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Had our nephews over this weekend and the one thing I moved out of sight was a bowl of candies on the coffee table. Everything else remained. My sister-in-law came into the room and cleared the coffee table of a set of coasters, remote controls and the Kleenex box, and went around the room relocating everything within a child's reach and put it all on top of the fridge. I didn't say anything to her but wondered if it was necessary to do that. Do people not teach their children that you don't touch things, especially things that aren't going to harm them or break?
It depends on the age. If the kids are really young, there is no teaching them not to touch. They are learning about the world, and you can't teach that out of them. I'm assuming they were toddlers or crawlers. At that age, it's just kind of inappropriate to tell them not to touch things they can see. If they were older than that, then I think it's a bit odd to move the kleenex and remote control.
Teaching them not to touch is a process, not an event. And in your own home, it's ok to accept that some things will get broken along the way and you deal with it, esp. if you have already put away your own fragile and/or dangerous items.
But in someone else's house, I tried to move things out of the way, so that I would not feel bad if my kid broke something and have to worry about fixing or replacing it. Obviously some things would have been no big deal, like a Kleenex box. But she probably went on auto pilot and just cleared everything out of the way without having to stop an analyze it.
Teaching them not to touch is a process, not an event. And in your own home, it's ok to accept that some things will get broken along the way and you deal with it, esp. if you have already put away your own fragile and/or dangerous items.
This. It really depends on the age of the children.
We only secured pieces of furniture that could be pulled down on top of baby, stairs and we covered most outlets but still told both babies NO when they showed any interest in them or cords. I've never cleared anything else that you might normally expect to see in any living space.
We have taught her not to touch. But some kids have trouble following instructions, specially if they are very young. So I guess I can see why the sister in law cleared off the table when visiting.
Probably she cleared everything away to be on the safe side as new things to touch are very exciting and tempting to young children (have to assume they're pretty young for all those things to be moved away).
Also she might teach 'do not touch' at home but prefer to move things out of the way when visiting family so she doesn't have to spend the whole visit constantly redirecting them/reminding them not to touch - kinda takes away the enjoyment of spending time with family.
I have 14 grandkids. Quite a few little ones. I keep a pretty childproof house to protect both the kids and breakable items.
I don't want to have to take my limited time with the kids telling them don't touch this or that. I guess it helps that I have a dog proof home to begin with so there is not much that needs to be put away for the kiddies. In any home that has little children in it the basic houseproofing needs to be done. No possible way to access meds or vitamins. No sharps around, like scissors, knives and tools. Lots of toddlers hurt themselves on stairs. I have baby gates on mine for the dogs so it works well when kids are here. No access to windows they could fall out of. You would be surprised how many kids fall out of windows. No hot things kids could pull down on themselves. I don't usually even let them in the kitchen while I'm using the oven or boiling big pots of water. Keep toilet lids shut. A kid that falls headfirst into one will drown. Most "Accidents" in the house are not accidents at all and many of them if not most are preventable.
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