencing, (that short decorative plastic or rot iron fencing) and make a little baby gate all the way around.

When my son was little we put up a tree and placed the "baby fence" around it. It was in a corner with a couch and my entertainment center on the other side. He LOVED it but didn't bother it.

Best of luck.

I have heard of people putting them inside playpens.... I always sat ours on top of a small kitchen table when the kids were small.. we had a large living room dining room combination.. so I would sit the table behind the couch and it would be easily viewed from the living room and the dining room...

J.

My son will be one in January. Our neighbors put up there tree and he didnt seem intreasted but they did have a train around the bottom that he derailed. They turned it off and that was that. He didnt seem to care about it. I was also a Jaunary baby and didnt play with the tree...so mom says. I was thinking about seting up our small tree. But I like the Idea of getting boxes and wraping them. You can find fruit boxes at HEB for free, the liquor store has case boxes. I would have to tape some bricks in them so he dosent toss them around. No bows either. I couldnt imagine our six foot tree fiting in a play pin! Best of luck. Let us know what you decide.

We have an eleven month old who loves to grab everything. We used a supergate, bought one used off craigslist for 30 bucks, works great. Of course we didn't put any ornaments on the bottom of the tree for good measure.

When our kids were at that stage, we set our tree up in a square play pen and left the lights off the bottom of the tree (so little fingers could not touch) and put only "touchable" ornaments at the bottom where they could touch but not break anything. It was cute and we got lots and lots of compliments about how it looked and what a good idea it was! The sides of the play pen helps prevent the child from reaching the tree and pulling it over, but you could tie the tree to the back side, just in case. Good luck!

My first year with my son we put an octagon gate around it and that was great. If you have a gate try that if not then decorate only half the tree. He won't be able to grab the ornaments or lights. If you are afraid he may pull down the tree you will need to get creative on placement. Corners usually work great and create some type of barrier. Good luck and he will love watching the tree especially when the lights are on.

If you have an artificial tree, just set up the TOP of it on an end table. Decorate it and everyone thinks you have a miniature tree.... The baby will still be able to enjoy it all. I actually have a play yard(puppy)fence I set up around it to keep the baby from pulling it down.

I got the fence at Petsmart, it is adjustable, you can take the panels apart. They are made for kids at Toys R Us, same thing!

Try one of the baby gates...one large enough to go around the entire tree!

The gates are pricey so we placed our tree in the corner of the living room and used the couch, love seat and wall to act as barriers. For the fourth opening, I used his Pack 'N Play. It has wheels so we can move it aside to get to the tree. I read that Christmas lights have lead so be careful!

My sister has two little ones and she put a snap-together "fence" around the tree. Close enough to look but not touch. I'm not sure who makes it, but it looks like something Little Tykes or Playskool would make. Bright colors, each panel is about 2ft square and they link together to form a fence.
Good luck

2 things...you could either geta smaller tree and put it up on a table liek we did when our son was your childs age OR you could put up the big tree like normal and either put a gate around it or put ornaments that arn't breakable at his reach and tie the tree to the wall so it won't fall over if her were to pull up on it. Hope that helps.

A table is where I put it when my kids were little, but if you don't want to do that, then make sure you are watching your kid at every moment and make sure all the ornaments are not made of glass....wood or paper or cloth and ribbons. Now I have to do this because of a curious and playful large dog ! Merry Christmas !

I used to put mine on a table. It left lots of room for presents underneath. This year we put it on the ground and my husband tied twine around it and then attached it to an eye hook screwed into the wall. Now she can see the ornaments but cant pull the tree down on top of her.

My baby's first Christmas i did not want to go without a tree so what I did was I bought a small tree about 3ft or so decorated it and placed it on top of an end table in front of the window, just make sure there are no cords hanging out where he can pull on it. It worked perfect.

This year we opted to buy two 4 ft. potted christmas trees instead of putting up the big one and having all sorts of accidents (I didn't want the tree to fall or my expensive ornaments broken). Each tree is on an end table and my daughter can walk up to the table and see the tree but because of the height of the pot cannot reach the actual branches and ornaments. This has worked out better than I could have imagined and they still look pretty too.

Sounds funny but it works. Put it in the playpen.
If you do not have a play pen small tree with silk flowers and plastic ornaments on floor. If you put it up high he will pull up and try to get it. If at floor level he will touch and look. This is a special time enjoy and take lots of pictures for him and your parents for later. Merry Christmas.

Last year when my son was not yet one we put it on a small table and when he built stairs up to it, we put it in the playpen.

This year he can climb any obstacle we would come up with and his nine month old sister is pretty curious, too, so we had to get a little funky.

Last week I put together the five foot artificial tree, strung the lights, turned it sideways, and hung it from two anchors in the ceiling. We put the ornaments on after it was hung and it actually looks better than it sounds and we get to have the beauty of the lights without the horror of it being attacked by the curiosity of the kids. You need to be very careful of the chord, however.

Good luck!

We had the same issue when our son was small. We put our tree in a playpen that year. Actually it is the only time I used the playpen. Ha!!
You could probably get a second hand one really cheap if you do not have one.
Kept the tree intact and baby safe.

We have one of those today kid playards and we put that up around the tree and my 16 month old can still enjoy the christmas tree, but I dont have to worry about him pulling on it.
If you dont have one, you can usually find one at a resale shop for fairly cheap.