How Do You Keep The Baby Away From The Tree?

That is the exact reason why I have not put up our tree yet. My daughter was 11 months old last Christmas and she was constantly trying to take the ornaments or the candy canes off the tree. Hopefully someone can give you some advice because I would like to know too.

Luckily for me this year the baby is old enough to understand he isn't supposed to touch it. He is almost 17 months old. It took a few times of telling him no and a few smacks to the fingers but now he understands. Just in case I didn't put any of the glass balls on the tree this year lol. And anything that is close to breakable is up higher than any of them can reach. He has been doing really well. Once in awhile he'll take one off and bring it to me though. Is it possible to baby gate that room off? Or some sort of gate.

Do you know I have always been lucky in that mine have never bothered when we put the tree up. That may be because their dad would tell them off if they went near it and they always do as they are told when he tells them! I dont really know how you could stop him from going near it though!

I never had any problem with my kids messing with the tree. It was the gifts they loved. But my daughter had one of hers to tumble their tree over once. He was just small, probably a little over a year. He loved the bottom ornaments. He would pull them off every time he went in the living room. So, when he pulled the tree over, she decided to take all the bottom ones off that he could reach and put them higher on the tree and she didn't have any more problems with him. I think the kids just go after what is pretty to them. Hopefully yours are plastic. I always worried about the glass ones. I break enough of them! Broke one at church last night when we were putting up our tree in the vestibule.

Put the tree in a playpen.

Do you have a large expandable gate? You know, the kind that you can add pieces to and make it any shape you need? If your tree is in a corner, or against a wall, maybe you could use the gate to create a barrier around it.

The first year I put up a tree, my son was already 2 so he was starting to understand and obey when I said "No No" so it wasn't a horror show. But being 2, I knew it would be too much to expect he'd never touch so I made sure that all ornaments close to the floor were plastic/unbreakable and that they were hung with ribbons or yarn or something, not hooks.

Or maybe you could just give in! Take him over to the tree, sit with him, let him touch it, talk to him about it, let him pull stuff off and help him put it back on, let him get it out of his system! Maybe once he gets the chance to satisfy his curiosity, it won't be the first thing on his mind when he's mobile.

This year, my little guy is 3 and I let him help decorate the tree and told him he could pick 2 or 3 ornaments that would be his and only his. Not alot of problems this year so far, but now because those ornaments "are his" he walks around the house with them and won't let me put them back on the tree! LOL

Good luck!

We put ours up behind our love seat and blocked it off with other furniture. Our 2 year old can still climb up on the love seat but we just watch her and tell her "No" a lot.

When mine were little, I put the Christmas tree in the playpen! It keep them from pulling it over on them and things ON the tree. Nowdays I don't even know if they still sell playpens!
I always put ornaments on the bottom that were unbreakable and with pipe cleaners for the hangers. I would put a few in reach but teach them to put them back, so it became a game for them. Just make sure your tree is VERY stable and the lights are not too hot! Good luck~

When my little girl was 1,1/2 she went for the tree all the time. i was exhaustd with trying to keep her away from it. The next year it occured to me - christmas is for hte kids and all mine heard last year was "no-no". I wanted her to have fun with the holiday so I bought a 3 foot flocked artificial tree and wooden or plastic ornaments and a small string of mini lights. I put the lights on and then let her decorate the tree with the ornaments - anyway she wanted to! It was the first thing she did when she got up in the morning and the last thing she did before going to bed! She loved it! She loved it so much that I couldn't take the tree down as every time I said we'd do it she cried to keep it! So the tree stayed up till February and that was when she started to get bored with it. The next year I did the same thing and so did she! A great memory for me, lot of fun for her and a wonderful christmas without a single "no-no" or exhaustion! Christmas is for kids - make it so they can enjoy it. SO what if you don't have a huge gorgous tree - that beautiful little artifical one with cheap wooden ornaments was one of the happiest times in my daughters life and it meant more to me than any other tree We've ever had and my daughter is now 30. DO it for the kids!

Good question LOL It's a big bright flashing amazing thing Mom and I just love it. I just have to touch it. Boy do I remember those days. I did block off the room when we lived in our first house. By the time we left the boys were old enough not to pull it down on themselves, which was the thing I worried most about.