Advice to Mothers

Decorating the house for Christmas, especially the tree, is always a fun part of my Christmas. I face an additional challenge this year - I have a little boy who is crawling, pulling up on things, and will start walking anytime (he’s already cruising around the furniture and anything else he can use - like blinds and parents). So what am I to do?

I have already made several mistakes. First of all, I put the wreaths on the ground before I put them on the doors. If there is one thing to learn from my experience - don’t put anything on the ground if your child is awake. They will crawl to it and either destroy it or hurt themselves. This is especially true of my wreaths, which I made using the fake evergreen on wire stuff. And then put ribbons and glass ornamens on. I have 2 of my favorites destory. The lesson: don’t put anything on the ground. Put it up and out of reach. Not just on a table, but out of reach.

Also - forget tableclothes and table runners. They simply make for enticing things to pull on for the newly adventurous youngsters. Kids don’t mean anything by it, they are just learning about their world, and the cloths and runners that hang down look like fun to pull on. So they pull. And down comes everything. Just don’t use them. Pack them away for later years.

Nothing that dangles should be within their reach. A toddler has amazing reach. They can do their height, plus their arms, plus a few more inches when they really stretch. Put nothing dangling anywhere close - really don’t dangle anything. They simply get frustrated when they  cannot get things. This includes stockings. Stocking dangle, look cool and feel even better. So naturally the inquisitive youngster wants them. Just leave them in the box until Christmas morning (or eve depending on what you do).

And here’s the big one - decorating the tree.

It’s a big job normally, and can get bigger. Put plastic down before you put the tree stand down. Inevitably someone is going to use the tree to pull up with, and water will spill. Save yourself the trouble of having to move the tree and dry out your carpet - just put plastic down first.

Now the tree skirt is fun too. We had to put bricks down to weight the back of our tree skirt down so our son cannot pull it around like a blanket and play with it. You can use your own idea. Some tree skirts have snaps and velcro - those are good too. Anything to keep the tree skirt on the tree and not as a toy. You really have to watch this is your skirt has sequence or something on it. Those are choking hazards to young children, and they will eat it if they can get their hand on it.

Now for decorating the tree itself. Here is my rule for decorating the tree: Thou shalt put nothing where the child can reach unless you don’t care about it.

This is important. The kids are going to play with what they can reach. Most toddlers probably haven’t been through Christmas before, or not enough that they have familiarity with ornaments. Therefore, they want to play with them. So don’t put anything low that they can reach - especially if there are small parts or if the ornament can break. That’s asking for trouble.

Only put ornaments up high. If there are family heirlooms that you are despertley wanting to keep safe, consider not putting them up this year. Or get a small fake tree to put on top of your dresser and put the special ornaments on there. That was our solution. We simply had a few ornaments we wanted to keep. So we kept them out of reach of the toddler.

Now - how do you accomplish this - put your tree together at night when everyone else is sleeping. Make a date of it with your spouse. It can be a fun date activity. Carols, hot chocolate, decorating the tree by a fire (or fake firelight) and then cuddling afterwards with the lights off, just looking at the tree. This is great fun, and can bring you and your spouse close together.

Good luck - and if you ahve anything to share, simply add it on as a comment!

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