christmas trees and 2 yr olds

boyohboyohboy wrote: do you actually put up a tree in your house with a two year old around?
i just know that jake isnt going to leave it alone until it is destroyed or he climbs to the top, so we didnt bother this year, but it does seem funny without it. and now caleb thinks santa wont come if there is no tree.

5littleladies replied: We have a 2 year old and we just put our tree up today. So far so good! She has done a little bit of poking around but we keep telling her no and she seems to be getting the hang of it. My older girls (and my husband ) would be crushed if we didn't have a tree!

Anthony275 replied: do you have a gate? you could put up a gate around it to not make him go near it

luvmykids replied: The year the twins were almost two I only did a table top sized tree. When Macie was that age we had moved to another house with a separate living room/den so I put it in there and just kept her out. I'm a little worried this year with the 1yo I'm babysitting....she loves to do all that fun stuff, like taking books off shelves, pulling tablecloths off, etc but she's catching on to "NO" so I'm hoping she'll leave it alone

My3LilMonkeys replied: I could never not have a tree. Last year Madison tried to play with it a few times but after she got stabbed with the pine needles she gave up.

~Roo'sMama~ replied: Andrew was 1 1/2 last year at Christmas time and he was always touching the tree... we ended up moving all of the ornaments up higher where he couldn't reach them so only the top half of the tree was decorated. My sister has a one year old and I think they're going to skip the tree this year ~ it is a pain but I could never not have a tree... it just wouldn't seem like Christmas without it.

PrairieMom replied: We use those play yards and streatch it out around hte tree.

A&A'smommy replied: I did but I didn't put ANY breakables down low.. my tree looked REALLY funny that year

msoulz replied: When Jake was 2 our tree was naked on the bottom and about 1/2 way up the lights and ornaments started. We almost found out the hard way . . . we only had lights on the tree and he walked up, grabbed the lights and started walking away from the tree - fortunately DH caught the boy before he pulled the tree down on himself! That's when the lights came off the bottom.

Now with Erin being 2 this year we are going to wait until a couple of weeks before Christmas to try it. I sure wish we had a prelit tree and no strings of lights to pull!!

Calimama replied: We have a tree up and Miabella is 16 months! She messed around with it when I first put it up but so far so good.

moped replied: We always did - Jack never seemed to bother it - I think we put the ornaments up higher, but he just liked to look at it - it was never a problem

Bamamom replied: Now Walmart sells the nonbreakable ornaments - I invested last year when Tripp was almost one. It was totally worth it. This year the worry will be the lights!

Hillbilly Housewife replied: No the kids don't touch it. Never really have. They like to look at it though, especially with the lights on. We always have it up. DH doesn't like to help putting it up and ptting all the stuff in it... so usually I do it on my own. The kids usually wake up to it already up.

CantWait replied: Anthony was the busiest baby, and got into everything, but I have to say, he rarely touched the Christmas tree.

Brias3 replied: When Ryan and Aliyah were smaller, we had the tree in our living room, which was off limits to the kids anyway- I ended up just putting a gate up when the tree was out.

When Mason was small, we ended up kind of blocking it with furniture. The corner the tree went in was sort of in between our couch and love seat so we kind of scooted the two closer together to create a barrier to the tree....although climbing ONTO the couch was still a way for him to get to the tree

Boo&BugsMom replied: We have always put one up. I just stay consistant with telling them to leave it alone. Tanner is 5 and STILL touches it. Aiden is crawling towards it all the time, but as soon as he hears his name he turns and looks at me.................................then laughs and tries it again. I never have been one to put things up or anything like that either. They just learn. It wouldn't feel like Christmas to me without a tree.

HuskerMom replied: I put ours up and Keith never touches it. He likes to look at it and always points at it but he doesn't mess with it. I was more worried about our cat messing with it. When he was a kitten he would climb it but this year he hasn't showed alot of interest in it.

boyohboyohboy replied: being a sahm, though, i cant imagine spending my day all day every sec. telling him to get off the tree!

grapfruit replied: If you don't feel comfortable putting up a tree. Have you thought about "making" one? What I mean is get a nice sized stretch of butchers paper. Draw out a "tree" shape and have them color and "decorate" it and then tape it to the wall.

Kaitlin'smom replied: Kaitlin never really messed with it. I did use a prelit tree one year with her but its kinda small so I went back to my bigger one. I do not put breakable ornaments toward the top so she cant reach them. She was more inerested in making sure the tree was lit than playing with whats on them. We also have 2 ver small trees that are on the fire place she decorates and she has a pink little one in her room.

MotherForever2043 replied: Maybe you could get a gate to put around the tree? Like this one:

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=s...asin=B00020L78M

or

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=s...asin=B00007IT4Z

boyohboyohboy replied:
how creative! we put a tiny tree up on top of the entertainment center and then decorated all the windows with clings, and the mantle..thats it.
we are going to make cookies, and it seems like christmas here. the kids seem fine with it.

ZandersMama replied: My kids have a train table, I cleared it off today and put the tree on it it is just out of Zaviers reach. He is the busiest child I have ever seen, but i'd be heartbroken to not have a tree.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: Yes, we will put one up, but it was HARD last year when Wil was two. He kept pulling the balls off, exposing the metal hooks and the glass. Some even shattered. Never cut himself, thank god, but came close many times. I'm sure Wesley will be doing it this year. But I don't think I can get away without getting a tree - my DH lives for them! I like them too, but would be okay passing if he said so.

MommyToAshley replied:
that's what I was going to suggest.

BabyOwen427 replied: I put up my tree but I don't have any ornaments on it. Between Owen and the cats not a single ornament would survive. I have white lights and blue garland on it. Owen has messed with it some, but the most he'd done is pull off the garland which doesn't break or shatter or have sharp points and all I have to do is toss it back on. Works great for us. I could never have Christmas without a tree.

I like the idea that was mentioned, to create a paper tree to put on the wall. I was thinking you could also do that in felt to give it some texture and depth. With felt the 'ornaments' can be rearranged and played with.

coasterqueen replied: We have our tree up. So far she hasn't messed with it. Last year was terrible, though. This year I reminded her how when Smokey (our cat) was little and she would tear the tree up we had to keep her in the bedroom for three weeks until Christmas was over -- I reminded Megan that could happen to her too. She just looked at me with a very strange look.

lisar replied: Yea I am putting one up, and I had one last year. I am not so worried about Raygen my 2 year old. I am more worried about the dog with the tree.

Mommy2Isabella replied: we have a tree up and ALL of the ornaments on the bottom are now on the tree skirt because Isabella believes that is a better place. She doesnt seem to care that we keep telling her no, and now that all the oranments on the bottom are gone she is reaching for the ones that are higher up. So

HERE it is a constant NO THANK YOU and moving her from where the tree is ... but its worth it, lol I couldn't go without a tree, it just wouldn't feel like christmas!